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Since I bought the car, the Rear Wiper has not worked....
Knowing this is a common fail item on the L322 (What isn't...??) I am not to concerned, but with the MOT due in the middle of May, thought it best to take a look.
Tools required:
The Wiper motor can be accessed by just removing the upper trim piece on the tail gate, but if you need to remove the motor you will need to remove the Wiper Blade first.....
Remove the Upper trim by carefully prising it off, be careful not to snap the locating lugs.
The inside of my trim doesn't look to healthy or promising....!!
After removal you can clearly see the motor unit
As is typical with the L322 Rear Motor, the rear washer gets clogged and leaks inside the motor casing as the waterway goes through the centre og the wiper spindle....
I did notice that my motor was disconnected, so I plugged it back in and tried it....all I got was the humming sound of a stuck motor so something is amiss.....
So I need to remove the motor unit, first you have to undo the 3 10mm AF bolts and the closing the top tailgate, you can slide the spoiler assembly rearwards by 1.5-2 inches and lift off....careful of the Wire leading to the upper brake lamp...but you will have enough slack to just rest the spoiler unit on some clothes on the roof of the car....
Lifting up the Nut Cap to reveal the 13mm AF nut.....undo this...
My wiper was a little tight so I used some PENETRATING FLUID to loosen it up a tad....
Time to unbolt the Wiper Motor...first remove the washer pipe, and then undo the 3 T27 Torx Bolts, you can then withdraw the motor unit....
If you are replacing with a new unit, reverse the above and Bobs your mothers brother....
I decided I would take mine apart and see if I could see anything obvious....
First remove the Spindle Cover....
Now undo the 6-7(?) T25 Torx bolts holding the casing together.....on removal and opening I could see mine was very badly gunged up, all the grease had congealled with the leaking washer and turned in a thick rusty paste gummed up everything!!
The motor is hard wired to the electrical control unit, so you'll need to take the unit off to allow the motor to be withdrawn....
Carefully lever off the crank drive.... and remove the large white cog....
Next using T25 Torx undo the motor mounting bolts and recover the two square nuts.....
I tried to pull the motor off the casing, but it didn't seem to want to come out....not wanting to break it to badly before I put it back together, I left it in place and put the bolts back!
Using a small wire brush and degreaser, I cleaned up the casing and the worm drive best I could, and I could get the motor to turn by rotating the worm drive...albeit a little stiff, but I put that down to trying to turn the motor against the field magnets....but I could get it to turn...
Next I cleaned as best I could the internal components....
(I did do the crank, forgot to take a picture!!)
Time to reassemble....
Using a photo of when I took it apart , I place the Cog and Crank in the position it was removed in...
Replace the Stop Collar
Packing with grease as we went along.....
Time was marching on and it was getting dark so I put the casing back together
And refitted to the car, didn't put the wiper back on - little point if all I was doing was testing.....
Plugged it back in and turned on the car.......to the sound of motor humming but no movement - motor still stalled by the looks of it....
NOW, heres the thoughts.....it was getting late so couldn't carry any of these tests out but here is what I am thinking....
1) Looking at the mechanism, the crank drive will Rotate one way then stop against a physical stop collar stalling the motor which will then turn the other way...so the motor oscilates (which seems odd to me!!) so maybe the mechanism is in the wrong place preventing movement....
2) Motor is still to stiff to move under its own steam....
Light faded quickly so couldn't fault find further.....
My next steps will be to remove the Mechanism and see if the motor will turn without all the gubbins inside.....if it does I will reassembly the mechanism in a different orientation and see what happens....
As I replaced the way I found it, and it is doing the same thing, my thoughts are with the mechanism has somehow kipped on the worm drive to a point the motor can't turn it any further and has stalled....
Unfortunatly, Part 2 will have to wait until Thursday or Friday as I am out tomorrow evening....
Watch this space for Part 2
Knowing this is a common fail item on the L322 (What isn't...??) I am not to concerned, but with the MOT due in the middle of May, thought it best to take a look.
