I recently bought a 1995 E320 sedan from a 90 year old man. When I looked at the car I noticed the mono-wiper was in the park position but on the wrong side of the windshield (passenger side-as if the car just came from Ireland or England). I asked him why that was, and he said that he had the wiper motor replaced last year. He also noticed it wasn't right and the mechanic told him he "installed the motor backwards" - whatever the hell that means...

Obviously this previous owner didn't take any action to have them fix it. I am now replacing the pollen filters and want to park the mechanism/wiper over on the driver's side. My quandary is how to get it over to the other side. The wiper motor is in place correctly, i.e. not "backwards or upside-down - it can only go in one way. The entire mechanism (I'm guessing) needs to be "moved". I don't know if it's as simple as undoing the nut on the motor spindle, lifting the mechanism up and indexing it over to the opposite side - is it that easy? I'm having a hard time trying to visualize how that would work, and the movement of the mechanism at the firewall. Any help would be appreciated...

It is that simple. But I've always thought it makes more sense to be on the passenger side anyway... out of the view of the driver. I guess the reason to have it on the driver's side is so that the driver's view gets cleaned first when the wipers are turned on.

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1987 W201 190D

Interesting, I guess that's just what we're used to this side of the Atlantic.

I suppose I would have to release the mechanism from the threaded spindle on the motor and just rotate the mechanism 180 degrees... Have you done this before or have you installed a motor and experienced this?

You just have to remove the nut on the tapered spindle on the motor and lift the linkage bar off the taper. Sometimes you have to pry the link off the taper a little, then simply reindex the wiper. BE SURE THE IGNITION IS OFF WHEN YOU DO THIS because if it is on and you move the motor off its park position, the wipers will suddenly start and hurt you.

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1987 W201 190D

Right, actually I removed the battery to charge it. Job done. Thanks. I guess I was overthinking it and how the system with its eccentric cam operates. I also greased (with Syl-Glide), the entire sliding mechanism. It moves very smoothly now.