wiper motor failure

[pete.chester1@hotmai]

Havin had nearly 5 years trouble free motoring in my cooper s ...wipers failed in heavy rain. ..rang dealer car well out of warranty...quoted £400 for repair!!! ...went to local garage auto electrician quoted £150....so i accepted his offer...2 days later he addmitted defeat,could not get to the motor.. having used diagnostic computer to check body control computer which told him motor was the fault...he then attempted repair which again came more problems,he spoke to rydales apparently they said he had to virtually cut the car open to get to motor !!!...he was not willing to do this..!! thankfully.He put car back together ,no charge for time or effort and addmitted defeat.I had to go to Rydales with tail between my legs £338.00 later...what should be an easy repair...made very costly!!..beware!! most cars on the road,wiper motors last for decades why not Minis?????

[JAMIE1131]

wiper motors are a pain in the backside to replace so £338 seems pretty reasonable from a main dealer!

[Root Ginger]

The wiper motors failing are a reasonably common problem on the MINI. I don't know if there was a dodgy batch of motors or just that the motors weren't up to the job. They're put under a lot of strain at motorway speeds, due to how upright the screen is and the air trying to pull them off the screen. Luckily mine failed under the extended warranty.

TBH if you've had 5 years trouble free from your car then I'd take this on the chin like a man. There are a few other common problems you've avoided so far.

[cristo]

Quote: Originally Posted by JAMIE1131 (original)

wiper motors are a pain in the backside to replace so £338 seems pretty reasonable from a main dealer!

Here's a how to thread from another site.
MINI COOPER :: North American Motoring - Front Wiper Motor Install how-to
Says it's easy and takes about 30 minutes.

[Root Ginger]

Quote: Originally Posted by cristo (original)

Here's a how to thread from another site.
MINI COOPER :: North American Motoring - Front Wiper Motor Install how-to
Says it's easy and takes about 30 minutes.

After reading that cristo it seems the dealers are making a killing on this replacement!

[cristo]

I think they do whatever they can bloody get away with.

[Root Ginger]

Quote: Originally Posted by cristo (original)

I think they do whatever they can bloody get away with.

That is true I recently found I was stiffed by BMW. I had a new radiator fitted by BMW. They were investigating another problem when they discovered that I only had one mount holding the radiator on. The others had snapped. As the car was apart anyway they said they only charge me for the part. Excellent I thought.

I've since seen others quoting BMW prices for replaing the rad inc labour and I paid the same price thinking I was just paying for the rad

[Fishtail]

My rear wiper motor has failed, i would like to fix myself if possible, anyone know how hard a job it is?? Was planning on getting a motor from the scrappies....

[Randall Raines]

Quote: Originally Posted by cristo (original)

Here's a how to thread from another site.
MINI COOPER :: North American Motoring - Front Wiper Motor Install how-to
Says it's easy and takes about 30 minutes.

I've just noticed this thread and saw the above post, on reading the actual article / post it seems too easy and then I noticed it was a LHD MINI (with it being on NAM), the UK RHD MINI wiper motors are not quite as easy as that to change but saying that they are not as hard as it states in the Haynes Manuals, as this state the need of the scuttle panel removal and and everything else entailed in removing it (scuttle panel), you only possibly need to do that if the whole assembly has failed ie. the mechanism has seized or broken, if it's just the motor you can actually release it as in the stated article / post but its not quite as simple to remove from the MINI .

So be a little weary UK RHD MINI owners , It's OK for you LHD MINI owners though , also make sure that it is only the motor that has gone and not a fault with the complete mechanism as as a new motor wont fix that .

I've had to sort out a couple of these after supposedly professional mechanics have given up on them, partly because it sounds like a quick money earner when someone asks "how much to change a wiper motor", quoting a price before they realise what's involved .

By ths scuttle panel I mean the panel under the windscreen between the windscreen and the bonnet, this is on 1 Gen BMW MINIs, R50s R52s & R53s .

[Richard Crofts]

On the RHD cars its because of loads of pipes etc and the access to the motor in the scuttle areas. I weas charged around 350-400 for mine. We actually later found that by hitting the wiper arm and jolting it past the broken electrical conection they started working again. They then only stop when it happens to stop when in line with that damaged electrical point agiain. When in motion they keep working, its just when they stop in the wrong place. 90% of time it would have kept going!

[MINIMANIAUK]

99% of the wiper motor problems are with the park switch contact -you can remove the old one and strip it down ,gently file the contact and reassemble and refit -it works
removing the motor alone on RHD cars can be done at home it is around 1 hour job, if the pantograph mechanism has gone south its a lot longer -the motor is supplied with a new pantograph arm
How on earth I am going to sell any of these now !!!

[Randall Raines]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINIMANIAUK (original)

99% of the wiper motor problems are with the park switch contact -you can remove the old one and strip it down ,gently file the contact and reassemble and refit -it works
removing the motor alone on RHD cars can be done at home it is around 1 hour job, if the pantograph mechanism has gone south its a lot longer -the motor is supplied with a new pantograph arm
How on earth I am going to sell any of these now !!!

Because you are being honest and some people need someone to do the job anyway, not everybody is mechanically minded, I've had a couple of motors fail again after cleaning the contact (park switch module to motor) and the motor failed again within days, another strip down & the contact was burnt again, the auto electrician said it must have been the module causing a short resulting in failure again so after that and because they are quite awkward to get out, I would advise people to replace the old one with a new one, unless they want to take the chance, which normally depends on the cost £££££ of the motor .

Myself, I take the chance because I can do the labour myself .

So there you go, more units sold! .

[MINIMANIAUK]

Honesty ----didnt do Gerald Ratner any good

[richg40]

The main dealer price is so high because it's quite a time consuming job. I mean, it's fiddly as hell getting the mech out without scratching anything nevermind taking out the torx bolts bolts that hold the scuttle panel on.

[Randall Raines]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINIMANIAUK (original)

Honesty ----didnt do Gerald Ratner any good

I had to do a little search on that, I'm not to up on General Knowledge or News , I must be working to hard .

Quote: Originally Posted by richg40 (original)

The main dealer price is so high because it's quite a time consuming job. I mean, it's fiddly as hell getting the mech out without scratching anything nevermind taking out the torx bolts bolts that hold the scuttle panel on.

The main thing here is, If it's just the motor or park switch / park switch module (fastened to the motor) that's gone there is no need to remove the complete mechanism (pantograph mechanism) which also includes removing the scuttle panel, you only need to remove the motor which seperates from the mechanism .

If the mechanism (pantograph mechanism) has gone faulty, worn, seized then the scuttle panel has to be removed to remove that, I did get one out without removing the scuttle panel once but I had to loosen off the brake servo .

The Main Dealers will have to replace the complete unit (motor & mechanism), I suppose .

Those TX 25 Torx bits, I've lost count of how many I've broken (undoing the Torx bolts on the scuttle and the bottom of the A-panels (they're painted on, the tool man stopped replacing the guaranteed ones , he was loosing his lively-hood ) you can't really heat them up or centre-punch them (only with extreme caution) because of the screen and the delicate A-panel.