wiper arm removal

[mlewington]

Okay, finished swearing at my car for the time being and time to get some advice! I can't remove the o/s wiper arm. Have got the n/s one off with a puller, but there's no space for the puller on the o/s one (without removing the bonnet!), nor any space to get underneath the spline with a prising tool (this could damage the windscreen cowl, I reckon). Have WD40'd and twisted and tugged the arm, but no joy.

Am removing the wiper arms in order to be able to remove the windscreen cowl in order to be able to remove the battery in order to get to the (blocked) drain holes beneath in order to prevent the rear o/s footwell from turning into a swimming pool!

Car is 130tdi sport wagon. Battery is big, so won't come out any other way, or so I gather from other threads.

Thanks.

[grhdylan]

Mine is a 130TDi sport wagon / Estate also & you can remove battery with the cowel in place..... I did it 2 weeks ago . The plastic will bend a long way B4 it will break. One of my drain holes was compleatly blocked, other one 1/2 blocked ..... just in time b4 a swimming pool. If you take your time , unclip all the pipes at front of the chamber the battery will just squeeze through at an angle. Good luck !

[caldirun]

I used a balljoint splitter on my wiper arms, it worked a treat, I tried to remove the cowl but it would not budge so I did the job with it in place. If you tilt the battery to 30 degrees and lift it out it will come but it is very heavy and a long way away from you.

[hotrod09]

You can also just turn the wipers on. Wait until they are at the top of their travel and then switch the ignition off. This way the cowl will actually have a bit more leeway to move. Worked for me.

[mlewington]

Good stuff, thanks very much guys. I can thoroughly recommend following this link http://www.weirdlittlebiscuit.com/passat/leak for some clear advice and excellent photos should anyone else be tackling this issue. Got my battery out in the end with cowl in place, but with the big battery it's NOT EASY (putting it back is even worse!). If you can get the cowl off, do it. Drain holes were completely blocked with gunge - quite disgusting!

[Stevebt]

Hi

Just pull this loom off as described in the link above and there is plenty of room.

http://www.weirdlittlebiscuit.com/passat/leak/images/007_remove_rubber_1.jpg