Driver's side wiper linkage wear

[Keith George]

I have owned my high mileage (233,000) car for 6 years. In 2004 and March 2007 I had to change the linkage under the bonnet that joins the wiper spindle to the central link under the bonnet. Today I have changed this link for the third time. The last link lasting just over 12 months. The end of the link that joins to the wiper end has a bolt at one end and a round ball at the other that is a push fit into the link. Unfortunately the ball part is now worn causing the link socket to wear rapidly. I have been to a SEAT dealer who says this part is not available and I would need to buy the complete wiper linkage system at probably £ 200 plus. As you can imagine this is not a viable option on a 10 year old car.

Has anyone else experienced this issue and found a source to replace just the ball ended bolt ?

[corsehf]

Hello Keith,
Did you manage to fix your wipers? and if so, how??
My Fathers Alhambra wipers have just packed up with the drivers side refusing to budge. The passenger side is fine and the drivers side will move manually!.
At first i thought the nut on the spindle had come loose but was not. I have been told by someone in the trade that a knuckle/pivot point - call it what you want, has failed and cannot be repaired so we will nee to replace the whole mechanism!! at great cost!!!
Is there an easy fix for this!!

[mark61120]

Mine too has worn out. I just wrap an elastic band around each part to hold them together.
The elastic band does wear out, so I always carry a spare. It only take 30 second to put on.
Mark

[andywhi]

I had this exact same problem with my 98 Alhambra - quoted over £200 from Seat dealer for entire mechanism when just the ball joint had worn.

The problem was the cup was badly worn so the ball just kept popping out.

Repaired the ball/cup assembly by drilling a small hole through the bottom of the cup which is made from plastic and then popping a small bolt through which we screwed into the ball after tapping a thread into it from underneath. The bolt spins freely through the cup but is held tight in the bottom of the ball. Pack the whole cup with plenty of grease to reduce any possible friction.

Basically stops the ball from popping out of the cup, but all the force is still within the cup assembly as it should be.

Parts:

1 x M2 bolt or similar (we used an 8BA!) about 1cm long
1 x Screw tap to match the thread of above
1 x Washers for above
1 x Lots of grease

Been working for about 3 months without a hitch - we live in Oldham so its constantly raining! Hope its useful for someone.