Got a 2002 Skoda Octavia 1.9tdi auto

I had a problem with the rear wiper BUT IT'S NOW FIXED where it kept stalling then going again and finally being "dead" I stripped it down and it waas full of all sorts of rubbish that had built up over the years, I cleaned it all then greased it up, put it back together and now it's better than it ever was since we got the car

Pics if anyone wants them

Before http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh175/karenhornby/20111211_152424.jpg http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh175/karenhornby/20111211_152416.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh175/karenhornby/20111211_152407.jpg

After

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh175/karenhornby/20111211_160419.jpg

The problem I have now is the front wiper.

Today it froze for a second, wouldn't work, then it worked perfectly again.

However the fast speed is now slow.. really weird

Intermittent works fine

Normal speed works fine

Fast speed is dead slow

Anyone got any ideas what it might be? if it's an easy fix or is a replacement motor needed?

Edited 13 December, 201114 yr by Lew247

My rear wiper has the same problem, it will sweep all the way to the one side and then half way across its return sweep it will stop/stall. Giving it a gentle push helps it along again.

Will do as per your pics above and strip it down to investigate, i'm hoping your solution above will cure it

The wipers are prone to seizing on the spindles, check to make sure that the alloy spindle housings are not getting hot. Washer fluid from a detached rear pipe behind the CD autochanger can spray over the adjacent electrical plugs and cause problems.

I thought it might be the spindle's seizing up, I had read on the forum about that happening

However I don't think it is that because intermittent works perfectly and normal speed works perfectly, it's only the fast setting that goes slow

Got a 2002 Skoda Octavia 1.9tdi auto

I had a problem with the rear wiper BUT IT'S NOW FIXED where it kept stalling then going again and finally being "dead" I stripped it down and it waas full of all sorts of rubbish that had built up over the years, I cleaned it all then greased it up, put it back together and now it's better than it ever was since we got the car

Pics if anyone wants them

Before http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh175/karenhornby/20111211_152424.jpg http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh175/karenhornby/20111211_152416.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh175/karenhornby/20111211_152407.jpg

After

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh175/karenhornby/20111211_160419.jpg

The problem I have now is the front wiper.

Today it froze for a second, wouldn't work, then it worked perfectly again.

However the fast speed is now slow.. really weird

Intermittent works fine

Normal speed works fine

Fast speed is dead slow

Anyone got any ideas what it might be? if it's an easy fix or is a replacement motor needed?

You think you have fixed it, but trust me the problem will come back. I did a very detailed guide of stripping down the rear wiper motor too. I felt all chuffed i fixed it. The problem is the reason for it getting crud is because of the crappy design that the water to wipers flows through the wiper asm in a metal tube. That metal tube gets corroded and holes in it and over time will cause the fill up of water in the wiper asm. This is what makes the electrics go funny and the wiper stops in weird places then starts up on it's own again. No permanent cure it will go again till you change it. Mine lasted 3 months. Good luck

Corroded front spindles - I bet. The faster the wipe the less power there is to force the spindles to turn.

Remove the wipers, then the scuttle trim. Remove the linkage and clean the spindles up (well covered on here, and if you have done your rear one you should not have any problem).

Reassemble and the problem should be solved.

Yep, spindles starting to seize up.

Thanks everyone, I'll have a go at it once the wind and rain drops enough to work on it.

Disconnect your battery negative cable before removing the motor / rack!

The skuds wipers were incredibly slow, fast speed remained the same.

I removed the wipers motor and rack

Removed the circlips at the wiper arm ends of the wiper cranks

remove the washer and the O ring below and keep spraying penetrating fluid from both sides of the shaft (there's no O ring at the base end of the crank shaft, just a washer). Pop the ball joint off the base of the crank

Clamp the base of the crank in a vice (I had to smack the tommy bar of the vice with a hammer!) and continuously rotate the rack to help free the shaft whilst pushing the housing off the shaft. The passenger side took 10 mins of winding backwards and forward to get it out, the drivers side took 30 mins , lube continuously!

Once the cranks are out emery cloth the shafts to remove the corrosion, the cranks shaft housings have a pressed bush at each end, between is powder like corrosion and old dry grease that causes the shafts to seize, scrape out the crud and wash out with wd40.

Clean, dry, silicon grease (silicon to protect the seal from perishing - thanks wild Bill) and reassemble.

Don't be tempted to hit the shafts out, you'll damage the thread!

Mind those fingers, these are basically a guilotine and will cut your fingers off!

Clean out the scuttle drains to prevent water ingress into the foot wells.

Refit the wiper motor / rack, plug the wiring back in, reconnect the battery, ignition on and the wipers should self park (its highly likely the motor will move whilst removing the cranks), turn on the wipers and check both speeds and intermittent wipe functions, turn off the wipers and allow to self park (remove the ignition key) before refitting the wiper arms (a dirty screen helps to position the wipers in the same position as previous)

This would also be a good time to replace the pollen filter beneath the windscreen scuttle panel.

A bit OT and not wanting to hijack :no: but how does the scuttle cover come off please?

cheers,

Martin

A bit OT and not wanting to hijack :no: but how does the scuttle cover come off please?

for full removal:

- remove wiper arms

- remove rubber sealing trim to the bulkhead bit in the engine bay

- pull the panel up at 90 deg to the windscreen - it has a plastic bit which slots into a grove at the bottom of the windrsceen (see picture)

- disconnect washer jet pipework

- place somewhere safe and don't walk on it.

Note: some people have suggested warming up the cover with a hair drier to make it a little more flexible in this colder weather. Do this slowly, as some people have broken theirs (but they might just be clumsy!)

Picture: note the plastic grip/grove at the bottom of the windscreen complete with a gap in it towards the left edge of the picture. Don;t be tempted to leave something against the glass to help lift up the cover.

Just to update this, I finally got the linkages and motor out, disconnected the motor and plugged it back in to check with no linkages, and it was definitely the motor, it was going So slow on fast that it was horrible to watch.

I disconnected the linkages anyway and cleaned them all up, greased them back up and put it back together with a new motor.

It went back in the car in a fraction of the time it took to get out, However I broke the golden rule and didn't take a picture when I got it out to see exactly which way the linkages went and put them on backwards! No major problem and it was easily fixed, but something to watch out for,

The only thing that annoyed me was a day after getting it all up and running perfectly the wipers wouldn't turn off.

The relay was kaput! I tried to fix it by taking it apart and redoing the solder joints and cleaning the contacts but didn't work.

I guess the extra current drawn by the motor when it was going so slow was enough to take the relay out.

Got a new one (eventually) and all is working fine now.

Thanks for the help guys, the pics were a great help