Wipers Won't Wipe !

[dogdog1]

Hi All , I'm sure someone will have the answer for this . The wipers on my '95 300tdi 110 will not sweep . I've just replaced the wiper motor which was missing when I bought the vehicle . It's a Lucas 14W with a 115* gear wheel . When the wiper blades are off the screen all is fine , smooth action with a good sweep and no play anywhere . Put even one blade on the (wet) screen and it can barely move it . The spring on the new wiper arm does not feel excessively tight . When the blades are put on the screen they seem to act as an anchor to the extent that the wiper motor starts heaving against its clamp ! I hope someone can help with this , it rains an awful lot here .

[Phil B]

Pig of a job but the extra drag can only be caused by two things if the motor and actuator are good and spin freely.
The cable does get full of gunk and rust.
The spindles do get rusty and seize up
Best way to fix both is to take the dash top off and remove the whole system
Strip it on the bench, test run it once you have put it back together on the bench and then put it back in
I found that the new spindles were tight but loosened up a bit after "running them in" on the bench.
I connected them up and switched them onto high (not much noticeable difference from low!!), switched on a fan to help cool the motor and went for lunch
Good luck
Phil

[dogdog1]

I have my suspicions about the wheel boxes , mainly because of the way the motor heaves about as it tries to work , as if the cable is catching against something under load and pushing it about . I'll take a look tomorrow .