How To Re & Re the wiper linkage

The wiper linkage on the A4 model VW's are prone to seizing. Its a very common problem that can be repaired with a few tools. The cost of a replacement assembly has come down considerably, so my recomendation is to simply buy a new one and change it, but you can also follow these instructions and fix your old one if you prefer. Or, if its an emergency and the new linkage has to be ordered in and you need the wipers to work for a few days.

Firstly, you need a few basic tools:

- 13mm socket or wrench to remove the wiper arms
- 10mm socket or wrench to remove the assembly.
- large flat head screwdriver or prybar for prying purposes
- Wiper removal tool to take off the arms (I bought mine for $8)
- Small jaw puller to press out the wiper shaft
- Adjustable wrench to work the shaft back & forth if you don't have a puller
- Penetrating fluid & grease
- Round file to clean the hole.

The first step is to remove the wiper arms. Simply pry off the caps with a small screwdriver:



Then, loosen the 13mm nuts that hold the arms onto the shafts. This is what the wiper arm removal tool looks like:



Many people have also used ball joint or tie rod removal tools available at local autoparts stores for borrowing. Here is the tool in place:



As you can see in this picture, I left the nut in place, but loosened it up just past the top of the shaft so that there was a small divot for the end of the threaded rod to sit in. That way the tool doesn't slide off the end of the shaft.

Now, just tighten the tool until the arm pops off. Sometimes, the arm can be quite stuck. If you have tightened the tool as far as you can go by HAND, don't force it any further. It will have enough tension on the arm that you can probably break it loose by grabbing the arm and giving it a good wiggle. It wil come off with a crack or a pop since the dissimilar metals tend to corrode together.

Once the arm is off, you need to remove the lower valance at the bottom of the windsheild. It is just pressed into place and can easily be pryed off. I use a wide prybar to distribute the force over a larger area to avoid damaging the valance. Pry gently, starting from one end and working your way accross:



You might want to put a rag or something behind the prybar to protect the windsheild. I just took the picture for reference. Once you get it started with the prybar, you can finish it off by hand by pulling it away from the windsheild:



Now you have exposed the linkage. Remove the 3 10mm bolts holding it in place:



Once its loose, you can manipulate it to a better position to reach the plug for the wiper motor. Unplug it and then wiggle the linkage out of the car. It takes a little twisting to get it out, but its not too difficult:



Now, if you have a new one to put back in, instalation is the opposite of removal.

If you are going to repair yours, move on to part 2 below.

Part 2: How to re-lube the linkage shaft

This is Part 2 of the procedure

Take the assembly and attach it securely in a vice. Be careful to choose your pinch points. The ends of the assembly are a soft, brittle alloy that can break easlily. So don't go beating on it with a hammer to get the shafts out.

The first thing to do is remove the linkage rods. they simply pop on & off and can be removed with a prybar:



Then, you need to remove the C-clip that holds the shaft in place. Get it started with a small screwdriver or other pointy object:



Then, pry it the rest of the way off. Be carefull not to loose it. It is sprung and can go flying of you don't hang onto it:



There should also be a washer under the C clip as well as a rubber O-ring. But the O-ring is recessed, so you might not be able to get it out at this point.

Now you need to give the shaft a good dose of penetrating fluid. Take an adjustable wrench or something similar to give you leverage and work the arm back and forth to allow the penetrating fluid to work into the shaft.

You will be very surprised at how hard it is to move. I have had some linkages that were so siezed, I had to use a longer wrench for leverage to get them to move. I have a lot of repect for the power of the motors that were turning some of these linkages, even if they were slow. It has also been my experience, thet usually, only one of the shafts is seized. But since ytou have it out of the car anyway, you might as well lube them both up.



If you don't have a 2 jaw puller, you can continue to work the shaft Back & forth like this while spraying the penetrating fluid. It will take a lot of work, but can be done. Just slowly work it back & forth while pressing down on it at the same time. It may only go down a mm or two at a time, but it will eventually work its way down.

If you do have a puller, or acess to one, its easier to press it out like this:



As I did with the arm puller, I put the nut back on the end of the shaft to prevent the jaw puller from slipping off the end. Tichten the puller till there is some tension, then work the arm back & forth. Then tighten again and work back & forth again. Repeat this procedure till the shaft is out. It is a slow process, but you don't want to force anything & risk doing damage. Just take your time and it will come out. Also, be careful once the shaft is out not to loose pieces. Don't forget the small rubber O ring that is located at the top of the shaft. It is recesed into the linkage. It is supposed to keep the shaft sealed, so make sure you put it back when reassemling the unit.



