Avantadrive_Original

This is mostly for the search archives in case someone needs help in the future, but kind of interesting...

The other day I was driving in pouring rain when my wipers seized up, refused to work, and eventually started working again only completely backwards (i.e. they started at the top of the windshield and swept down instead of up). They remained like that for a couple days without moving. This repair would have been covered under warranty (I know, it's happened before) but I decided to take matters into my own hands instead of sitting at the dealer an hour away for 4 hours waiting for them to fix it. So, here's what I did (and it worked!).

1. Removed the wipers, the plastic grill immediately beneath them, and the cover for the car's ECU, which reveals the wiper assembly.

2. When looking at the wiper assembly, you can see (especially when activating the wiper switch) how everything works. There's one central link that spins around in a circle (brass-colored metal strip).

3. Somehow what happened is that metal link has reversed itself, and starts on the *right* side of the assembly instead of on the *left*.

4. To fix it, one must loosen the nut that holds that assembly together, and manually turn the link around so that it is on the *left* of the assembly, about 2 degrees posterior to the passenger side wiper arm.

5. Re-tighten the nut, making sure the link stays 2 degrees behind the passenger wiper arm, and making sure not to move the motor when tightening. If the motor is moved, turn the ignition on briefly to reset it and start over so the link is aligned properly.

6. Once everything is back together, wipers will return to the normal position.

This is difficult to understand alone, but if you have a Bentley Manual use these instructions in conjunction with that and it will help a lot. I discovered this fix on exploratory surgery of the car's wiper system, which was a bit scary, but overall successful. Good luck!

GrandBlancA4.dtw

My wipers seized up on me. They went half way up...slowed down...and stopped. I'm searching on the wiper motor as mine didn't start back up going in the other direction.

Avantadrive_Original

I would bet this is the same problem as with my car. If you're at all mechanically inclined, it doesn't hurt to take a look. Remove the wipers, the grill, and the ECU box, and you can tell if the motor is spinning or not and if that link is tight. Also if it is the motor, and your car isn't under warranty, you could definitely replace it yourself for much less money than paying Audi to do it...

By the way the wiper motor is extremely quiet, so not being able to hear it probably isn't a good indication of failure.

GrandBlancA4.dtw

The wiper arm transmission/linkage is binding. We (er, German Motor Werks) took the arm off, lubed it up, let it sit, and tried to loosen the arm. Repeat 2x and no luck after an hour.

Local Audi dealer in Ann Arbor tells me there's a known issue with the corrosion and ultimate failure of the wiper arm trans/linkage. The wiper arm linkage is on backorder -- and it doesn't look like any dealers have it, nor will they any time in the next week or so. PRAY for sun.

Warning -- if you think it's going bad, do NOT keep running the wipers as it'll burn out the motor. Right now -- I "think" it's just the linkage, but chances are I've burned out the motor as well.

FYI: I'm at 75k miles.

Avantadrive_Original

That sounds like the opposite problem from what I'm having, which is that nut slips too much, allowing the linkage to reverse itself. Makes sense not to run the motor in your situation, as that could cause the motor to burn. Hopefully that motor won't cost you too much!

GrandBlancA4.dtw

I'll keep the post up-to-date as I get it repaired. If the motor is bad...I'm out nearly $400 in parts alone.

Maybe I'll skip the wipers altogether and just buy $100 worth of RainX!