Adjusting front wipers

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:56 pm

Does anyone know how to adjust the front wipers on a 9N?

I've popped the cap off the wiper arm, and there's a nut there, but I can't for the life of me undo it, so it's either seized or I'm doing it wrong.

I get the wiper hitting the A pillar at high speeds, so I need to move it down by about 5mm.

Cheers

Josh_polo · Post by **Josh_polo** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:11 pm

That nut should come undone...

chewy · Post by **chewy** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:39 pm

Soak it with wd40 and let it stand for about 5-10 mins, then try. Just watch you donâ€™t snap the wiper spindle. Then if the wiper arm is stuck you need something like this to remove it.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... ing-puller

pip_polo · Post by **pip_polo** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:49 pm

my nut was well stuck too, even mr alex perkins couldn't do it lol

panda · Post by **panda** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 6:19 pm

mine twats the A pillar too. I was tempted to modify it as you've said but i've never gotten round to it.

dino · Post by **dino** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:52 am

They do seize on, same as my mk4 did. As said, soak it in loads of WD40.

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 10:40 am

Cheers, I did soak it for 5 mins before trying, but no luck. I will try and hammer it because this often breaks the corrosion.

The alternative was to bend the arm

chewy · Post by **chewy** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 11:45 am

Is it the nut thats stuck or the arm its self?

RUM4MO · Post by **RUM4MO** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:15 pm

david burton wrote:Cheers, I did soak it for 5 mins before trying, but no luck. I will try and hammer it because this often breaks the corrosion.

The alternative was to bend the arm

Oh no - you should not hit it with anything, that's asking for bigish trouble! Have you tried using a 3/8" square drive socket set on it - with hex (not bi-hex) sockets? They don't need to be very tight - besides the nuts are slim and will not carry high torque loadings. You will probably need a small puller (like the one suggested) to free the arm once the nut is off.

And of course remember not to let the arm end whack the windscreen - it might just break the glass!

whitegtipolo · Post by **whitegtipolo** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 10:50 pm

no puller needed wen you have the nut off just pull the wiper off the screen then wiggle the base back and forth and it will free off the splines! Never needed to use a puller on wiper arms ever! Just use force the nut will crack!

RUM4MO · Post by **RUM4MO** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:52 pm

whitegtipolo wrote:no puller needed wen you have the nut off just pull the wiper off the screen then wiggle the base back and forth and it will free off the splines! Never needed to use a puller on wiper arms ever! Just use force the nut will crack!

On my newer cars, any time I've needed to take wiper arms off (I wanted to change the cav GSI 4X4 ones for newer style cranked ones when it was four years old), I've never had a problem, but when I needed to change the arm pivot bush and rain seal on my wife's Fiesta 1.6SI when it was six years old, the small puller saved a lot of trouble - same thing with my daughter's early 2002 Ibiza when the wipers froze and she bent the arms. Any "old style" tapered and splined wiper fitting will seize up quite quickly - its only the newer types of fitting that seem to stay free and can be wiggled off easily after you have removed the nut and folded the arm out to relieve the twisting forces in my experience - oh that reminds my a friend with a Sh*tron Picar*o can't get his wiper arms off to adjust them after a windscreen replacement and his car is only three years old - but there again its a Sh*tron (must remember to take my very nice small puller to work).

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:17 am

when I say hammer, I mean hit the nut straight on (looking from above) and a fairly gentle tap at that. I don't mean hammer in terms of hitting the end of a spanner to get a bigger moment force (which it wouldn't be anyway).

if you hammer a nut the shock can break the corrosion "seal". I've done it lots of times on other parts but if this nut is so fragile I'll just do it lightly.

RUM4MO · Post by **RUM4MO** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 9:33 pm

david burton wrote:when I say hammer, I mean hit the nut straight on (looking from above) and a fairly gentle tap at that. I don't mean hammer in terms of hitting the end of a spanner to get a bigger moment force (which it wouldn't be anyway).
if you hammer a nut the shock can break the corrosion "seal". I've done it lots of times on other parts but if this nut is so fragile I'll just do it lightly.

I agree but that only works if what you are hitting is "firm" - this collection of bits is just suspended on a light frame which is fine as that is all the support the wiper mechanism needs - that's why I said "don't hammer it" as it just will not work here. One other thing to consider, is the linkage a bit sloppy and worn - and this is causing the "over-shoot" at higher speeds. I don't know what spares are available individually for this set up but sadly it seems nowadays that we just junk it and buy a new wiper mechanism when it wears out at any point. Some one once told me that you could buy a freezer spray that also contained release oil - in Halfords - I've looked but never seen it - if you could find where to get some that would shock the corrosion seal and the fluid would creep into the arm/spindle interface.

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 10:06 pm

what causes the overshoot is when the wipers reach the top they become "sticky" and this causes them to jump a little. every now and then the jump hits the a pillar.

I think it may go away with new wipers, but to be honest I'd rather adjust them!