Rear wiper sweeps from park then returns only about 25% of return sweep,if I encourage it manually and reset stalk it will return ok

Was ok until parked for 6 weeks,is it maybe rust or similar on spindle?

Ive replaced two on mine now. Don’t seem to last very long 

Yes, they don’t last long. mine was only 15 years old. Can’t get the quality nowadays. 

 

I noticed the end of the wiper was gradually moving off the bottom of the screen, so I kept nudging it up. I decided I should look at it properly and found the plastic moulding had separated from the splined connector. I pulled the wiper arm away, and that left me with the nut and splined bit on the shaft. Needless to say the nut was rusted to the shaft, and a lot of torque didn’t shift it.  

I used a die grinder with a cut off wheel, a Dremel like tool will do, to slit down both sides of the nut. I slotted a bit of card to slip behind the nut to protect the glass and sealing bush from sparks. Overkill probably, but a new rear screen is EXPENSIVE!!!, and the card was incredibly cheap. With the nut cut nearly through, I played about with it, trying to finish the splits with a screw driver blade. Eventually a spanner helped dislodge it, and I could remove the two halves. Put a M8 nut on the shaft, run it down, then back it off a turn. This is to protect the thread, and to locate the puller spindle. Next get my small bearing puller under the splined bit, and tighten it up, CLICK! and the spline separated. Tighten the nut down, and wait for the new wiper arm to arrive.

 

The nut was a flanged type, but looked to have a smooth plastic washer embedded in the underside. Has anyone seen such a thing? Is there a reason for not using a normal flanged nut with the serrations on? I can think the sealing against water might not be as good I intend to use some Lanoguard grease for assembly, then it wont corrode again. If you do this, use a heat gun to warm up the grease to make it flow into all the cavities. Anti sieze compounds could be used instead, but they won’t coat over the nut and protect it.

 

I’ve written this lengthy tome, as something as simple as replacing a part, when the bits are corroded, can cause plenty of grief, and if you get too heavy handed the job can escalate to catastrophic.The next thing to do is to look at the front wipers, and remove and refix them, then if anything fails the fixing will be trivial. Any car you have now is worth looking after, as the government is making life more difficult, and much more expensive.

14 minutes ago, MrRedSquirrel said:

Yes, they don’t last long. mine was only 15 years old. Can’t get the quality nowadays.

 

Was that meant sarcastically?

 

I dragged myself up from poverty and homelessness through welding up cars for people to get through the MOT pretty much every year, many for their first MOT, I don't think any vehicle in the 60's and 70's got to 5 years without needing welded repairs to corrosion, decoke and valve grinds at 40k miles maximum gearbox rebuilds at 80k miles maximum.

4 hours ago, MrRedSquirrel said:

I noticed the end of the wiper was gradually moving off the bottom of the screen, so I kept nudging it up. I decided I should look at it properly and found the plastic moulding had separated from the splined connector. I pulled the wiper arm away, and that left me with the nut and splined bit on the shaft. Needless to say the nut was rusted to the shaft, and a lot of torque didn’t shift it.  

I used a die grinder with a cut off wheel, a Dremel like tool will do, to slit down both sides of the nut. I slotted a bit of card to slip behind the nut to protect the glass and sealing bush from sparks. Overkill probably, but a new rear screen is EXPENSIVE!!!, and the card was incredibly cheap. With the nut cut nearly through, I played about with it, trying to finish the splits with a screw driver blade. Eventually a spanner helped dislodge it, and I could remove the two halves. Put a M8 nut on the shaft, run it down, then back it off a turn. This is to protect the thread, and to locate the puller spindle. Next get my small bearing puller under the splined bit, and tighten it up, CLICK! and the spline separated. Tighten the nut down, and wait for the new wiper arm to arrive.

 

Same thing happened with my daughter's C1 about a month ago.  i used the Dremel cut-off wheel to remove both the nut and the splined bush.  Worked a treat.  I cut through the nut as far as I dared on opposite sides and it then broke apart when I put a socket on it to try to turn it.  The bush I had to cut diagonally because there wasn't clearance to cut along its length and then I just levered it apart with a screwdriver until it fell off.

 

James

Mine started doing that, then the motor eventually died (and the cheap blade fell off!).

 

That was five years ago now, I must replace it some day!