Help! Wipers went bang

[philw696]

As Zep says I have never had a problem it's just experience and knowing how much pressure and where to put it.
One tool I don't have.
Might be worth putting a bit of masking tape around the area to protect paintwork.

 

[conaero]

Not seized press down on the sprung part of the lower arm and wiggle. The issue is the spring of the arm angles the arm on the spline so basically you are trying to pull it off p!ssed.

Any advice?
I have taken off the smaller of the two wipers without a great deal of trouble, but the larger one (on the driver's side) is putting up a fight. The splines are seized. Can I safely use a steel tool, rather then the GRP trim removal tools? Is WD40 the best penetrating oil? Has anyone tried dynamite?
All help/advice greatly appreciated.
View attachment 102780

 

[Alan Surrey]

And then there were none!
Thanks for all the guidance. Overnight WD40, relieving the wiper arm spring pressure and judicious use of one of the more chunky trim removal tools to lever the thing off and it came in no more than 10 minutes. I'll use copperease when I put it back together.
Now to get the scuttle off.....

 

[Alan Surrey]

I'll clean the splines with a toothbrush too.

 

[mowlas]

Well done Alan!

 

[Ebenezer]

You are being very brave!
Eb

 

[Zep]

The next battle in man vs car is this screw:

 

[Alan Surrey]

Thanks Zep. Did that one a couple of minutes ago. It looks easy to miss, but actually it came out easily I've just come back indoors to watch Mowlas' scuttle removal video before I risk (re)moving anything.

In passing...
There is a row of 5 self tapping cross head screws from let to right across the whole thing. I've taken them all out. Someone has had them out before and now they are not tapping into anything much. They are really quite loose, all of them. Any suggestions for when I put them back. ....I've not seen beneath them yet - checking the video before I move anything.

 

[Alan Surrey]

I've got to it.
Champagne.
And also a tremendous cleaning opportunity. I will be giving it a good clean before it goes back together.


To be fair, the wiper mechanism looks quite sturdy to me, but the failure point is very clear: the articulating end of the connecting rod between the crank on the motor spindle and the actuating arm of the large wiper. It's yellow and gold with rust, so perhaps working up to a failure even without the sticky windscreen that had been caused by my trees.


It belongs inside this gaiter, here, and it looks as if it will probably go without any trouble. In the photo, it's easy to see the gaiter on the top, but it belongs in the one on the bottom.


Now, having finished my champagne and realised I had hoped for, maybe, a bolt that had sheared, I am faced by a new issue.....
What on earth do I need to do next?
All help and guidance very gratefully received.

 

[Ebenezer]

So nothing has broken?
I get a click from the wiper when it reaches the end of its movement. Matt has had quite a fiddle and it is much improved to what it was but still there.
Eb

 

[Alan Surrey]

Well, I don't really know Eb.
It certainly is broken: the articulating end has become disconnected. But nothing looks bent or snapped. So I'm not really sure whether the arm needs to be replaced or how to reconnect it.

 

[CatmanV2]

Is there not some kind of pivot bolt that runs down underneath the gaiters, to lock the two arms in sync. Has that has snapped?

C

 

[philw696]

It's a ball joint end.

 

[CatmanV2]

Or the lower arm can be forced to the right by rotating the motor spindle. It should, I think, also be articulated around that other black gaiter on the lower arm

C

 

[CatmanV2]

It's a ball joint end.

Dunt look much like one any more

C

 

[mowlas]

Does the diagram here help at all?

https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/en-gb/part-finder/maserati/quattroporte/oe/83/3581/63289

 

[CatmanV2]

I'm pretty sure it should articulate at the point arrowed. If it doesn't that may be why the ball joint has parted



C

 

[Zep]

The Catman is right, the ball joint or the bolt that holds it has snapped. It’s three bolts and the wire to remove it. Do that and turn it over and all will be revealed.

 

[Alan Surrey]

I'm pretty sure it should articulate at the point arrowed. If it doesn't that may be why the ball joint has parted

View attachment 102837

C

Quite right. It articulates at the blue arrow very nicely.
Now I look at it, the rusty bit is most likely the cup of a ball joint.
But even with Zep's help, above, I can't see how to get at the ball which must be (or once have been) inside the lower of the two gaiters.

 

[CatmanV2]

Quite right. It articulates at the blue arrow very nicely.
Now I look at it, the rusty bit is most likely the cup of a ball joint.
But even with Zep's help, above, I can't see how to get at the ball which must be (or once have been) inside the lower of the two gaiters.

Pull the whole mechanism. Bolt on the top left of your photo.

I'd have thought there'd be more (and @Zep is seldom, if ever wrong) but damned if I can see them on the parts diagram.

C