Once you have the shaft out, inspect it for damage. If the chrome plating is flaking or the srface is not smooth, clean it up with some sandpaper. But if your shaft is damaged, the likelyhood of this repair lasting is not good. You may have to repeat this procedure again in a year or less.



You will also want to clean the inside of the shaft with a round file if you have one:



Once you have everything cleaned up, apply some good quality grease (I use synthetic). But any grease will do. Maybe someone can sugget a good product to use???

Then reinstall everything the same way you took it off.

I hope this helps someone. Like I said in my fisrt post, this is a lot of work to fix a linkage. Since the price of these has come down in the last few years, I would consider an all out replacement. It depends on what your effort to $$$ ratio is . Some people like to tinker though, and would rather spend an hour to fix somethng than spend $50 to replace it. Just be aware that this fix may only be temporary and may only last a year or two depending on your geographic location (lost of road salt or sea salt).

DISCALIMER: This post is for informationl purposes only. If you attempt to do this to your own vehicle and break something, you do so at your own risk.

No band aids this time! Excellent post.

One day I expect to see a thread where Wingnut takes his car apart and reassembles in the jail (ala Goober on the Andy Griffith Show).

I've had to do this before and was surprised how easy it was to do. Like you, I got some respect for the power of the wiper motor. Right after I had to do mine I saw where Herm had a post showing where he added grease fittings. Slick.

Souzafone said:

I've had to do this before and was surprised how easy it was to do. Like you, I got some respect for the power of the wiper motor. Right after I had to do mine I saw where Herm had a post showing where he added grease fittings. Slick.

Click to expand...

Oh yeah...I forgot about that grease fitting thread. I will have to post a link to it.

Wingnut said:

Oh yeah...I forgot about that grease fitting thread. I will have to post a link to it.

Click to expand...

I've overhauled half a dozen wiper linkages for guys here in the club. We've talked about adding a grease nipple but never went any farther than that. I had a quick look around for the link you referred to, any chance you know where it is?

Great write up, as usual. I've already passed it along to a couple that needed it!

Thanx Wingnut!

Great write up; I too have done this repair. I used waterproof marine grease...that'll fix 'em! JOHN

Its not really a how to, rather just a picture of what he did. Basically, drill a small hole & thread in a grease fitting.

Here is the thread anyway:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=171388

Ok, that's what we figured. Apparently we were overthinking it though. We were trying to come up with a way to mill a small groove on the inside where the nipple would enter into. That way there would be a small reserve or chamber that would hold a small pocket of grease.

Next time I have it out, there's a nipple going in mine. Geez. I think I just like saying the word nipple. Tee hee hee,

easier way to remove the wiper shaft from the bushing!!!!!!

Did this myself this past weekend, getting the linkage out and apart was not the hard part, getting the shaft out of the bushing though...what a b!tch, I must have hammered for an hour to get one to move (maybe 3 mm).

"You will be very surprised at how hard it is to move. I have had some linkages that were so siezed, I had to use a longer wrench for leverage to get them to move." - Wingnut

Amen to that, anyway this brings me to why I'm posting to the sticky.

My neighbor (a high school automotive tech teacher and my hero Bob Posey) came over and brought a torch (butane) and a candle, he used the torch to heat up the bushing housing and "wicked" the candle wax into the shaft (kind of like soldering). I'm not kidding from completely seized to moving freely in 5 minutes. I was standing there jaw dropped. None of the parts broke or cracked, everything came apart, lubed with anti-seize, went back together (minus a washer or two) and works like new.

Great Tip Rex......I'll have to try that next time. Thanks for sharing.

linkage

I just replaced the linkage today on my 2000 Golf. I bought a new linkage from tdiparts.com and when doing the repair I found out I needed to take the motor off the linkage and I also needed to use a few parts from the old linkage. It wasn't too difficult but I wish the part included all the peices needed for the whole repair. It is working now and at least it waved me $175 in labor charges at the dealership as they quoted me 1.5 hours of labor. Thanks for the good how to in regards to th repair.

wiper linkage 2000 jetta

Does anyone have a photo of what it looks like put back together? Also anyone know how much the plastic caps are that I removed to take off the linkage? Seems they broke apart when I was removing them

Wiper motor

It is a great write up and very helpful as regards removing the cowl. Hardly worth dismantling the linkage to lubricate considering the low Price to replace the whole thing which on mine has lasted ten years already. I don't expect to get another ten years out of it.

