My windshield wiper motor is going out...

[kameraguy]

...keeps slowing down during the middle portion of the windshield. And I don't have the faster speeds anymore. Ironic as it has been raining really hard the past few days.

Was working fine this morning, but during lunch it started up. VERY annoying.

So i drop by the dealer and inquire about the problem. They check it out and say my motor is broken and needs to be replaced, as well as the relay as it's probably being burned out by the excess motor load.

You know how much to fix this?

$1500!!!!!!!!

WTF!!!!

So here's what i need according to Smythe:

202-820-53-42 - Electric Motor - $223
202-820-46-26 - Relay - $100
202-820-07-07 - Gearing - $700!!!

So this is just for parts. They are going to charge $550 for labour!!!!

OMG I almost had a heart attack.

Granted my extended warranty should cover it, but dang!

Anyone have this same problem?

Still deciding what to do now....

[Renn 208]

Originally posted by kameraguy


Still deciding what to do now....

DTM wiper mod...of course!

Wow though, I never realized that the wiper parts were soooooooooooooo expensive. May I ask, how did the gearing break? Or more directly, what's wrong with the gearing so that you need to replace it?

[jnolte]

thats friggin retarted!!! that is insanly over priced!

[kameraguy]

Honestly Renn I don't know if the gearing is bad, or the motor. The tech said these parts are what is needed to be replaced, but i'm hoping this is a "generic" esitimate.

I am trying to find a place that won't mind really looking into the issue (i.e. dissassembling the wiper and seeing what is broken.) I would hate to replace anything if it's not necessary. Especially the gearing!!!


But yeah, this mono-wiper is hella cool but HELLA expensive to repair! Sucks cuz I was loving the rain. I love to see the wiper in action. It's one of my favorite Mercedes features...well I guess it's an "oldschool" feature nowadays.

I would go to Topline but that's a helluva drive. Maybe i'll have luck @ Beshoff. Calling now...

[Andrew C280]

holy shit 1500 thats way expencive i will call my mechanic tommorow he was doing a wiper just like your the other day there is no way it cost that much unless i am mistaking

[kameraguy]

Dang, pretty much the same quote at Beshoff. The parts are the same prices too so i guess that's legit for MB retail.

Better contact the extended warranty peeps and see if this will be covered. Even if it isn't, it looks like I have no choice but to fix it. Probably some of the worst rain we've seen in our area thus far.

Grrrrrrrr.....


edit:

Oh Andrew, if your mechanic can do this job for cheaper i'll go with him then. Can you let me know? Where is he btw? Thanks!

[Denlasoul]

I had something similar happen to me. Wiper would struggle to get back and forth then it eventually seized. I dont recall what was fixed, but my total was around $200. I''ll look up my invoice when I get home to give you a better idea of what MB did.

DLS

[Andrew C280]

He is in canada most of you guys are in the U.S.A. I will call him if he can get you the part for cheap you can phone him and he could send it to you.

95% of the time I can't trust what is coming out of my mercedes tech's mouth I am so ticked off with them right now, I have two good guys in town that only do high end exotics the one guy only dose mercedes, the other dosen't like to work on mercedes only porsche and high end exotics but he will work on a mercedes once an a while

[Andrew C280]

I was just thinking today i notice that my gas lid was not locking i assumed the worst and would need to get a new air ram, when out removed it cleaned it up greased it reinstalled it and that fixed it works beautifully, i have never done a windsheild wiper on a car like this but you might want to try cleaning and greasing it up that might fix it, i dont doubt that if i would have took my car in they would have told me that i need a new air ram for the gas lid cover, but they would have done the same thing as i did i allways ask for parts and take down serial numbers, you might think i am parinoid but i dont have unlimited $$$$ and i was allways told you dont get money buy blowing it on useless things.

[kameraguy]

Yeah, i'll have a closer look tonight. Man I hope something got stuck there or something.

Thanks for the info though. I hope my warranty will bail me out of this one. My warranty company must love me by now (sarcastically speaking)

[Andrew C280]

my warrenty company loves me so far I am into them for a new tranny mass air flow alternator ball joint and some other stuff I cant think of right now, i only paid $650 for it too, I cost them over 4K already and have only had my car for 4 months can wait for the spring so I can really drive it

[kameraguy]

Wow, it looks like we have much in common. I also had a tranny and MAS issue. Not sure if you had a headgasket leak, but I had one early on and it appears to be 'common". It's not a pretty repair in terms of price. How long is your warranty good for? I think in cases like ours the warranty company wished they NEVER sold us one!

[Andrew C280]

well my warrenty is a 1 year unlimited KM, I would like to renew it I dont think they will though, as far as I know the head gasket has not been done yet nore is going to need to be (crossing fingers for good luck) I show no signs of problems, I was just talking to my mechainc about oil's he said that they can contribute to a leak if you switch back and forth from regular and synthetic, i got one of these crummy shop manuals off ebay so i can have some guide lines befor i go into repairs blind

[J Irwan]

Kam,

I can't help to wonder why do you need a new gearing..?

if the wiper getting week, should this just be the relay and the motor it self..?


Regardz

[martattack]

Before you spend a DIME. PLEASE DO THIS!

The EXACT same thing happened to me with the wiper slowing down towards the middle.

