Mercedes w124 - Windscreen Wiper problem

painterman, May 23, 1:41am
I have a beautiful 230e 1991.

The wiper has been stiff for a while and recently decided no more wiping.

I was able to get it to keep going sometimes with lots of CRC, but now it says no.

Anyone had experience with this? I understand sometimes you can take it apart and there is mixed up oil and gunk which stiffens the mechanism. Or you can replace it. Or you can get a mechanic to replace it and they may charge you big bucks.

To be honest I'm a bit cautious about trying to open it up.

painterman, May 23, 1:47am
one at a time please guys

intrade, May 23, 1:56am

poppy62, May 23, 3:14am
Are you talking about the Wiper motor or the spindle and mechanism or the wiper arm assembly. It's not a big job. just post which item you're referring to.

painterman, May 25, 4:53am
Not sure which one of those mechanisms is causing the wiper to stop moving. but I think I can probably get at the first bit after looking at those photos.

skin1235, May 25, 10:42am
usually the spindle seizes, not uncommon on a lot of other vehicles too,
painterman - unclip the motor end of the arm that goes from the motor to the spindle shaft arm and try the motor (pic 25, that arm just under the thumb, lift the motor end with a screwdriver, it will pop off its peg, keep it clear of the mechanism and run the motor)
if that goes okay try moving the spindle by hand, bet you'll find it is either solid or very stiff

m16d, May 26, 1:01am

kazbanz, May 26, 1:06am
painterman-as skin says 2 options 1 --motors done its dash-2 sieved spindles. its not hard to clean/lube the spindles if its that.
The very fact CRC seemed to fix it for awhile suggests most likely it will be fixed for years with some proper cleaning/sanding/lubing

skin1235, May 26, 3:26am
do you remember the old vacuum wipers, give it some gas and the wipers stopped - very common until the late 50's
MK2 zeds were the first Ford to run electrics type common
a brother in law was driving with his arm up under the dash working the wipers by hand in a very heavy downpour when he drove under a truck, my niece was sitting beside him, aged 3 at the time, when they pulled the car out from under the truck she was the only survivor

painterman, May 26, 6:00am
this is the problem with no wiper - no rainy day trips on the motorway. I'd probably have my arm out the window too but the driver side window motor not working either. lol

Ah well I think I'm closer to getting it working

Might be getting a new car, the cost of repairing a small part on an old mercedes is about the same price as their market value

skin1235, May 26, 7:06am
what you have is repairable Seth, and a very nice bit of kit to boot, what sized engine has yours got

at least you can dismantle and repair most parts on her, later models are throw away and replace

next-to-normal, May 27, 12:04pm
this is the place to go everything merc
https://www.youtube.com/user/Mercedessource/featured he has a vid on wipers and greasing them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3IPjKgC5AQ

richardmm, Jun 1, 9:26am
Does the wiper still move in-and-out as it sweeps around or is it just moving in an arc. It supposed to reach up into the corners and move down as it gets to the vertical. If it has stopped then the nylon gear is probably damaged.

richardmm, Aug 16, 1:20am
Oh, pick-a-part will be the cheapest to find a replacement. You may have to wait until something comes in though.