Wiper arm broken?

[Murcat]

I'm not sure what's going on with it. I broke it, and I am an idiot. After the weather had iced over the night before, I scraped my windshield and turned the wipers on to remove the remaining delicious shaved ice I left behind. The wipers were, obviously, also covered in ice...

So now the driver's side arm will not make a complete arc, and gets tangled with the passenger side arm. I can't drive anywhere in the rain. I took the little cap that covers where the arm attaches to the thing-a-ma-jig that turns\rotates the wiper, and it IS turning. It's like whatever clips the arm to the thing-a-ma-jig is stripped. I tried to explain the problem at an auto parts place, but he got confused and furrowed his brow at me until I got embarrassed and left.

Dunno if the different models have different wipers, but I have a 2005 2.0L automatic with the thing so I can change gears manually if I want (but I never do).

Halp me?

[VDubYah]

Seems like the arm has slipped on the wiper arm shaft. Pull the arm off. ( 10mm nut I believe). I used one of those cheap wiper arm puller thingies from the auto parts store to pull the arm loose from the shaft. DO NOT PRY AGAINST THE GLASS WINDSHIELD. When you have the arm off look at the inside of the arm"socket" and the outside of the shaft. One should be splined and the other have the grooves for the splines. I think you may have stripped the splines as the wiper blades were probable frozen to the windshield. If the arms stripped your need new ones. If its the shaft you will need a new wiper "transmission" ( the two armed thing with the motor on it under the cowl.) You can find some on e-bay.You will not need a new motor

In the mean time try some rain-ex on the windshield should help with driving in the rain. Sorry for the long reply

[VWBubba]

Sounds to me like the wiper arm has jumped the splines on the spindle.

Under the little cap should be a 13mm nut that holds the arm down on the splines. Make sure your wipers are parked where they should be on the bottom of the glass, take off the nut and wiggle the wiper arm off the splines, relocate the wiper arm in it's correct position and replace the 13mm nut.

I doubt you have stripped the splines because the wiper motor is not strong enough for that, chances are the nut came loose and allowed the arm to move off the splines.

One other thing, I live in a place where the temps in winter normally sit between -5c and -20c for a couple of months, it is habit to lift the wipers off the screen when parked to prevent them freezing to the screen and makes it easier to clean the snow off :-)

[VWBubba]

Sorry VDubYah .. seems we were answering at the same time

Both on the right track I think, don't know about your but ours has a 13mm nut, either way I think they are now headed in the right direction.

[janitz]

Like VDubYah mentioned you may need a puller to get the arm off.

On my old bug, 1998 was the year it was made and I think 1998 was the last time the arms were off because there was no chance in hell I was going to pull those off by hand when I did my front suspension, and prying it would mean putting force against the windshield... hrm, I wonder which will break first... hrm, or just get scratched to hell...

This is what I purchased to pull the wiper arm off after undoing the 13mm nut:

Mini Bearing Separator & Puller Kit | Princess Auto

Attached the arms around the outside of the arm, centered the screw down over the pin, and turn it a few times. POP! it came off.

[VWBubba]

I have never had to use a mini puller or any lever to get wiper arms off in my life and that includes many years in the trade. All I do is fold back the wiper arm on it's hinge then wiggle it .. off they come. Very difficult if you leave the wiper on the glass as they are spring loaded.

The fact that I haven't doesn't mean I may never have too, but hey, never too old to learn so I will try to get the ones off our 2k 2.0 tomorrow just for giggles. I would hate people to think I don't know what I am doing.

Will let you know how it went

[Beetle1.8turbo]

Well my is not broken but it don't have presure on the windshield any idea where I can get a new one ? I try advance auto parts and no luck

[VDubYah]

Wiper arms
These are oem and new but you may find some used ones on ebay
http://http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-New_Beetle--1.8T/Exterior/Wiper/Arms/[/URL]

[Murcat]

Lol -5C... I live in Alabama, so rain freezing over on the windshield is a little rare. I will be more careful about it in the future.

Yeah, it was just that the arm had stripped. When I dropped by the used dealership where I got the car to see if they might be able to get me a new arm, the guy actually came out and re-grooved the arm where it attaches to the motor and sent me on my way. He's ordering another arm in case it slips again, though.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help!

[VWBubba]

NICE !! Happy that all is sorted

[VWBubba]

It seems that things have changed a little and some new vehicles including VW and Audi need a mini puller to get the wiper arm off .. Oh how we live and learn :-)

On saying that, I still got mine off a 2k NB without a puller but maybe I was just lucky :-)