MK4 Golf front wipers

The main difficulty in my experience was getting the cowl back on. Getting it in position is no problem but actually getting it to engage into the grove at the bottom of the windscreen and sit tightly onto the windscreen will be a test of your patience. Be very careful as regards the pressure you put on the windscreen because it will crack easily. Suggested that some polish, silicone or some other similar form of lubricant will assist.

God bless this site. Was having problems w/ wipers sporadically shutting down. After searching this site and finding this post I know I saved hundreds of dollars. New linkage and motor from VWmart.com cost around $86 delivered. Read that some people were barely able to operate the linkage by hand. Mine was completely frozen on one side. How that little motor could turn it is unbelievable. Glad I purchased the motor also. Total job took less than two hours. Would highly recommend obtaining the wiper arm removal tool online. Unable to find it anywhere locally.

i used a torch to remove the seized linkage. i could not get it to break free, so i turned to my old plumbers torch. heat it up real good, then bang it out with a hammer. then just clean up the inside of the shaft real good. works like a charm now.

Unfortunately it's not ALWAYS the linkage! I had my wipers hesitating, sometimes not working at all, and somtimes freezing mid-windshield, but never moving slowly (which I should have paid more attention to). Talked to a VW mechanic, and he confirmed what everyone seems to say, that 98% of the time, it's the linkage that fails. Pulled the linkage out of the car, and it was hardly stiffer than the new linkage I bought. So, yep, the motor was the problem... that's what I get for assuming the problem is the obvious. Something to watch out for. Unfortunately, the motor's a lot more expensive than the linkage. To make things worse, I left the new linkage in since I had it, and the brand new linkage failed almost immediately! Tested everything on low in the garage, and everything was great. Got on the highway, flicked the wipers to high, and the driver side wiper immediately went right over the side of the car and proceeded to attempt to get back onto the windshield, scratching my paint all the while! I found that I could easily move the wiper arm by hand without moving the linkage. So the rotating joint that connects the linkage arm to the wiper arm stripped and let go I guess. They couldn't have designed this better??

Great information as regards the initial removal, but in my view, because of the relatively low cost of the linkage, particularly when there are no labour charges involved, it is hardly worth the trouble of dismantling the mechanism. On my Golf the original lasted ten years and I hardly think I will still have it in another ten.

The problem described above is easily circumvented by ensuring that the wipers are at rest before removing them and so long as they are put back in the same position "going off screen" should not happen. The blade position can be marked on the screen with a marker pen.

Incidentally getting the cowl back on properly is very difficult and the screen is particularly vunerable to damage if force is excerted.

99.5 jetta tdi wiper problem

my wipers stopped working today. i can hear the motor running when i turn them on but the wiper arms don't move. would this be a linkage problem? also, is the wiper linkage the same thing as the wiper transmission?

thanks.

poor1 said:

Great information as regards the initial removal, but in my view, because of the relatively low cost of the linkage, particularly when there are no labour charges involved, it is hardly worth the trouble of dismantling the mechanism. On my Golf the original lasted ten years and I hardly think I will still have it in another ten.

The problem described above is easily circumvented by ensuring that the wipers are at rest before removing them and so long as they are put back in the same position "going off screen" should not happen. The blade position can be marked on the screen with a marker pen.

Incidentally getting the cowl back on properly is very difficult and the screen is particularly vunerable to damage if force is excerted.

Click to expand...

I agree with you about replacing the linkage instead of repairing, which is why I did just that.

The problem I described above was not the installation, or improper positioning of the wipers at rest before torquing down the arms... I'm very aware of how to do this properly. Like I said in my previous post, the brand new linkage FAILED the first time I set the wipers to high... specifically, the rotating joint which connects the linkage arm to the wiper arm let go internally, allowing the wiper arm to be moved independently of the other arm and linkage.

a_lab_lover said:

my wipers stopped working today. i can hear the motor running when i turn them on but the wiper arms don't move. would this be a linkage problem? also, is the wiper linkage the same thing as the wiper transmission?

thanks.

Click to expand...

Is either wiper arm moving at all? If not, and your motor is definitely turning, then it sounds like the problem is at the point of connection between the motor and the linkage arm. Seems like an odd failure though. Any other noises coming from under the cowling? Other symptoms?

a_lab_lover said:

my wipers stopped working today. i can hear the motor running when i turn them on but the wiper arms don't move. would this be a linkage problem? also, is the wiper linkage the same thing as the wiper transmission?

thanks.

