Front wipers slow

[pricey]

Not sure why but wipers on my audi a4 2003 are running slow and even stopping for periods then re-starting even on fast speed.Could anyone help, could this be motor, relay or wiper mechanism? Cheers Pricey

[afourtuna]

I had a similar problem recently with my 3 year old B6 - at first I noticed a slight squeaking noise when the wipers were on, which developed into an intermittant slowness, then all of a sudden (1 week AFTER my MOT!) they ground to a halt.

If I used the control in any way (like using the washer) then they would budge a little, but mostly they were stuck half way across the windscreen. The Audi garage said that it was the linkage that had seized up - kiss goodbye to £250. I think it is pretty poor that such a fault can happen on a relatively new car. My old Morris Marina lasted for 18 years, and was NOT a great car, but the wipers lasted 12 years or so.

If you are confident enough, you could try taking the wiper arms off, removing the top cover and applying a lubricant to the linkage pivots - it may help you resolve the original cause, and do so at your own risk. Best of luck to you.

[Boardboy]

I would go for the linkage and where the splines come through the scuttle panel for the wiper arms to attach, like afourtuna says.
I had a problem with the rear wiper on my old Golf. The spline shaft run through a locating boss and had siezed. That start getting slower then finally stopped. Got it apart and gave it a good lube. Never had a problem after that.

Good luck with it, and hope you sort it.

Boardboy

[Sirius Black]

The wiper linkage MUST be replaced because the bits where the arms attach seize and are near on impossible to get apart once seized. An audi dealer will tell you an expensive price for this part but the A6 linkage is exactly the same part, minus the conecting rods , part number 4B2 955 603B. It costs around £50 . (I used to work in an Audi dealer thats how I kknow)

[nomoretears]

I had slow wipers on my 2002 A4 Avant until they finally packed in i.e. stopped mid-screen whilst on holiday in Glasgow.


Called the AA out and they said that the motor was goosed.

Called Glasgow Audi at Braehead first thing on Monday morning and they had the parts (motor and linkage) but couldn't fit the car in for a whole fortnight. Don't know what they expected me to do for two weeks.............only drive in the dry!! :zx11:

Called Audi Stirling and got in that morning. Job took 2 hours and they relieved me of £300 from my wallet. (Labour at £60 per hour plus VAT).

Glasgow Audi advertise themselves as being the biggest dealership in Europe...that may be the case but they must have the smallest garage!!

[Jose]

I had slow wipers on my 2002 A4 Avant until they finally packed in i.e. stopped mid-screen whilst on holiday in Glasgow.


Called the AA out and they said that the motor was goosed.

Called Glasgow Audi at Braehead first thing on Monday morning and they had the parts (motor and linkage) but couldn't fit the car in for a whole fortnight. Don't know what they expected me to do for two weeks.............only drive in the dry!! :zx11:

Called Audi Stirling and got in that morning. Job took 2 hours and they relieved me of £300 from my wallet. (Labour at £60 per hour plus VAT).

Glasgow Audi advertise themselves as being the biggest dealership in Europe...that may be the case but they must have the smallest garage!!

Bloody hell... that was expensive, I've done it recently and spend less than £70, got the stuff from the Audi dealer and fitted it myself.

Here its a DIY: http://www.audiworld.com/tech/misc44.shtml

Hope this help.

[tails]

Nightmare!!!!! I spent 2 hrs removing the wiper linkage assembly on my B6 A4, removed the C clip and washer to strip the seazed spline and ended up cracking the housing trying to get the spline out....DOH! I suggest this is soaked in WD40 and left over night if it does not shift straight away.

Can anyone give me the part number off the linkage assembly as i managed remove the text off the part number label with all the WD40 usage.

Cheers.

[Gez]

My 03 avant had slow front wipers, I gave them a good lube & are working fine since.

[aidanjaye]

If you search back with rgds the problem then it has been covered before. Basically the wiper rods seize causing the motor to overload - wil restart after it cools down. Common problem on all B6 models. I attempted to fix it with a big hammer - not advisable as broke scuttle panel. Eventually got arms removed and lubed everything up, seem to work fine now.

[miniredcooper]

Thanks for the advice folks - had exactly the same problem.

Got a local independent (Myre Motors, Kirkcaldy) to do the job for me at £40 for a strip down, re-grease and reassemble. At that price it wasn't worth me even lifting the bonnet.

The guy knew exactly what I was talking about when I phoned (as opposed to the dealer telling me the motor had gone)and said he had done several previously..

Goes to show that dealers not always right.....:biglaugh:

[aidanjaye]

Glad to be of some assistance.
I managed to sell the car without the dealer noticing I had cracked the scuttle panel. Oh well - not often you get one over on a used car salesman.:beerchug:

[ian7314]

Hello all, im new to the forum, but got the advice i needed. for no apparent reason the wipers on my 2003 a4 avant just started going very slow on all settings.
I followed the link in this forum and there was a step by step picture book of how to free the linkage. it was the passenger side spindle which was seized on mine.
I do have a little mechanical experience and start to finish took about 2 hours.........including striping down again coz i pulled out a multi plug moving the ECU box out of the was and the darn car wouldnd start LOL

Tahnks guys......Ian:aargh4:

[kurtas2006]

The wiper linkage MUST be replaced because the bits where the arms attach seize and are near on impossible to get apart once seized. An audi dealer will tell you an expensive price for this part but the A6 linkage is exactly the same part, minus the conecting rods , part number 4B2 955 603B. It costs around £50 . (I used to work in an Audi dealer thats how I kknow)


Got the dreaded windscreen wiper problem. Anyone else tried the A6 linkage ?

