C Class 1998 wiper problem
 

I have a 1998 C Class. Yesterday the wiper stopped mid cycle (in a rainstorm at 70 mph!). The car has a single wiper fitted to the front. These wipers describe a strange arc as they as pushed upwards about 1/3 of the way into the cycle and then pulled down about 2/3s in.

The point at which the wiper stopped is exactely at the point where it is pushed out.

On stopping the car I was able to play with the wipers and reset them. On starting them again they stop at exactely the same spot - with a little push they go past this point but always stop at this point. Each time I can hear the motor straining until it some sort of safety cut out comes in.

The garage I took it to are not entirely sure what the problem is.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Have you tried lubricating the wiper mechanism?
There is a small cover at the end of the wiper just before the wiper motor. Lift this up and you should see the shaft. Clean it and then put some grease on it. Hope this is your problem and it will help.

I see this is your first post. Welcome to the forum.:) The search feature here is very good. It should be the first stop when trying to resolve a problem. Having said that, it may be as simple as lubricating the two rods the mechanism rides on. They are right under the large black plastic cover. After releasing the cover, with the wiper stopped in the middle, they are easily oiled(a little ATF works well).

Good luck, Dan

Thanks for the feedback. I've tried lubricating the rod which is directly at the bottom of the wiper blade and this has not helped. I will take off the large back cover and see if lubricating this will do the trick

Many times the plastic gear that guides the shaft will BREAK & that means a new gearing!

Hi M.B.DOC!!

Since you have joined this thread maybe you can give me some of your genious to help my 1998 C230 wiper problem. I am not trying to hijack the thread but maybe there is some relationship (or maybe not). Anyway, mine "skips" on the return path when it is about at 10:00 O'Clock to the drivers view. Even if I fold the arm "up" away from the glass it still jerks at this point. It has nothing to do with the blade. I have tried every kind of grease, spray and oil on the 2 guides under the cover. Nothing makes any difference. I assume I have to pull the whole mechanism out. What will I find? What causes this?

Thanks,

Mike

THe system has "lots" of torque! IF the gearing starts to seize & doesn't have enough lube then that horse-shoe shaped gear can crack.
VERY common problem on the c-class. ON previous cars with that system MB had a split contract....Bosch OR SWF. very low failure rate....But on the W202 C-class the complete contract went to SWF & the failure rate went WAY up!

In those instances where it does crack does this mean that the whole mechanism needs to be replaced or do MB supply individual parts?

No parts... complete gearing...MB 202-820-07-07...

where is this horse shoe shaped gear located? under the top black cover or under the rubber rain guard?

my 1993 did this and replaced with an ebay 1988 mono wiper that is different and does not act right (goes slow and high speed does'nt work). the cover is metal instead of plastic and i can not get it to come completely off. on my 1993 the cover is a 2-piece that pops off and is separate from the shaft, on the 1988 it is a 1-piece including the shaft with 1 screw underneath.

M.B.DOC, Have you (or anyone) ever seen this "jumping blade" symptom I describe? I have searched the site off and on for over a year and also posted about it a few times and I cannot find any other references. Only a few people with blade related problems which is not what I have as I said. It is a Seattle car so I know the wiper mechanism has a lot of "miles".

Mike

My Question to this post is how can others like myself prevent the gearing from going?

All you can do to minimize the risk ( or extend it's life, whatever you prefer ), is keep cleaning & lubing the mechanism on a regular basis. ;)
" Ordinary " wiper mechanisms eventually wear out too, if you keep a vehicle long enough.

I think the trouble seems to be the "horse shoe gear" which must be on the back side. I have lubed the two "guides" on the top side and that doesn't help me. I don't know what else to try. I guess I have to pull the whole thing. In Seattle that means the end of July.

Mike

M.B.Doc. is right.
 

Trust me on this, I took my wiper motor apart (gears section) after it stopped doing the full cycles. I discovered the cheap worn plastic gear and almost had a seizure. What did they think??? Putting a plastic gear against a smaller brass like material gear.

I am not a engineer but I could have figured that one out. Here in Canada, we sometimes have 6 inches of snow on the car or the wiper simply sticks to the winshield in ice.

Picture this; the night before, you go party and come back with the wipers on intermittent because it is snowing. You forget the wiper on and the day after, you start the car, the wiper starts going up and before you know it, it strips the plastic gear. Those Canadians you'll say!!! Well, if you had fun at the party it is worth it at least.

Bought one at MB for 250 Cdn + Taxes and replaced the whole thing myself. Keep the sliding part of the arm lubricated at all time!

Question to M.B.Doc. Since the part number had changed, does it mean they now have a better assembly (no plastic but brass maybe).

I still think it is a very good car and I would buy another one without hesitation. It does the job superbly here in all kinds of weather.

Have a good day everybody.

Pierre

..the part is about $800.

Bloody MB once again using the "lowest bidder."

If it is the lowest bidder then how come it costs 800.00 ?!!

Would not using the wiper much extend its life? My car I dont take out in poor weather including rain so the wiper is barely to never used.

I will open it up when the weather gets warmer and grease the bars.

