Rear wiper doesn't work (motor/arm?)

[Skoda85]

Hi all,

New to the forum and a new Felicia owner as of the beginning of this month! Always had a soft spot for these cars since being a kid down the road from a Skoda garage where I'd sit in the all new Felicias and dream of the day I could actually take one on the road Decided to grab my first non-Japanese car and live the dream!

My 1997 'P' Felicia has 77k on the clock and seems mechanically sound but requires a few 'cosmetic' corrections... The main one currently being that the rear wiper doesn't appear to work. On pushing the stick forward, I can hear the motor whirr but the wiper doesn't move. The washer is working fine. The wiper arm seems rather flimsy and can easily be pulled out from its socket, twisted around, etc. It also doesn't appear to press tightly against the screen if I manually push it across the window.

Is the problem likely to be the motor or the arm? Is it an easy DIY fix? (I'm new to the world of DIY motoring, so bare with me!) Perhaps someone here has a spare part they'd like to sell?

Thanks for your help, I expect to spend a fair bit of time here as long as I have my Felicia.

Edited 10 May, 2011 by Skoda85

[KenONeill]

From what you're saying, I'd start by checking the splines between the spindle and the arm. If they're ok, maybe the spindle is siezed in the bearing where it passes through the hatch?

[Skoda85]

From what you're saying, I'd start by checking the splines between the spindle and the arm. If they're ok, maybe the spindle is siezed in the bearing where it passes through the hatch?

Thanks for the quick reply! I've removed the arm and snapped a couple of pics, does anything look out of the ordinary here? The grooves at the bottom (of what I guess is the spindle?) seem ok. I just pulled it straight out of the hatch, is this normal or should it lock/screw in there?

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/560/img20110510123729.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/832/img20110510123740.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/88/img20110510123751.jpg/

Cheers for the assistance!

[KenONeill]

You've pulled the shaft out of the motor; I've never seen anyone do that before!!

Actually that may be the answer then; the splines on the motor end of the shaft are detached from the motor drive. If you look at photo 0510123751, you can see a nut where the arm and shaft are joined. That's where I'd normally expect the parts to come apart.

[Skoda85]

You've pulled the shaft out of the motor; I've never seen anyone do that before!!

Actually that may be the answer then; the splines on the motor end of the shaft are detached from the motor drive. If you look at photo 0510123751, you can see a nut where the arm and shaft are joined. That's where I'd normally expect the parts to come apart.

That explains it then! Had a feeling it shouldn't detach like that. Been like that since I got it 2 weeks ago, very 'loose' in the hatch and slides right out. I'll open things up tomorrow and see if I can reattach the shaft or see what's missing.

I don't have the car to hand right now (or a Haynes manual) - what's the easiest way to get at that wiper motor?

I removed the nut to release the arm but it's firmly wedged in place. I can only guess that it's either vandalism or a mechanic looking into something that thought yanking it would get things done quicker which has killed the poor thing!

The splines seem like they aren't very worn so I guess I'm expecting to find some broken housing where it used to fit into when I open things up. Likely need for a new rear motor?

Edited 10 May, 2011 by Skoda85

[KenONeill]

I don't know the model specifics but all rear wipers are basically the same.

I said the arm was atttached to the spindle by splines; that's an over-simplification. The joint there is actually taper-splined, so it locks itself in place when you tighten up the nut. What you should do to release the arm from the shaft is loosen the nut, fold the arm away from the glass and rock it at right angles to the hinge to break the spline lock.

[skoda_dragon]

A common fault with the felicias is the plastic gears inside the motor shearing. I've had two felicias now and both had the same problem with the teeth shearing off the gears. You may find this is the case once you open it up but I have never seen the shaft come out with the wiper arm before.

If it is the gears inside just get a spare motor from a scrappy and either swap them over or take the gears out. Favourit gears fit in as well, but the motor housings are slightly different.

From what i can remember you need to get to the motor through the hatch behind the boot trim (which may also have a plastic sheet covering behind which you need to slash open) then its just a case of removing the fixings, can't remember exactly what type or how many there are of them

[Skoda85]

Thanks for the help guys!

Does anyone know if the motor for a 1998+ Felicia will work on a 95-97? I ask because there are a couple available on ebay right now, one says it's a 2000 and the other says 1998-2001.

If not I'll head down to a scrappy at some point.

Got to the motor today although didn't take it out and can see the part where the shaft/pole-that-connects-to-arm should be fixed in. I'll prob get it out at some point this week and see if it can be put back together though I'm guessing something will be sheared/snapped inside the part it slots into.

The plastic under the boot trim had already been slashed so someone's obviously been under there at some point, perhaps a bodge job is what's caused the shaft to be yanked out!

[R_U_AFA]

Same things happend to me, does anyone know if the gears can be bought independently of the motor?

[dohnjoe]

definitely a vandalism case.

plastic gears inside are smashed.

can't buy only the gears.

buy the whole motor, it is the same from 94 to 01.

[dohnjoe]

 spring in England?by the way, is it already

[R_U_AFA]

Just done this as a quick fix but, i was able to drift the gears off a frount windscreen wiper motors spindel (used a bit of 15mm copper tube) Allthough this caused the gear to crack i was still able to use it in the rear motor. i don't think it will put up with too much strain tho, but it now works anyway. By the way the frount motor came with the car so it was a free fix. otherwise probs would have been best with a new motor, there was one on fleabay for £17.