Front wiper arms removal - rainwater leak drivers footwell

[L162LZ]

Hi Veteran, I think the second one Ive ordered is one of the ones you have suggested, so hopefully this one will perform better

[veteran]

Yes, that looks like the one. The price asked for that on eBay at present seems very good.

You'll find that, on that A-746, each of the outer 'claws' can be slid toward the centre-bolt, giving you lots of accommodation. The tool's made from tough forged steel. The slim and chamfered sides of the claws fit more easily into the restricted space you have around the spindle, on the Polo.

You'll find it fiddly and a bit floppy as you first offer the tool over the wiper spindle, but once you've screwed down the bolt to some degree it'll all become rigid and then you can get a spanner on the bolt's hex end to further tighten down. Don't forget to temporarily put the spindle nut loosely back on to the spindle before you apply the tool, as that helps keep the bolt centred, preventing it from 'wandering'.

Good luck with the job. Let us all know how it works out in the end.

[RUM4MO]

It should have been something like Plus Gas that you initially applied to the dry seized splines, now that oil has wetted that area release fluid will not want to creep down and do their job. One other thing, once you get the new type of puller, maybe load it up "quite well" and leave it for an hour or so, instead of trying to apply huge amounts of torque to the lead screw until something gives.

[L162LZ]

Thanks for the tips, much appreciated

[RUM4MO]

Thanks for the tips, much appreciated

I had trouble taking the rear wiper off my wife's old 2002 Polo when it was maybe 8 years old, luckily for me VW SA did not make a good job of fitting/aligning the front wipers on her August 2015 Polo, so I sorted that the day we took delivery of it brand new - so that meant two things, the nut was not seriously tightly screwed down onto the arms, and there was no corrosion, so I'd think that if I had tried hard enough, I would have been able to remove the nuts and wiggle the arms free. Never the less, I completely removed both arms, cleaned up the spilines and mounting areas, applied "some sort of grease" to stop/hinder the passage of moisture, and bolted them back down in the correct orientation, though possibly slightly tighter than initially!

Edit:- that 2002 Polo's wipers did slow down with age and I used to "feed" them with 3 in 1 machine oil every summer after I had detected them slowing down, and that seemed to keep them alive until we moved it on at 13 years and 105K miles.

[L162LZ]

OK Finally managed to get this done today. Once finally managed to get the wiper arms off, process was this:

1) Remove foam rubber seal at front of the plenum cover, just pulls off easily

2) remove plenum cover this is secured at the back via a "tongue and groove" type fixing along the length of the cover, Start at one end from underneath and use something to push the cover up. I used a hammer shaft and then flat bat to lever it up. Was quite fiddly as theres not much room to the edge of the bonnet as it starts to seperate. Once you get the end seperated the rest is pretty easy. I Then cleaned the tongue and slot to make sure they would clip together again easily

3) Remove the 2 star bolts holding the motor assembly in place and the electrical connection. You cannot remove the motor assembly straight away as its too close to the plenum bulkead so you need to create some extra space

4) I didnt remove the whole bulkhead just worked my way from the left hand side (UK driver side). To get to the fixings you have to loosen the accoustic felt by removing to wide fixing, then there are some star bolts, a plastic nut that holds some electrics and a double ended bolt with 10mm nut in middle (see pic for what fixings I removed)

5) Pull bulkead forward and wriggle the motor assemble free, there's a location peg at the back as well.

6) Fit replacement motor assembly, bolts and electrical connection (TEST BEFORE GOING FURTHER)

7) Re-Fix bulkhead/felt

Fix plenum cover back in place and push foam front strip back in place

9) reattach wiper arms and align

Left hand rorating spindle on old motor assembly was really seized, impossible to move by hand, definately worth buying a 2nd hand spare (latest version "c") to have regreased and ready to fit


Some pics I took whilst doing it

Lip on underside of Plenum Cover

Lip on underside of Plenum Cover

Locator groove for lip on underside of Plenum cover

Locator groove for lip on underside of Plenum cover

2 Hex key bolts and location spike

2 Hex key bolts and location spike

Pull felt forward once retainer and plastic nut removed

Pull felt forward once retainer and plastic nut removed

Location of Bulkhead fixings I removed to allow it to be moved

Location of Bulkhead fixings I removed to allow it to be moved

Left hand side of Belkhead with fixings removed

Left hand side of Belkhead with fixings removed

Felt & Bolts removed from LHS of Bulkhead

Felt & Bolts removed from LHS of Bulkhead

LHS motor assembly bolt

Left hand side of Belkhead with fixings removed

RHS motor assembly bolt

RHS motor assembly bolt

[veteran]

L16,

Glad you got your wipers sorted.

Your 2010 1.6 TDI has a plenum arrangement that's decidedly different to mine on my 2017 1.2 TSI, in that on my 1.2 there are no wiper-associated fixings outside of the plenum chamber itself. That's to say, there are no wiper-associated fixings or parts on the bulkhead, below the plenum chamber. In fact, it wouldn't be possible on my 1.2 to have any fixings of any kind directly under the plenum, on the bulkhead, because several metal hydraulic pipes occupy that space instead. Thus, on my 1.2, all w-wiper fixings are contained within the plenum. Also, whereas the back edge of your plenum cover seems to consist of a long slot, on later Polos like mine the back edge has instead built into it a number of male clips that push-fit into female receptacles on the bodywork at the base of the windscreen. As a result, a somewhat different technique for releasing that back edge has to be used.

[RUM4MO]

I think that either removing the dust/water caps/seals on the 2 spindles should let anyone run some lubricant down the wiper arm spindles and improve things if carried out maybe at the 6 year (guessimate) point in a car's life, then repeated every 2 or 3 years - or doing that and fitting new dust/water caps/seals instead of reusing the hardened worn original ones.

I have done that in a previous car, make and model I can't say, but I did buy and fit after re-oiling spindles to extend the life of slowing down wipers to beyond the point that I moved that car on, it could have been that 2002 Polo.