All I did was lube the wiper mechanism.
[list=1][*]First, set the wiper in the straight up position by turning the key off at the right time. It took me a few tries [*]Now remove the middle cover piece by pulling down and out on it. [*]Third, Remove the main cover piece by pulling out and up on the two release tabs (circled in the picture) . I used my fingers, but you might need to use somethin pry it. [*]Before you pull the cover all the way off, set the wiper to near full extension (around 45 degrees), now you can take the cover off and slide it up just a little to expose the mechanism.[*]I used White Lithium Grease on the mechanism. It comes in an aerosol can. It is normally used for boats, so it is waterproof and when you spray it on, it sticks. Use whatever grease you'd like. Particularly grease the two vertical sliders. Also grease the top most slider. [*] Pop everything back together. Hopefully that was the problem! It saved me around $1500!!![/list=1]

[benzfan]

I believe the motor and gearbox are a unit (sealed of course). That's why the $$$$.
Try this before committing to the $: pop the center cover off and move it out of the way. A small mirror will help you locate the 2 slots on the underside edge. The other cover near the bottom of the arm releases easily too. Sorry, before doing this, move the wiper through a half stroke manually, so it is completely extended. Now that you have the 2 plastic covers out of the way, you should see a piston of sorts in the middle and 2 guide rods. Lube them with a good synthetic grease, perhaps one intended for snowmobiles, as it will have the winter weight you need without getting thick and binding up. Don't overdo it. Move the wiper back to the park position and back up a couple of times. Put the covers back on and park the wiper manually. Try it with the power now. Hopefully, that was all that was wrong. Do this in the summer too to make sure that any dirt is kept out and to make sure your grease hasn't liquified in the heat and run off. Do it again in the fall. Best of luck to you. I got lucky with mine last winter. It's still OK (knock wood).

[nokia8860]

Originally posted by kameraguy
So here's what i need according to Smythe:

202-820-53-42 - Electric Motor - $223
202-820-46-26 - Relay - $100
202-820-07-07 - Gearing - $700!!!

202-820-53-42 - Electric Motor - $223 It should be more like 134-150ish

202-820-46-26 - Relay - $100 - 50 dollars or there abouts

202-820-07-07 - Gearing - $700!!! try more like 450

But before you call tom @ caliber try swaping the relay out with some else. its located towards the rear of the fusebox.

If the problem is still there pull the rain gutter thing out and check if the linkage moves freely. If not then lube it up.

If that doesnt help pull the motor out and clean it up with some motor cleaner (RC)

But from what you described seems like either the linkage or relay.

[GDawgC220]

i had the same problem. it was fast sometimes and then somedays, it would slow down to a crawl while wiping across. I too was quoted a grand to repair/replace the wiper motor. all you need to do is LUBRICATE the arm that extends up and down.

I didn't even have to remove that big black piece in the middle. You can do that it way as well. What i did was turn on the wiper till it's in the straight up position and then shut off the power. Now, remove the little black piece that's above the big circular black plastic piece. It just pops on and off. After that, you'll see a hydraulic arm that extends in and out. I took some household oil and lubed it. Works great ever since.

Voila, you saved yourself $1000!

[moebiusgold]

GDawgC220 good job. Someone else who will allways try to make what they have work without spending big buck$. I have this little motto. If it's allready screwed up and probably has to be replaced. whats it hurt to try and dissasemble it and try and make it work better or at least find out what the problem is. The worst that could happen is you break it really good and do have to replace it. Getting that plastic cowel off of my C36 with out breaking the center 2 clips was the hardest job I have tackled yet. Those center 2 clips are the worse piece of German engineering I've come accross yet on the C's.

[GDawgC220]

[kameraguy]

Hi guys, I really really appreciate the speedy help and definitely the info on how to lubricate the gearing. Yeah, i was trying to understand how the gearing could be at fault because it's not like the wiper stops or runs with some odd clicking sound. It just slows down exactly when the wiper blade contracts and expands at the two places in the middle.

I was also thinking maybe it wasn't lubricated, but i really didn't know if it even required that or could be a DIY. Looking at the wiper last night, I was wondering how i could try to do that and you guys basically read my mind

I am hoping it is going to resolve the issue. I'll have a go at it tonight.

Man, if this is all it was then I can tell the dealership to kiss my a$$ for not even considering this.

If not, then at least my warranty will cover this too.

But i'd rather learn something about my car and at least say i tried fixing it myself first.

i'll let you know. Thanks again for the great pics too boomingbenz. I appreciate the effort as i'm a visual kinda guy!

*fingers crossed*

[GDawgC220]

Originally posted by kameraguy

Man, if this is all it was then I can tell the dealership to kiss my a$$ for not even considering this.

If not, then at least my warranty will cover this too.

But i'd rather learn something about my car and at least say i tried fixing it myself first.

i'll let you know. Thanks again for the great pics too boomingbenz. I appreciate the effort as i'm a visual kinda guy!

*fingers crossed*

I know that a member (either from here or mbworld) called MBUSA about this solution and they said "thanks, we'll look into it"...guess it never made it to the dealerships as a solution

[714guy]

Kameraguy i would switch motors with you since it doesn't rain often down here but lately its been rains like crazy, i Hate it.

Good luck with the fix, hopefully its some small easy and cheap to fix. Sometime we always assume the worst when it comes to fixing car when all it really is is a $.25 fuse thats gone bad.

Good luck

[martattack]

Originally posted by 714guy
Kameraguy i would switch motors with you since it doesn't rain often down here but lately its been rains like crazy, i Hate it.

Good luck with the fix, hopefully its some small easy and cheap to fix. Sometime we always assume the worst when it comes to fixing car when all it really is is a $.25 fuse thats gone bad.

Good luck

Like I always say, "start with replacing the cheapest part first!"

[kameraguy]

Hahahahha! yeah, cheapest parts first. I adhere to that too, hence why i'm using Rain-X at the moment (works ok). Next up....a tube of grease!