Tools required:
- Surgical Gloves
- 10mm Socket
- T27 Torx
- T20 Torx
- T15 Torx
- 13mm Spanner
- Penetrating Fluid
- Degreaser
- Rags
- Multi Purpose Grease
- Small Wire Brush
The Wiper motor can be accessed by just removing the upper trim piece on the tail gate, but if you need to remove the motor you will need to remove the Wiper Blade first.....
Remove the Upper trim by carefully prising it off, be careful not to snap the locating lugs.
The inside of my trim doesn't look to healthy or promising....!!
After removal you can clearly see the motor unit
As is typical with the L322 Rear Motor, the rear washer gets clogged and leaks inside the motor casing as the waterway goes through the centre og the wiper spindle....
I did notice that my motor was disconnected, so I plugged it back in and tried it....all I got was the humming sound of a stuck motor so something is amiss.....
So I need to remove the motor unit, first you have to undo the 3 10mm AF bolts and the closing the top tailgate, you can slide the spoiler assembly rearwards by 1.5-2 inches and lift off....careful of the Wire leading to the upper brake lamp...but you will have enough slack to just rest the spoiler unit on some clothes on the roof of the car....
Lifting up the Nut Cap to reveal the 13mm AF nut.....undo this...
My wiper was a little tight so I used some PENETRATING FLUID to loosen it up a tad....
Time to unbolt the Wiper Motor...first remove the washer pipe, and then undo the 3 T27 Torx Bolts, you can then withdraw the motor unit....
If you are replacing with a new unit, reverse the above and Bobs your mothers brother....
I decided I would take mine apart and see if I could see anything obvious....
First remove the Spindle Cover....
Now undo the 6-7(?) T25 Torx bolts holding the casing together.....on removal and opening I could see mine was very badly gunged up, all the grease had congealled with the leaking washer and turned in a thick rusty paste gummed up everything!!
The motor is hard wired to the electrical control unit, so you'll need to take the unit off to allow the motor to be withdrawn....
Carefully lever off the crank drive.... and remove the large white cog....
Next using T25 Torx undo the motor mounting bolts and recover the two square nuts.....
I tried to pull the motor off the casing, but it didn't seem to want to come out....not wanting to break it to badly before I put it back together, I left it in place and put the bolts back!
Using a small wire brush and degreaser, I cleaned up the casing and the worm drive best I could, and I could get the motor to turn by rotating the worm drive...albeit a little stiff, but I put that down to trying to turn the motor against the field magnets....but I could get it to turn...
Next I cleaned as best I could the internal components....
(I did do the crank, forgot to take a picture!!)
Time to reassemble....
Using a photo of when I took it apart , I place the Cog and Crank in the position it was removed in...
Replace the Stop Collar
Packing with grease as we went along.....
Time was marching on and it was getting dark so I put the casing back together
And refitted to the car, didn't put the wiper back on - little point if all I was doing was testing.....
Plugged it back in and turned on the car.......to the sound of motor humming but no movement - motor still stalled by the looks of it....
NOW, heres the thoughts.....it was getting late so couldn't carry any of these tests out but here is what I am thinking....
1) Looking at the mechanism, the crank drive will Rotate one way then stop against a physical stop collar stalling the motor which will then turn the other way...so the motor oscilates (which seems odd to me!!) so maybe the mechanism is in the wrong place preventing movement....
2) Motor is still to stiff to move under its own steam....
Light faded quickly so couldn't fault find further.....
My next steps will be to remove the Mechanism and see if the motor will turn without all the gubbins inside.....if it does I will reassembly the mechanism in a different orientation and see what happens....
As I replaced the way I found it, and it is doing the same thing, my thoughts are with the mechanism has somehow kipped on the worm drive to a point the motor can't turn it any further and has stalled....
Unfortunatly, Part 2 will have to wait until Thursday or Friday as I am out tomorrow evening....
Watch this space for Part 2
