Windscreen wiper spindle replacement

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08roadrunner

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Hi all
had my drivers side wiper spindle broken last Friday in the storm that hit just as i approached the road works on the A3 at wisley ,had to go onto the M25 to get to Godstone , a very scary journey in the dark in torrential rain and a cross wind !
have just bought a new spindle from just kampers my question is ,does anyone know the easiest way to change this part , do i have to remove the dash ?
thanks Michael
PS ,apologies if I'm not posting in the correct section ,I'm not computer savvy
 
Hi, thank you for your reply Sparkywig .
I assume its going to be a little bit more involved than undoing the 3 screws either side of dash ! ,I think I may have to take her into a garage ,trouble is ,with all the rain forecast , driving without the drivers wiper will be dodgy , but shes my daily drive so need to get it sorted asap ,why couldnt it have been the passengers side !
cheers Michael
 
Are you sure the spindle is broken ? And it’s not just the nut that has come loose? Happened to me in torrential rain outside St Malo in summer, drivers side too. You can tell by turning on wipers and looking at spindle nuts, if it’s moving then spindle is likely ok. if nut cannot tighten anymore, try using a washer as a spacer - tip from the super knowledgeable James Wotton of Veedub performance
 
Are you sure the spindle is broken ? And it’s not just the nut that has come loose? Happened to me in torrential rain outside St Malo in summer, drivers side too. You can tell by turning on wipers and looking at spindle nuts, if it’s moving then spindle is likely ok. if nut cannot tighten anymore, try using a washer as a spacer - tip from the super knowledgeable James Wotton of Veedub performance

+1 Same here;

Mine went during a long journey in the rain aswell - Luckily it was just the nut had worked loose.
 
+ 2 Same here.

As stated, worth checking if the spindle still moves with wipers on, as it could be a simple fix.
Hope you get it sorted and glad your post got moved to the right section for a wider audience 👍
 
I had a spindle snap on mine. I changed it with the dash still in place, it was a few years back but I don't think it was a massive drama.
 
Hi all ,thank you for your replies and helpful input .
The wind whipped up the drivers side wiper ,there was a clang ,then no wiper ,with the road works at Wisley , there was no hard shoulder to pull in ,luckily there wasn't a lot of traffic at the time coming off the slip road taking the A3 down and on to the M25 ,and as it was dark ,the rear lights of other drivers gave me a rough guide to were to be on the road ,when I pulled in at Cobham services ,I found the wiper hanging upside down below the windscreen ,so put it the right way up and tried the wipers ,the little spindle end and nut appeared to be turning ,but not the wiper ,so i thought the nut was loose ,got my spanner to tighten it, and snap ,off it came......
I then thought I could just change the passengers side over to the drivers side ,but it became apparent it was a more involved job than first thought , I was cold and wet ,wearing shorts and a t shirt lol , so waited for the rain to slow down a bit ,and drove back onto the M25 ,which was a nightmare ,the over head signs were flashing 50mph due to the amount of surface water ,but unfortunately most drivers ignored it and were flying past at 70 + it has to be said ,the lorry drivers were the worst ,and the amount of spray that was thrown up made driving bad enough for the drivers with 2 wipers !
I realized after a couple of miles I got about 3 inches of screen I could see through on the passengers side ,so it was an interesting half hour drive home to Edenbridge ,my dog thought I was leaning over for a kiss ,so spent most of that time licking my ear ,yuk LOL
I have bought a replacement spindle from just Kampers ,which comes with all the washers rubbers etc ,but saw on eBay last night someone selling the whole original wiper motor frame with spindles attached ,cheaper than the spindle I bought from JK so will probably wait on that arriving ,and just put that in and keep the rest as spares .
I have been working in beacon hill surrey and need to do a couple more weeks of work there but will wait until I have sorted the wipers out ,its forecast to be very wet again ,and don't fancy a repeat off last week ,for my sake and other road users !
i have just looked under the dash and the mechenisim is moving as should ,so hopefully when i go in to change the bits over all will go smoothly !
the chap I bought the part of on Ebay ,Swanseabaysveedub , suggested that if I take out the glove box inner and the air ducts in the top off the heater post ,I should be ok to get everything out without taking the whole dash off ,I will give it a go and report back when completed ,fingers crossed ! thank you all again ,Michael
 
Good afternoon
Well i spent a few hours yesterday disconnecting the wiper mechanism ,and have been successful until I got to the motor ,which is all loose as are both spindles ,but I cant work out were the wiring that is soldered into the motor ,goes ?
it seems to run down behind the ash tray ,I'm sure a read somewhere it disappears down the steering wheel column ,can some one let me know if there is a plug some were that I need to disconnect please , I really don't wont to cut the wires ,so near and yet so far ! many thanks Michael
 
Good evening all
It was all going so well, was tighting up the wiper motor nut, and dropped my little snap on socket wrench, which has now disappeared down tne heater totem pole 🙄
How do l get the totem off? TY Michael
 

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