W203 - wiper resting 1/3rd the way up the windscreen

[anyweb]

yeah i can imagine Dec, i wouldn't have sold my W202 at all if it wasn't for the embarassing rust, and trust me by the time i sold it, it was embarrasing

still i'll do my best to resolve the wiper issue this weekend, don't have the time or energy mid week

 

[television]

Its just an age crisis Niall, it may pass

 

[anyweb]

ok finally tackled the wiper today and it took some time, the guides posted were useful but were different to the actual reality i was faced with, maybe because my W203 is from 2000 i don't know,

anyway first major difference is theres 4 torx screws holding in the wiper water catcher, remove them and put them in your pocket.

once out you can man-handle the water catcher up so that you have enough space to see/adjust the nut in question, this was the only way for me to do it as we could not remove the water catcher, it felt like it was glued into place, there was no visible clips/fastners like in the guides provided, so rather than break the windscreen we simply used a small crowbar to make enough space to insert a small 2x2 piece of wood which then allowed myself and Claes to adjust the bits in question,

the important bits to note here:-

* we managed the job with the water catcher in situ, simply mandhanling it so that you have enough space to adjust the nut etc was enough. it's tight but doable

* move the cables out of the way and lift the car bonnet up fully (extend it by pressing the red button on the side of the hydraulic extenders)

* the bonnet has two 'receiver' holes which CLICK into place when the bonnet is closed, great but you can not operate the wipers with the bonnet open so testing becomes very tedious, solution, manually close each 'lock' with your fingers (there's two of them at the front of the car, can't miss them) once done you dont need to close the bonnet to test the wipers reach

* the main control arm connected to the nut that comes loose is yellow metal in colour, underneath it theres aluminium colored metal and on the right side you'll see an upward pointing V shape, this shape MARKS the point of 'rest' for the yellow coloured arm, in other words start the wipers via the stalk, let them 'rest' turn off the ignition and note where the yellow coloured arm is sitting, it won't be in line with the V mark until you adjust it.

* in order to adjust things its easiest to remove the two wipers, or just remove the main big one.

* we also popped up the side control arm via its ball joint, it's easy enough to re-attach with an adjustable pliars

to resolve the problem, we loosened the main nut on the yellow arm, lifted up the yellow arm, adjusted it to the V position, tightened everything back, then re-attached the wiper arms and did a test run of the left wiper (the one that only has one connection)

we then re-attached the balljoint and verified the right wipers movement,

when all was good reattched the 4 torx screws, put any rubber beading back and pressed the RED bonnet opener switch again to simulate opening the bonnet, this is important to remeber otherwise you could break them when closing the bonnet as they are now in the closed position

thats my experience, problem fixed now, thanks guys

 

[television]

There is a knack of removing the water baffle they do come off easily but tricky without the right wedge or you can crack the screen

 

[simonr1969]

Massively old post but still doing its job! Thanks for the advice fellas. Only thing I did differently was you can actually get to the nut without removing rain guard. Tight squeeze and sore hands but uk near side wiper arm well and truly lodged in! Thanks again!

 

[Barry Allen]

This is still the only post that fully describes how to do this and so remains current and much needed even today.
I would add that my nut had come loose and the whole linkage had rotated by about 180 degrees, so I needed to know where to put the central main drive link back on to the motor spindle to re-attach the nut. The V alignment mark was hard to see right up alongside a pivot pin and did not appear to be exactly where I needed to set the central drive link arm so I ignored it. I set the two middle link arms, one being the longest arm, in a straight line exactly as they are shown in the exploded diagram back earlier in this post, At the same time these need to be positioned above the central drive nut, not below it, important if your assembly has rotated 180 degrees as mine had. The finished position of all the link arms looks axactly as shown in the exploded diagram mentioned earlier, I mean exactly!
The wipers swept perfectly on the screen by setting in this position, so I hope this helps others to know how set and align the linkage assembly on to the motor spindle.
I can't believe that this alignment procedure is not described anywhere in any documentation I have been able to find. Bravo for this post which is invaluable!!