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DIY: Windshield Wiper Motor Replacement

96K views 55 replies 38 participants last post by  sings33 
#1 ·
This is on my 2001 330ci

Ok so my wipers stopped working on me and it wasn't any fuses or relays. It had to be the motor. I got another motor and searched everywhere for a DIY and couldn’t find one so I decided I’ll make one while doing the swap.

I am not responsible for anything that you do to your car; this is simply a documentation of how I did it in my car. If you screw something up or your car becomes damaged in any way I am not responsible – you are doing this at your own risk. If you agree than continue reading on.

Tools you will need:
-Flathead screw driver
-Torx 27 bit
-15mm socket
-10m socket
-13mm socket
-Ratchet
-Flashlight
-Adjustable or 15/16” wrench or 15/16” long socket

This took me about half hour to 45 minutes to do.

Start by opening up your hood and locating the windshield wiper arms.



You’ll see a black rubber cap over the pivot point of each wiper. Use the flat head screw driver to remove the rubber cap to expose the 15mm bolt.



Take your socket and ratchet and undo the bolt. You’ll need to wiggle the wiper up and down and back and fourth to loosen the “installation element” (as realoem.com refers to it) out. You can now remove the wiper arm.



Next, undo the 3 rivets that hold the micro filter cover down (circled in red), and remove the micro filter cover. Also remove the wiper cowl, it’s held on by 7 flimsy clips. Just pull on it gently and it’ll snap out.



Next remove the micro filter. (You can use this opportunity to clean out that area and replace the micro filter with a new one when reinstalling)



Now, get your torx 27 bit and remove the 4 screws (circled in blue). After the screws are out you can pull it out of its place and flip it over so it’s laying face down. This way you can avoid taking apart all the wiring connected to the front of the micro filter housing.



Don’t put the torx driver down yet; you’ll need it to remove the two screws that fasten a panel over the firewall. The screws on my car didn’t remove from the panel, but when they were out of the firewall I pulled up on the panel and it came right out.



This is what you should see. You’ll notice a connection harness circled in pink (no
). These wires connect to the wiper motor.



Back to where the wipers connect to the car. Take the 15/16” wrench, ratchet, socket or whatever you are using and remove the nut followed by the washer under it. Do this to both sides, obviously.



You’ll notice the wiper linkage is loose.



Now you can go ahead and unplug the harness attached to the wiper motor. If you did it earlier then its no big deal, your car won’t explode.



Everything feels real loose and like it’s ready to come out, but you have one more step. There is a 10mm bolt and washer way in there. It’s a pain in the ass, and probably the hardest part of this DIY. You’ll probably need the flashlight to find it. I tried to capture it as best I could in the following image. You can see in the second image down from here where the bolt is located. (Circled in yellow) Once you locate it remove the bolt. Now you can remove the wiper assembly.



You may need to man-handle it out a bit as it’s in there pretty tight.



Here is the assembly out of the car and where the annoying bolt was holding the assembly in place.



Next, you’ll need to undo the 3 10mm bolts (circled in red) and the one 13mm (blue) to remove the motor from the assembly.



After you do this, you can put the new motor on the assembly and follow the steps backwards to reinstall. When reinstalling the motor I tried to mimic the positioning of the arms in the diagram below taken from realoem.com. This helped ensure that when the wiper arms were attached back to the car they would swing up across the windshield, rather than down towards the engine.



NOTE: After removing my “broken” motor and reinstalling my new motor I came across this posting (post number 3) and a few others. I understood how the motor turned on and off and after a little more research I decided to clean the grease from the disc in the motor. I decided to open up the motor by undoing the 4 clips (circled in green below) and see WTF everyone was talking about.



Low and behold the disc inside was covered in grease. I took a rag and wiped all the grease off the disc (first picture below) and the two little brushes (2nd pic below circled in red) that contact the disc. I reassembled the motor, plugged it back into the car to see if it worked, and what do you know, it works like new. So before buying a brand new motor, open your existing motor up and give it a good cleaning and see if that solves your problem. It can also solve the problem of having your wipers stop halfway across your windshield.





GOOD LUCK!
 
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#2 ·
This is a great DIY!

If only it had existed back when I was hoping to do this job... to that car... with that part... haha.
 
#4 ·
Awesome--thanks! :) Did you replace the grease you wiped off? If so, what kind of grease was it?

It also looks like you could have also replaced your cowl grille. I noticed cracks on the edges where it contacts the windshield.

Also, a note to add to those doing this, remember to mark the exact position of your wipers blades before pulling the blades. It's a PITA to get it back on to the right position. I used white out. There is a good DIY of the cowl grille here: http://www.bmpdesign.com/technical/tech_tips/e46_cowl_seal_leak.php
 
#7 ·
I don't remember, I think its a relay under the hood.
 