SWF was the lowest bidder BUT sounds like local dealer may be the thief!
MB suggested list as of 18JAN06 is $570...at that price they make $200 profit!

MB part number is 202-820-07-07..... Check here for price.!.

Not in Canada. MB dealer list here is about $915, but the part can be found for around $800. Mine is skipping and I'll be getting poor for the love a wiper soon. I'd love to buy from Fastlane, but they no longer ship to Canada. :(

Offhand, does anyone know if that part is updated/improved? Though I guess it makes little difference, since I got eight years out of the first one. But, nice to know they at least took the effort to make something better.

This is the kinda stuff that drives you nuts about Mercedes. I've never owned another car that had it's wiper(s) break. Of course, instead of using a "normal" wiper system that just works, and does it forever, they had to invent the moronoic mono-wiper with it's monkey-motion system that not only streaks the windscreen, but can't clear monsoon-rain like most dual-wiper systems can.

Then, of course, when the super-complicated POS assembly breaks, you have to fork over major dough to replace it, instead of making it repairable.

Same part.......

Wiper motor or pivot assembly, my earlier post is misleading
 

My earlier post is misleading because i am talking about the wiper motor, not the wiper pivot assembly. Sorry for misleading anyone. In fact, it is true that the pivot assembly is a lot more expensive than the wiper motor. The wiper motor for my 1998 C230 is part number 202 820 04 08, retail approx. 250$ and the pivot is what M.B.Doc is stating. The rest of my post applies :)

My problem was the plastic gear in the gear box attached to the wiper motor. You can see that gear by taking a little cover off with a torx bit.

Pierre

Allrighty, all you W202 owners had get serious about maintaining your wiper assembly if you're going to extend it's life. My tech has seen the "10:00 skipping" problem caused by both the motor/gear failure and the wiper guide assembly failure. Mine has just begun to skip, so I headed down there this afternoon.

We took the thing apart and inspected the components, finding everything intact. The horseshoe gear wasn't cracked or broken, but the "guides" were pretty gummy. So, we cleaned it all up and lubed it and put it back together. Presto, no more skipping. Seems I "caught" it in time. In those cases, my tech says he has few folks returning with broken gears as long as they keep up on maintaining the assembly. To tell how often they fail, if we'd found broken/cracked bits, he had all the parts in stock. Several sets actually!

This is for blackmercedes.
Can you give some details on how to remove, disassemble, and clean the wiper assembly. What lube did you use? It sounds like your mechanic has a source for the parts. Where did he get them? Did you also get into the motor gears?
Regards, Dan

It's pretty simple once you get the outside cover off. He used a grease, not an oil and paid really close attention to the little "rods" that "shoot" out when the arm goes in and out. You have to have the wiper up out of "park" and then get the cover off (simple and easy to see) and then you'll see the guts and it's all kinda laid out in front of you there.

I am goinf to begin paying special attention to this as a maintenance item after getting a shock at the price of the parts involved. As for the parts themselves (which we didn't need for my car, thank goodness) he sources them from Mercedes-Benz. In Canada, some of the larger volume indies can buy from MB Canada, but there is no real savings for me. He knocks 10% of the list price of the parts for regular customers, but that really eats into a thin margin. He needs labour $$ to make a go of it and makes so little on parts.

The real benefit to dealing with an indie that can buy direct is their ability to get stuff from the rebuilding centres. This means a significant savings on big parts like AC compressors, alternators and even engines and transmissions. He can now offer a 722.6 complete replacement with a factory rebuilt (all updates) unit for $3000 including all parts and labour. Sounds like lots, but considering that pretty much any trans for a Japanese car is $2500 for an older four-speed model and labour on top of that, a new 722.6 for $3K is a good deal.

But, it puts that stupid wiper system in perspective. That part is a big percentage of the cost of a new FIVE SPEED AUTOMATIC! Jeez.

So you are saying all you did was pull the cover off? I have done that but all I see are the 2 "slide rods" but I didn't see any horshoe gear. I have lubed those guides a million times with no effect. So you didn't do any actual disassembly at all? I figure I have to pull it all out to get to the actual gears.

Mike

All you can do to minimize the risk ( or extend it's life, whatever you prefer ), is keep cleaning & lubing the mechanism on a regular basis.
" Ordinary " wiper mechanisms eventually wear out too, if you keep a vehicle long enough.
__________________

Gee, I don't want to say I told you so. ;)

No, he pulled the mechanism to access the gears for inspection. I can't remember what tools exactly 'cause my tech just leaned in and in about a minute it was coming out. It didn't take him long at all! In the end, the area he spent the most time with was the two "slide" rods, as the gears were fine. IF the gears are shot, (motor or horseshoe) then lubing the rods won't do a thing.

Of course, pulling the assembly would probably take me two hours, but I haven't done a couple hundred of them! If lubing the rods isn't doing the trick, now you'll have to figure out if you need the motor ($$) or the guide assembly ($$$$$$). Failure of either will cause the skipping you're having.

wiper blades only work on high speed and often will not finish cycle when shut off.