other Psa: Check Your Wiper Arms

[Cru Jones]

For those of us that live in climates that don't get much rain I'd like to remind everyone to check their wiper arms. I had the pleasure of witnessing my passenger arm fly off this morning (luckily was able to retrieve it). 

 

[Stefan_m2002tii]

been there.. i was not that lucky to pick it up in one piece.

driver side came of, in the mirror i saw it land on the white line right in the middle of the road.

stopped and started walking, at least 5-6 car passed, its still there in good shape on the line... then when im almost there, hillbilly grandpa in his crappy old volvo 240 decides to drive in the middle of the road for a while an trashes it with both right wheels.

right there in the rain i found out that passenger arm can be used in drivers side also.... you always learn something new

Edited February 26, 2014 by Stefan_m2002tii

[TobyB]

I had one pop off once and just rattle around on the cowl while I changed 4 lanes to get off the freeway.  

Braked slowly and gently, and as the car ALMOST came to a stop, it slid down and onto the shoulder.

 

Yeah, then I ran over it, in stopping.  

 

Now when they come off, I just keep going.  Psychologically easier!

 

hee

 

t

[bruno615]

Mine occasionally pop off as well.  Any fixes for it?

[jgerock]

I seem to have the opposite problem.  When trying to remove them, they don't want to.

[John_in_VA]

Mine occasionally pop off as well.  Any fixes for it?

Be certain that the wiper is pushed on completely, so that the retainer clip is below the splined cylinder.

[dlhoovler]

I lost my passenger arm at about 70 mph on the interstate, in the rain, on the way to the Vintage a few years back. It settled nicely on the cowl until I could pull off at the next ramp (I was almost at the exit when it happened), at which point I slipped it back on, jumped back in the car and kept going. Almost looked like I knew what I was doing to the guy in the e46 caravanning with me--though I do believe he thought I was a bit off the splines myself.

 

-Dave

[pedalpusher]

My driver side came off on the drive back home from buying the car. It settled on the cowl. I just rolled the window down and grabbed it. Put it back on at the next exit.

[gregmharrison]

Along these lines, I've been trying to get a new wiper motor to work in my car, so I've had to remove and re-apply the wipers a bunch of times and I think it eventually ruined the clips' ability to hold properly. Does anyone know if you can replace the clips or it there's a trick to getting them to stay on after the clips have lost their springiness? Greg

[bnam]

Mine occasionally pop off as well.  Any fixes for it?

 

Mine did that when I first got the car.  And similar story -- I was driving into Sac to meet up with conkitchen and see his turbo when the wiper came off in a light drizzle.

 

It turned out that there was not enough clearance between the windshield seal and the wiperblade bottom when the wiper was in action and as a result the wiper was being pushed off the spindle.  Not sure if it was because the seal was aftermarket or not.

 

The solution was the remove the wiper linkage -- there are some washers under the cowl -- I removed a washer to increase the the length of spindle that protruded above the cowl.  Now there is enough clearance over the full range of motion.

 

Byas

[TobyB]

Locktite works in this application- if you need to take the arms off, you can use a heat gun to get them to release.

 

t

[PaulTWinterton]

Made me laugh.  Oh the humility we endure sometimes.

 

Times like that is when the wife or girlfriend just shakes her head.

[Cru Jones]

Made me laugh.  Oh the humility we endure sometimes.

 

Times like that is when the wife or girlfriend just shakes her head.

 

Once I realized I had a chance at retrieving the arm I laughed pretty loudly in the car. 

[Dabliz02]

Or just drive around without wipers

[Cru Jones]

Or just drive around without wipers

 

That wouldn't work that well this week.