[John H]

Rain came down, switched on my wipers, the driverside slipped on the splined shaft and the two blades collided midscreen and the passenger side blade ripped off, over the top of the car and disappeared under the wheels of the thundering herd behind me on the freeway. Looks like the passenger arm is OK, all I need is the blade to fit into that peculiar connector. Oh, and I have to fix the splined connection again - is it time for epoxy?

Where can I get a replacement blade for the passenger side? Anyone parting it out?

I've got to figure out a better fix for the worn spline on the drivers side or it'll happen again.

 

[AlexGS]

I've had this sort of problem many times!
One thing I find useful is foil tape, preferably self-adhesive so you can wind a turn on tightly. Any sort of foil will work though, just to make the arm a tight fit on the splined taper.

As for the blade, I find that replacements from our accessory shops work fine. They come with five different fittings and appear to fit every conceivable design.

-Alex

 

[rkundrat]

on this note (not to hijack...), I too have the splines worn away. The lower portion of the wiper arm (at the joint) is hitting the hood. I'm thinking this added stress could have worn the splines in the first place. The arm is tightened down as far as it'll go, but it still touches. Could the hood have flattened out, or fallen in the center over years? Any fixes out there? thanks.

 

[John H]

I wound a new piece of 1/4" foil around that post again. I guess any hook typt blade will fit on there.

What a guy really needs is some thin steel 1/4 tape with knurling on both sides to dig into the arm and the post.

 

[Alfisto Steve]

We sure could use the rain here so we could test out our wiper blades.

Be sure you have a bevel or wafer wavy lockwasher under nut when you tighten arm down.

 

[AlexGS]

on this note (not to hijack...), I too have the splines worn away. The lower portion of the wiper arm (at the joint) is hitting the hood. I'm thinking this added stress could have worn the splines in the first place. The arm is tightened down as far as it'll go, but it still touches. Could the hood have flattened out, or fallen in the center over years? Any fixes out there? thanks.

Funny you should mention this. I noticed a week ago on my 164 that there's a large gap (at least 6mm) between the bonnet (sorry, hood ) and the wiper arm. It seems they're all different!

I recall the rubbing on my previous 164 and I remember reading on 164 Discussions about someone who decided to grind the arm down (with success). Another solution might be to put some washers under the scuttle panel, so that the spindle does not protrude as far.

-Alex

 

[John H]

Well I put on an off-the-shelf 21" $10 blade on the passenger side, but that dang hook connector is a bear to do and un-do! Tight fit.

On the driverside where the pivot shaft is worn what I did is to prepare a small piece of sheet steel about 3/16" wide by 1/2" long (snipped from a can of ripe olives) By tapping a nail lightly with a small hammer to produce little dimples on each side and sharp edges going through. I figured that way it would grip both the OD of the drive shaft and the ID of the wiper arm. Then I formed that over a right-sized mandrel (actually, a drill bit) to be slightly oversized, and fitted it inside the ID of the wiper arm. Slid that sucker onto the driveshaft, tightened 'er up , and presto! it tested out just great.

I betcha that connection is going to slip no more! Gotta be better than just using aluminum foil as shim, which is too soft to stay in place and has NO grip. But just in case I've got all the tools and some extra olive can material in the car, ready to go.

 

[John H]

That small piece of sheetsteel seems to work. No slippage today in the rain. Should work for a long time since the steel is harder than the wiper arm aluminum, and the shaft is probably soft brass (or pot metal) since it de-knurled so easily.

 

[John H]

The dimpled steel shim is still working!

 

[John H]

...and it's still working!

 

[QVHK]

Hi, guys,

Read about this post just now and recall a horrible experience with the wipers.

In June last year, there was suddenly a rainstorm from nowhere on the highway making it necessary to work the wipers at top speed to clear the downpour. Then suddenly, there was a sharp noise (something like some metal broke) and both wipers stopped working. However, traffic was heavy and moving at about 70km/hr in a head-to-tail situation. Immediately turned on the emergency lights to forewarn the cars following that I was in distress - there was no escape from my lane, I had to keep moving. Fortunately the wiper on the passenger side came back on. Then 15 seconds later, the only working wiper stopped again. The only way to keep moving then doing almost blind driving was to follow the red tail light of another car immediately ahead. After some 45 seconds, I was able to pull over.

What could you do in the rain with no idea what went wrong? The car was eventually towed back to the workshop for repair. The cause of all these was later found to be only a loosened nut on the wiper arm; nothing broken or anything. I took issue with the dealer as the car was only serviced and thoroughly checked a week ago. The explanation given was that these sorts of things could not have been spotted during regular inspection (!).

Anyway, the dealer eventually paid for the towage, and told me that a noisy or vibrating wiper is the sign of a loose nut. So beware, check that nut yourself regularly or you may get yourself and passengers killed on the road!

Marcus

 

[gt601]

I'm amazed that they paid for the tow. I don't know of any maintenance sheet that says check the wiper arm nuts. The only time I ever see them come loose is when someone tries to use the wipers with snow or frozen rain and the arms come loose.

Lucky you.

Paul