wiper motor

[hgupta]

my windshield wipers aren't working anymore. (But they used to) It sounds like the motor is trying to turn but the shaft that holds the wiper blades is stuck. How do I get to the motor? Should I be able to turn them by hand?

[bstreep]

Hemant:

Which car, the 190SL? If so you CAN do what I do: RainX! For the rare times I get stuck out in the rain. I know people who actually remove their wipers, it works that well. I really need to do some R & R on mine, but I keep forgetting. In any case, I think the 190SL Group Tech manual has a section on it.

[hgupta]

Yes, this is on the 190SL. It seems a little scary to just rely on rainx, especially with the heavy summer memphis rains. I think the shaft is just rusted so that it won't tunr anymore. Where is the wiper motor anyways? The manual says to remove the cowl, but that doesn't seem applicable to this car!

[Jim Villers]

Hemant .... You are in for a treat and lots of fun. It has been years so bear with me. The wiper motor I believe is behind/left of the glove box. It has a crank with a ball joint that moves a flat control rod to the driver's side wiper gearbox. There is a second flat rod that connects the driver's side to the passenger side wiper gearbox. The oscillation of the rods turn a gear that turns a gear on the wiper shaft that makes the wipers go. It sounds like you have a bad wiper gearbox. They are hard to see under the dash and harder still to replace. They are held on by two small bolts to keep them from turning and the main nut that is under the rubber wiper grommet on the cowl. By removing the wiper arm, chrome cover, rubber grommet and nut, you can unscrew the retainer and remove the wiper shaft with its gear. If that gear is stripped, you might get away with just finding a replacement shaft. Otherwise, I also recommend RainX.

[Jim Villers]

I was wrong, the motor connects to the passanger side wiper gear box. You can see a drawing on page 47 of the 190SL parts picture book.