Wiper Misery

[Builder22]

Hello there,

I encountered a windscreen wiper disaster yesterday evening. I have my A8 for about three months now and the wiper performance has never been very satisfactory. A lot of noise, juddering, etc. when they are in use. And this has not been helped with replacement blades etc.

Anyway long story short - last night towards the end of a 100 mile trip (raining all the way i might add) the wiper performance suddenly deteriorated. Driver side arc shifted downwards so rather than a 9 to 12 arc it went to a 8 to 11 arc. Of course this was somewhat unsettling. About 5 mins after this the passenger side failed altogether but the driver side limped on now in a 10 to 11 arc.

You will see from the pictures the part that failed highlighted in red if it wasn’t that obvious . Does anyone know what is involved in first sourcing this part and secondly changing out the part and getting the wipers functioning again?

Any help direction or support would be greatly appreciated.

B

[Ska]

Ah that'll be a new link mechanism then. Resonably easy to replace you'll have to remove with motor then separate the motor. Your best bet is to give A8parts a call for the mechanism. Mine broke years back changed it and its been fine since. Do a search for Wipers and you get a load of info, here's some to start you off:

http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/audi-a8-s8/24397-wiper-blades.html

http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/audi-a8-s8/54350-wiper-failure-any-ideas.html

http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/audi-a8-s8/41612-part-confirmation.html

Here's the method for removal:

Windscreen wiper system

Removing and installing windscreen wiper system

Note:

Before removing wiper arms, ensure that wiper motor is in park position.

Removing wiper arms:

‒ Remove wiper blades.

‒ Lever off cover caps on wiper arms with a screwdriver.

‒ Loosen hexagon nuts (13 mm A/F) -1-, but do not remove completely.

‒ Loosen wiper arms by moving them slightly.

‒ Remove hexagon nuts completely and remove wiper arms.

Removing and installing wiper motor and wiper linkage

‒ Removing wiper arms => Page 92-2.

‒ Remove rubber seal from cowl panel trim.

‒ Remove plastic part above left of wiper motor.

‒ Remove three hexagon bolts (10 mm A/F) -1 and 2- and pull cowl panel trim out of the two holders -6-.

‒ Detach hose connection -5- for jets -4- and lift off cowl panel trim.

‒ Slacken and remove bolts -2- (6 x 10 mm A/F).

‒ Detach electrical connection at wiper motor.

‒ Remove wiper linkage together with wiper motor from plenum chamber.

Installing:

Note:

Install wiper linkage in park position shown.

‒ Insert wiper linkage together with wiper motor in plenum chamber and make electrical connections.

‒ Tighten bolts -2- to 6 Nm.

‒ Connect water hose -5-.

‒ Fit cowl panel trim and screw on with bolts -1 and 2-.

‒ Fit rubber seal at trim.

‒ Move wiper blades to park position => Page 92-6.

Edited October 5, 2008 by Ska
more info

[Builder22]

Hey Ska,

Thanks for the very quick response.

Couple of questions:

Silly question maybe but is it necessary to replace the whole linkage or just the part that fractured? Is it just simpler to replace the lot? Rather than fix the broken component?

I found the following on A8Parts and this is probably something that IT_S8 might know but it appears to for a 1997 model. I wonder if it will work in a 2000 model:

Breaking Audi A8 Wiper assembly and motor on eBay, also, Audi, Car Parts, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 20-Oct-08 09:34:34 BST)

Additionally the images and steps you sent on once or twice make reference to pages in a manual. What manual is this referring to? And the images you sent on are really useful too are they from the same manual?

Cheers B.

[Ska]

Although the triangular bracket that is broken has a separate part number it's only availible for LHD cars & back when I broke mine I asked the same thing and the answer was that the whole mechanism (except the motor had to be replaced). At the stealers your looking at £210+ VAT!

The good news is that the item listed above is an exact match for part numbers i.e. the part number for my 1997 is the same as your wiper mech on your 2000 4.2 Q. So A8parts item looks to be a steal as the motor is included in it too. I paid around £60 for my link years back as well. The only thing I'd say is that these things proly fail due to cyclic loading and fatigue so if IT_S8 has a mech off a newer car that may be advisable; having said that mines was off another '97 and has been fine ever since.

The manual is Elsawin; VAG workshop manual and the references were to alignment and set up of the wiper arms which I can dig out if you need later.

[sloss]

Hi Builder,

You can get Elsawin from Ebay on CD.

It's got it all but sometimes a bit difficult to find things - just keep trying different pages - the Teutonic brain functions differently to mine - ie a lot more organised!

[harpersimon]

Or you can download it for free if you have a decent internet connection.. as the data is quite big..

[Builder22]

Thanks guys for all the tips and tricks - i'll do a search and see what i can come up with in terms of the manual - is there anywhere specific harpersimon i should be looking? PM me if you want.

Cheers,

B

[harpersimon]

Thanks guys for all the tips and tricks - i'll do a search and see what i can come up with in terms of the manual - is there anywhere specific harpersimon i should be looking? PM me if you want.

Cheers,

B

Bit torrent sites.. if you have a torrent downloader

I would email it, but its 16Gb with all the Vdub and Audi data! :-)

[Builder22]

Hey there,

Sorry for the delayed response to this thread. Been really busy and have not had a chance to look in here that much of late.

I'd just like to say that thanks to A8Parts i got sorted ages ago. Really impressed with the quick responses from Ian and co.

Cheers.

B