[ian7314]

Thanks for your help, I managed to bang them apart, rub down the spindle shafts and cover them in copper slip. up to now its been fine, but im sure without replacement its just a temporary fix.
One thing that did cause a problem was having to losen the screws on the electrical box in the right hand engine compartment to get the mechanism out. coz i pulled and tugged it disconnected a multi plug so the damm car wouldnt start !!!!!!!!!!
all told it took me about 3 hours and im sorted.
Cheers Ian

[kurtas2006]

Have Audi changed anything on replacements to stop the problem happening ?

If they have then I might as well get a replacement linkage etc. If not then may as well clean them as no doubt the new linkage will end up the same in a few years.

I had a look at doing the job myself but it is really tight round the area and knowing me I would damage half a dozen or things getting the linkage out.

[tahirj89]

Am not really a technical guy, but i got my local mechanic to lubricate the brackets etc for the wiper for me and it set me back £50 think its quite decent however am having problems with the trip computer now.

When i picked the car from the mechanic, as soon as i started the car up, the low coolant warning light came on and after about 10 yards low engine oil warning came on as well.... went back to the mechanic he has no idea and says that i should let it run for a day and see if the prob still there..

checked both engine oil and coolant and they are well above minimum... any ideas???

[Turbokiisseli]

Perhaps the mechanic accidentally loosened a connector from the ECU when he was working on the wiper mech?

[tahirj89]

Thats what i thought as well... just noticed my temp gauge isnt working either

i will take it back and tell him to have a look at the ECU...

[tahirj89]

Guys need some advice please...
droped off the car back to the garage this morning the guy says the sensors are faulty... now i think he's gonna try to coax more money out of me for the repairs. Can you guys give me advice on this, if the sensors could be damaged by the workmen themselves, and i know some of yous are mechanics, what are your thoughts on this....


Just cant afford all of this, my service is due and i have to get timing belts etc changed so looking at another £400 bill sooon as well!!!

[Thingy]

Thanks for the advice guys, worked great using the diy method

[Fullspizz]

I had to do this myself as well late last year, the hardest part is getting everything out and back in again.
I tried to free the linkage off but the housing cracked, so I just bought a new linkage from Audi for £54. They tried to flog me the motor as well, but mine was working fine. Copper greased all up and works a treat now:beerchug:.
It isn't that difficult to do, just take your time with it.

[Floatylite99]

My car has started to develop the same problem. Followed the link here to do the DIY fix. Managed to get the wiper arms off, but may be being incredibly dumb here (has been known on a couple of occasions! :Blush2:), but does the bit about"remove the plastic cowl by undoing the four quarter-turn plastic Philips screws" mean remove the scuttle panel? I can't see any quarter turn screws - or any screws for that matter. The only things I can see are three spring clips.

Either way at that point I decided to WD40 anything in sight that looked related to the linkage mechanism and it seems to have gone back to normal(ish) speed again, but I'm sure this is only a very temporary fix, and that removing / replacing will be needed at some point.

Cheers

Paul.

[travis002]

My wipers are just starting to show signs of seizing as mentioned above. So far WD40 has rectified the situation but I decided to strip them down to regrease the pivots.
The articles I've read just say "remove the plastic cover at the bottom of the windscreen".
I've pushed, pulled, lifted, twisted, poked and cursed but I can't shift the plastic cover. The three clips are off (actually all missing as it happens but I can see where they should be).
What is holding it in place. I can see where a previous owner has tried using a screwdriver between it and the screen to shift it but I don't want to go down that avenue.
Anyone got a close up pic of how its held in place.?

[Thingy]

same happened to me found that the cover had been clear siliconed on. just had to use a stanley blade to remove it.

had to put back on with silicone also as the tabs were missing.

good luck

[benmeade]

My wipers are just starting to show signs of seizing as mentioned above. So far WD40 has rectified the situation but I decided to strip them down to regrease the pivots.
The articles I've read just say "remove the plastic cover at the bottom of the windscreen".
I've pushed, pulled, lifted, twisted, poked and cursed but I can't shift the plastic cover. The three clips are off (actually all missing as it happens but I can see where they should be).
What is holding it in place. I can see where a previous owner has tried using a screwdriver between it and the screen to shift it but I don't want to go down that avenue.
Anyone got a close up pic of how its held in place.?
Had same issue with mine and broke the solid bar part of the linkage hitting it out with a hammer:mad: and after freeing it up i just slotted it back in and its like that ever since:D

As i recall the wipers need to be unbolted and removed before the plastic cover lifts up(mine had signs of a flat head been used also)
Mark the point where the wiper arm sits before ya remove it from the spline as this will save guesswork when replacing them;)

[benjie]

I had a go this weekend, I didn't have slow wipers, but they weren't far off as the mechanism squeaked when it went up/down. Managed to get the wipers off with pullers (eventually!) There are 3 clips (as mentioned). Had them off and tilted the front of the plastic bit down and pulled towards the front of the car and it slip off - on very snugly though!

Couldn't get the motor out, so thought sod it. Had a metal toothbrush sized brush so had a go all over the joints - there was a lot of some kind of crusty white residue on the splines and the rest was pretty dirty. Gave it all a good spray in situ with duck oil (covering the ECU!) and now it's great, no squeaks!

Note about the ECU cover - there is one screw at the back corner - don't miss it or you'll snap it!