#8 ·
I had a problem with my wipers not stopping in the full down position. This DIY was very helpful, but I have a few additional notes.

- To try to remove the wipers, I tapped on the wiper axles with a hammer while pulling up on the wiper. Bad move. The threads on the wiper linkage that poke through the cowl are plastic and I stripped them. I ended up having to replace the whole linkage. (Doh!)

- You can't remove (or install) the wiper linkage with the wipers in the down position. Run the wipers and then shut off the ignition when the wipers are in the full up position.

- Cleaning the motor did not solve the problem. Instead, I ended up having a bad wiper relay. Apparently it gets "sticky" and doesn't shut off quickly enough when the wipers reach the bottom position. In typical BMW fashion, the relay costs a way overpriced $25 (which is why I tried the motor cleaning route first).
 
#9 ·
Thanks for the notes!!
 
#11 ·
I also did this procedure last year. I would like to add that I tightened the nut too tight and the spring on the bottom of the wiper arm rubbed on the windshield. When I finished the job, I tested the wipers and all worked OK. I had to wait 6 months until it rained in Southern California to see how they worked in the rain. Unfortunately the screech of the spring on my windshield had me pulling over in the rain to see what it was. I put black tape around the wiper and also some on the windshield to protect it. I ordered the "installation element" and will put it on this week. No more rain forecasted until next January.
 
#13 ·
Very useful - thanks. One comment - perhaps you already stated this and i missed it - but to get the arm assembly back in place, I had to move one of the arms out of the way by turning on the wiper motor and turning it off at "mid-swing". This helped tremendously - smooth sailing after that...
 
#14 ·
I also did this yeasterday and I have 320d 2003. The motor was a little bit different compared with the motor in pictures but cleaning the grease did magic! By the way you have to disconnect your car battery for a minute after you have put everything back because if you don't everytime you test the wipers fuse number 59 (30A) blows. There is some software that needs to be reset and to do that just disconnect the battery.
 
#21 ·
wiper fuse #59 (30A) keeps blowing - can't reset



Hanu91,

My wipers are not returning to the proper 'rest' position (failure caused by iced up wipers). I followed the DIY steps above and cannot get my wiper motor to work - fuse #59 keeps blowing.

I have disconnected the battery for minutes at a time to try and reset the software but the fuse keeps blowing.

Does anyone know how I might fix this issue or why the fuse blows?

I tried to hot wire the motor direct from the battery but it won't turn...not sure if I have the right pins...
 
#17 ·
If you mean that your passenger wiper stops in wrong place but otherwise works fine then you can fix the problem by taking the wiper arm away and then in the fastening point you can take the metal "ring" away from the arm. then just place the arm on the windshield in right position and put the ring back and tighten the nut. The "ring" is modelled as cone so you can tighten the wiper arm in any position (sorry my bad english:D)
 
#23 ·
Glad to see this DIY is helping people out. Thanks for adding your each owns tips tricks and findings. :thumbsup:
 
#26 ·
Solution to fuse # 59 blowing found! Give me a few and I'll post it up with pictures etc. Wipers work like brand new.
 
#27 ·
OK so if anyone is blowing fuse #59 (30 amp fuse) when they've repaired or replaced their wiper motor here's what's probably going on...



If you look in the picture I circled in red a small clip that holds a braided copper wire. I also drew some red lines showing the path that the wires should take. Before you put the wiper motor back together make sure you push these wires back into the small clips to keep them away from each other and the other mechanisms in the motor!

When I took my motor apart for about the third time to try and find out what was wrong I realized they had gotten loose and were rubbing up against stuff.



Here's another shot where you can see the entire motor. There are also little metals prongs that hold the wires. I've circled a few of them in this pic along with the little plastic clips from the first pic.

Hope this helps!
 
#53 ·
Fuse 59 on my X3 2004 still blowing out

I tried everything here. The red wires inside the motor are nice and separated. Infact to test I unplugged battery, removed motor from linkage, put a new fuse, connected just the motor back to connector (not arms/no linkages), connected battery, turned on wiper motor and I could hear and see the motor turning just fine. I switched off motor from inside/steerwheel stalk. Tried to turn on the motor again with the steerwheeling wiper stalk, no luck. Fuse 59 blown! again.
 
#28 ·
Here's a picture of what my cars wiper motor looks like. It doesnt have the complete ring of metal for the brushes to contact like the other pics I've seen. You can see the path that the brushes take across the metal plate.

 
#31 · (Edited)
"Now I need to find something to do with a linkage and motor that parks 10 degrees up."

