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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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#36 ·
jeepo23 not sure if you've already fixed this but the write up I did above should fix your problem as well. Your motor is not parking in the right spot. Try to follow my rambling post above and it should help you.
 
#37 ·
My my 2002 330xi passenger side wiper arm wobbles around, and does not apply enough pressure on the winshield, to wipe it clean across the surface. It leaves a dirty spot in the middle of the windshiled only. Would this be caused by a worn out linkage or damping washer? Thanks for your input.
 
#40 · (Edited)
Not to bump an old thread, but thank you very much for this DIY. I did this today.

I did it with very minimal tools. I could not find a deep-socket 15/16" or even a wrench of that size, so I actually used the adjustable wrench in our own toolkit! Worked like a charm. Getting it back on, though, was a real pain and I chewed up the driver's side nut pretty good. But hey, it worked.

Getting the assembly out required me to remove the blower motor cover. Even then, I could barely maneuver it in and out, I had to really push down on the assembly to get the prongs through the hole. I was a little worried I might break the plastic housing around the blower motor, but it was all okay.

Everything is a very, very tight fit. The hardest part for me was the reinstallaton. The plastic/rubber seals that sit on the actual wiper linkage themselves proved to be the hardest part of the DIY. The retaining nuts did not want to go over them.

The best way to deal with this is to take them off. Remove the plastic snap ring and the washer that holds the seal on, then take the wiper linkage nut and run it through a few times. This should help, but it was an absolute pain to get them on. Soapy water helped some, too.

You can get away without having a 15/16" wrench, but it makes your job a hell of a lot harder. I'm just glad to have it done.

I had to replace mine because it was binding and chattering at the top and bottom of its travel. I believe the motor was going bad, but I haven't taken it apart to look yet. The first thing I noticed after I tested it was how quiet this motor is. It's really, really silent.
 
#41 ·
Thanks DenaliXTC :thumbsup:

My issue was the 3 nuts securing the motor to the linkage were loose. The wipers worked, but I would get the occasional bang on the cowl. Finally got sick of it and this DIY helped me out big time. Once I got it out, the motor was barely hanging on to the linkage. Tightened/cleaned everything up and she's operates like she should.

Oh, and I agree, the hardest part was that @#*$*%! 10mm nut securing the linkage to the body. Very awkward location.

Thanks for taking the time and pics!
 
#42 ·
Thanks for this tutorial. I tackled the repair today and it went very well. I think that the key is making sure the linkage is in optimal position before trying to take it out or put the new one in. One noteworthy item is I saw T27 screws mentioned but mine were T30. Here's another tutorial that was really helpful (I referenced both for my repair).

http://www.bmwserviceguides.com/e46-and-e83-wiper-malfunctions/
 
#44 ·
I have a question and think I'm in the right thread.....

After the snow and ice one time last winter my wipers were all F-ed up and the wouldn't work, and then they would, and then they wouldn't. Finally they started working again on their own but now they stop about 10-15 degrees from the bottom. So basically when they turn on, they first sweep DOWN a bit and then go through the full arc and come to rest a little high on the windshield.

I'm assuming that under pressure, the linkage spline just slipped to an off-normal position and all I need to do is adjust it.

My question is, can I just get in there and loosen that connection where the motor attaches to the linkage, rotate the linkage slightly through its scissors motion till it gets to the right point, then tighten up that connection again WHILE STILL LEAVING THE WHOLE MOTOR AND LINKAGE INSTALLED IN THE CAR? I'd prefer not to have to reach in and find that hard to do 10mm nut, and pull the whole thing out, just to adjust the linkage by an inch or two. I know the motor will be stopped at what it thinks is the DOWN position, so rather than rotating the motor and all that, I'd think just moving the linkage to where it is scissored to its proper DOWN position and then tightening that spline nut would do the job?

Has anyone done this successfully? Or can you not loosen that spline nut without taking out the whole linkage? I'm trying to picture it based on the DIY and can't quite envision it.
 
#47 · (Edited)
Holomis ... I assume you fixed this by now but just in case - I used a battery terminal puller to get it off.

Now, onto my dilemma. While reinstalling the wiper arm, I "wiggled" it a little too much and it snapped the black plastic part that connects the silver piping and the bolt that the wiper arm mounts on. I completely removed it and currently have some gorilla glue curing in a feeble attempt to remain in the state of denial that this move just cost me $400. Any ideas out there, before I order a new one?
 
#49 ·
Tony3series - Great instructions. Used them to set the park position correctly but I didn't clean any of the grease that I saw on the white disk or the copper prongs. Wipers are still very noisy and its not the blades or linkage as both are new. From your pictures, it looks like you only have grease on the metal worm gear that is below the white disk. Did you end up greasing the white disk or copper prongs?

Any other thoughts as to what may be causing the noisy wipers?

Cheers.

Jeff
 
#50 ·
Hey guys, I'm wondering if the symptom I have could be resolved by cleaning the motor as described here. The wipers are very slow... About 10 seconds for a single wipe on the fastest setting. Anyone else found that this could be resolved by cleaning the motor? I've heard the linkage may just be seized as well...
 
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