Click to expand...

I suppose you could call it a wiper transmission, but I've never heard this term or seen it referred to in the Bentley manual. Other than the relay and actual wiper switch (stalk), the only parts in the system are: motor, linkage, and actual wiper arms. Pretty simple system.

I've seen a couple before where the nut on the motor backs off and the arm that connects from the motor to the rest of the linkage system no longer turns. Its easy enopuh to inspect. turn on the wipers, then pull the rubber strip up and peek under the cowling. Look for anything abnormal.

It is known as the wiper transmission.

As for your's failing first time it was used TDI-84, it is a mechanical part, they do fail. If you installed it appropriately, and it sounds like you did, then you just got a bad one. Did you look at the transmission afterwards? Can I assume it was the connecting arm that popped off? Actually, it would have had to come off if the wiper arm was able to reach beyond the windshield as it limits the travel of the spindle.

Quote:
Originally Posted by a_lab_lover
my wipers stopped working today. i can hear the motor running when i turn them on but the wiper arms don't move. would this be a linkage problem? also, is the wiper linkage the same thing as the wiper transmission?

thanks.

quoting tdi-84:

Is either wiper arm moving at all? If not, and your motor is definitely turning, then it sounds like the problem is at the point of connection between the motor and the linkage arm. Seems like an odd failure though. Any other noises coming from under the cowling? Other symptoms?

Click to expand...

thanks for your quick response! additional information:
i'm in portland, me and the problem may have occurred as a result of accidentally turning on the wipers when reaching for my snow brush. the arms were stuck in ice...so i fear something may have let go/failed in trying to move the frozen wiper arms. i did try to move them with the motor on and there was a feeling of the wipers trying to operate on what i might describe as 'stripped gears'. both arms are affected. i haven't had the opportunity to observe the situation in detail under the cowling yet.

does any of this additional information help?

Firstly a big note of thanks to Wingnut and others for this wiper post. My wipers were getting slower and slower and this post gave me the confidence to tackle it myself.
Just wanted to add my own experiences to this thread in case others encounter the same issues.....
* Getting the wipers off. I did not have a ball-joint puller and my local auto-spares did not either. I could not wait for a few days to get one in and so had to tackle it another way. My solution was Mr Blow Torch - heating the wiper arm for a short time allowed the arm to pull of the shaft easily - but take care not to overheat otherwise the paint on the wiper arm will bubble.
* Getting the wiper assembly out of the car. I know others said you can wiggle and jiggle it out but I could not get mine out. In the end, I undid the screws holding the engine management case in and pulled it towards the front of the car (it will only go so far due to the wiring loom). This gives a load more space to get the wiper assembly out.
* It was pretty obvious that one shaft was badly seized and the other was fine. I could not get the seized shaft out, and after an hour of WD40 and wiggling things around it had not budged at all. Mr Blow Torch came to the rescue again (due to the dis-similar metals) and a bit of heating followed by some hammering allowed the shaft to pop out. If you take this route, do take the rubber O-ring out before you heat things up.
* I cleaned things up as per this thread and greased everything up before putting it back together.
* I had a few issues putting the wiper assembly back into the car - and this was made a load easier by popping off one of the linkage arms (disconnect from the motor end). Once in place the linkage arm can be re-attached with a sharp tap from a hammer.
* The only other issue was re-attaching the lower valance at the bottom of the windscreen. The rim of my valance had no obvious way of mating with the other half of the trim. For now I have just clipped it back into place (three spring clips), but there is a slight gap between the lower edge of the windscreen and the top of the valance.
* The wipers are working!

Audi A4 Avant, 2003.

R&R my wiper linkage

Wingnut,
Thanks very much for this discussion! I just took out my wiper linkage rack and replaced it. My wipers had gotten very slow. When I got them out, I couldn't even move the driver's side one with a pliers on it. Darn tough little wiper motor!

Thanks to your directions the replacement went very smoothly!

On the plastic cowling note, I noticed a lot of dirt and grime when I took it off. I was sure to clean all that off and slid a small flat screwdriver in the groove to get the dirt out. Wiped a little silicone on the cowling lip with a rag and it popped right back in. Went great!

Thanks again Wingnut and all for your great comments,
Nick in WI

Thanks Wingnut,

It worked like a charm!

Sodapop

I've just replaced my wiper motor and obviously botched the reassembly because the wipers want to move down from the parked position. Does anybody know how to figure out the proper positions of the motor and linkage when it all goes back together?

It's raining :-(