We were borrowing my brother-in-law’s 2006 Jetta and the day after a snow storm, the windshield wipers stopped working. They came up half way and then stopped and don’t move further. You can hear a whirring noise,like something is trying to go, but no movement. We’ve been quoted $500-600 to replace the windshield wipers and motor, but we don’t think they need to be replaced, just repaired. Any thoughts on ho to repair it ourselves and what parts to buy? Thanks!
Check that the nuts holding the wiper arms to the shafts aren’t loose.
+1 db4690 if you can hear the motor running odds are the nuts have come loose. If the snowfall was heavy the resistance f the snow against the wipers likely loosened the wiper arms. If that turns out to be the case, by all means find a new mechanic too.
The motor connects to the linkage which connects to the wipers themselves. If the motor runs, then there is a problem with the linkage. Either the connection has come apart or has seized. If it has come apart, could be either a nut loose or the ball joint is shot. On my Pontiac the ball joint socket was shot and required replacing the linkage. My linkage was about $70 but yours may be cheaper. You just have to take the wipers off and the trim pieces and see what is wrong first.
Remove one of the wiper arms and make sure the splines have not been stripped. You may have lucked out and the nuts may be loose but in heavy snow and ice the splines are the first to go. You will need new wiper arms if this is the case.
My wipers on a 02 jetta seized up and i hand to rework them. here is the post I learned from.
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=198712&highlight=wipers+stuck
Mine were so seized that i actually had to heat them up with a propane torch to take apart. Hope this helps. let me know what ya think.
Oh and once you loosen up the linkage from motor, fire’m up to see if the motor is working properly, could simply be the motor too.
Hello my VW wipers aren’t working I’ve taken it to the shop and they replaced my transmission and the motor works they tried to replace the switch and it still doesn’t work, they told me they are stumped what could be the issue. Thank you
They have told me it’s not a loose joint or anything that the signal isn’t getting to the blades to move but everything work I don’t understand and I’m very concerned