Freelander 1 I have a floppy wiper!!!

No, seriously I do.

The nearside front wiper has gone floppy. It seems to be the spindle rather than the wiper arm (although I'm struggling to get the arm off at the moment) so I'm guessing an issue with the linkage. In fact when I pull on the wiper blade I can see the whole spindle moving in and out whereas the good side it's rock solid.

Play in the good side is about 4 degrees. Play in the floppy one about 15-20 degrees.

Is it likely to be something I can fix or am I probably looking at a new linkage. If the latter can I buy just the linkage or does it come with the motor?

Also, can I buy replacement clips for the air intake moulding, I seem to be missing three of them?

How do you even remove those clips? All I have is a black plastic circle with a tiny hole down the middle.

And finally, anyone got an idea how to get a stuck wiper arm off? It's soaking in WD40 at the moment.

Fritz

The linkage has popped apart, because the plastic ball socket is worn out.
You can get spring clips to hold them together. I always keep a pair in my spares box, just in case I have to fix this issue.
Clips
Clip in place to hold ball and socket together.

Fritz said:

And finally, anyone got an idea how to get a stuck wiper arm off? It's soaking in WD40 at the moment.

Click to expand...

You can use a special puller, to pull the splines apart. Or wiggling the arm sometimes frees them off.

Thanks Nodge, very much appreciated as always.

Clips ordered; I got a pack of three just in case (no, no I'm still talking about the clips!!).

Those wiper pullers can get expensive. I'm going to try a modified LC clip (free as we use them at work anyway).

Will let you all know how I get on.

Fritz

Finally got around to doing this today. Very straight forward but think I broke several fingers trying to push the clips on (they're very tight).

I used a slotted piece of sheet steel to pull the air intake moulding clips but I think Nodge;'s method of using a self-tapper would have been easier.

LC clip worked well for pulling the wobbly wiper off but not needed for the good side as I had something to wiggly and pull against.