This is what mine did and it can be fixed! I saved about $400 by tweaking a few things. It's hard for me to explain what I did, I didnt take step by step pics so it won't be a perfect DIY, but I'll try. My wipers work absolutely perfect now. No need to buy a new motor just because they park 10*, 20* 45* etc degrees up!

Before I write this out I will also say I'm not responsible if you mess up your car. This is just what I did to my car and it worked. If you do this, it is at your own risk, I will not be held responsible for damage to your car.

Watch this video (Hopefully it'll load up on here) and pay attention to the direction the motor runs when you have your wipers on. Make note of it use a marker and write it on the linkage with an arrow if you have to. It's helpful to note the position that the linkage parks in before you take the motor and linkage out of your car. It will help you remember the way everything rotates when you get towards the end of the fix. Take lots of pictures HaHa it helped me out a ton.




Below you'll see where my motor decided to park. After you take the linkage and motor out you have to remove the nut that I pointed to in this picture below to free the linkage from the spline.


I have a feeling that the pic below shows what's really going on when the linkage goes out of whack. My wipers started parking across the windshield after trying to remove heavy snow with the wipers one day. The spline in the picture below was definitely slipping, and stripping a bit. There were small bits of metal shavings around it, as well as in the female part of where the spline is bolted to. I cleaned the grease and shavings off with some simple green on both the male and female part of the spline/linkage.



Here's a better shot of the spline and motor from further out. This "spline" thing is what spins when the motor is running and is what turns the linkage.






This thing attaches here HaHa You can see where the linkage bolts up to the spline. The motor for the windshield wipers seems pretty damn strong, so when trying to work under heavy snow/ice, I can see how it would just keep turning causing the spline to slip, and strip.



OK now this is the tricky part.... I don't remember if when looking at this part of the motor if it spins clockwise or counter clockwise. That's why it is important for you to note where your linkage stops when parked and what direction you linkage spins when your wiper motor is running.

Basically two little metal prongs circled in red in the picture below swipe across the disk in a circle. Once they hit the metal part of the disk the wipers park there. You need to line up the brushes to stay within the metal disk to get the motor to be in "park" by spinning the motor by hand. Since the linkage is already detached it should be easier to spin the motor. I circled in blue where you can spin the shaft to make the motor move.

Now that I think about it and see all the pictures I'm pretty damn sure that when looking at the motor the white disk turns clockwise so you should line up the metal prongs with the red dots I marked on the metal disk.

(If for some reason I'm wrong and it spins Counter-clockwise line up the metal prongs with the purple dots.)





Once you've done this do not allow the motor to spin or move or else you'll mess up where the prongs line up. The prongs must be in the proper start position or else you'll end up with your wipers parking in the wrong spot.

Now that everything is lined up and you've got the casing back together and snapped tight its time to reattach the linkage.

Put the linkage back together but dont tighten the nut down that holds the linkage/spline together. Line up the linkage WITHOUT MOVING THE MOTOR like in the picture from realoem.com


Once you've got it looking exactly like this without moving the motor now you need to secure the linkage so it doesnt move when you tighten the linkage/spline nut. I just used some strong clamps I had laying around.


Now tighten the nut down to secure the spline of the motor and the linkage together. I dont know what the torque specs are supposed to be so I just got it on there pretty damn snug (basically tightened the **** out of it).

If for some reason you feel like you moved the motor when tightening just unsnap the case and peek inside to make sure the prongs are still touching the metal disk in the park position.

Now reinstall the whole rig back in your car and test to see everything is working!

Hopefully this helps someone save some $$$$$$$$

Sorry for the rambling notes, its hard to describe, but once you get in there it should all make sense.

Good luck!!!
 
#33 ·
checking the linkage?

Super helpful, thanks all!

I replaced the motor but the wipers were still sticking, im guessing this is why the previous motor burned out. I now have the linkage back out and while i dont see any rust and all the pivot points are greased and look ok if feels bit stiff but moves smoothly....how freely should it move/pivot? not too keen on replacing the linkage if i dont have to!

Thanks!!
 
#34 ·
I just took out my windshield wiper linkage to make some more room for working on my blower motor replacement, and this writeup is spot on. Make sure that you get a 15/16" or 24mm long socket, because conventional sockets won't be able to reach the shallow bolts that hold the assembly in place. The 10mm screw and washer on bottom side of the cowl is not too hard to reach, but it does take some time to extract. Of course you will want to be very careful that this part does not fall down, else you may have a difficult time finding it again.

Thanks to OP for the excellent writeup and for everyone else's insight. I did not stop my wipers at the 12 o'clock position as suggested by some members here. I think that the home position is a little different now, but it's not having any bad effects on the wiper movement. In fact, all vibration that was once in my wipers has stopped. Now I only hear the sound of the wiper blades switching direction at the end of movement. Wonderful!
 
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