Wiper blade parking

[fire-n-ice]

hi cj, ok, sounds like the wiper relay needs replacing Dan said, and hopefully that fixes the problem, otherwise you may to replace the *gulp* wiper motor. We drove my Z and played with the wipers a bit, they did not change positions from work to at rest, so indeed something is wrong. We did find though that my windshield wiper sprayer on the drivers side squirts crooked, toward the passenger side. It's in the garage now getting fixed. Ahhhh, the luxury of having a mechanic in your back yard

Please let us know if this is the case.
T.

[cj10jeeper]

OK - that's great and points me exactly to the spot - thank you

Fortunately I have to take a 2 week vacation in the sun before I have to to think about wiper blades and the endless rain of an English Summer..

[fire-n-ice]

Kewl . My advice: enjoy the sun while you can! I hate the cold and I'm outside as much as possible in the sunshine. Also, if you need any pics of where/what, just let me know and I'll snap a few for you as a DIY thing.

Enjoy your vaca
T.

[cj10jeeper]

I finally found half an hour to pull the wiper motor out and see what I could find wrong.

Easy enough to remove the wiper arms then the large plastic cover between screen and engine bay. Wiper comes out with a couple of star bolts and a plastic clamp.

Onto the bench and the first task was to pull all the arms off and the spindles out for a decent grease. That should fix the squeak they have. Next was to get to the park problem wher they cycle back up the screen and don't park correctly.

Pulled the top off the gearbox and sure enough there is a partail arc electrical connector that obviously keeps current to the motor after switched off until it cycles to the park position. Nothing was obvious and there is no adjustment on it, however it had a trail of grease. I cleaned it off suspecting that it was not allowing a clean break of the circuit.

Put it all back together, tested it and perfect. Silent wipers, parking in the exact correct spot and all done at no cost....

Couple of photos of the inside of the motor showing the connecting ring with break to allow parking and the contacts on the face of the motor cover:

[gannet]

Glad to hear you got it sorted for nothing

[fall6997]

Hi there,
I have just bought a Z4 3.0 si roadster and have the same problem with my wipers. Have it booked into a dealership for next Tuesday but reluctant to take it in if i can sort the issue myself as out of warreny. Is getting the wiper motor out easy and if so can you post a step-by-step?
Cheers
Mehdi

[elliot_holder]

Dont suppose there is a write up on this??

I now have the exact same problem.... sounds like it could be a common one!And if it can be fixed without the need to go to the dealership it would be excellent..

Havent had much luck recently, keep having all the common z4 problems on my car, first it was cracked springs, then a dodgy drivers side locking mechanism. and now the wipers!
If it werent for all these problems I could have had a nice set of //M seats by now...

[AndyZ4]

Mine's just started doing this every so often, but very intermittent. Probably once or twice a month for one sweep/park then sorts itself out straight away. Hopefully just a grease trail in the motor, but may have the garage check it anyway as still under the warranty.

[fall6997]

Popped to the BMW dealership today and i am not happy!!!! It took them 3 hours of labour cost not to be able to correct the problem!!!! I even told them about the above article and they didnt bother trying it. What a waste of my breath. I really hate it well stupid customer service personel just dont listen! Hate it, hate it, hate it!!!!!!! Anyway they were trying to bill me for 3 hours labour for NOT fixing the parking of the wiperblades and i nearly blew my top at 100 pounds and hour+Vat!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eventually i only paid 30 pounds for NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm really really angry!!! Any tips or help anyone as dont wanna go near the dealership again!!! Idiots!!!!!

[gannet]

That sucks

My dealer always conveniently seems to think the internet doesn't exist...

[fall6997]

Just tried the above suggestion. It was easy to access but did not fix the issue. I noticed an adjustment screw on the wiperblade motor that helped with getting the blade slightly lower and out of view but still bounces a little.

[Crusoe]

noticed my wipers weren't always returning to the lowest park position all the time, a couple of quick single wipes ad they usually sorted themselves out. Prompted by this thread I asked the dealer to take a look while my car was in for something else yesterday, said it needs the whole wiper assembly replaced. As long as I'm not paying for it that's fine with me, makes you wonder if they could actually fix anything though, tempted to do it myself with the instructions above but as it's under warranty i'll let them fit a new one.

[AndyZ4]

Similar for me - I was told it was the motor and they replaced it under warranty. My rain sensitive wipe had also failed around the same time, so they had to replace the rain sensor on the glass as well, which also involved replacing the windscreen. I'm just glad I still have the warranty!!!!

[Tommo]

Mine does this too. Extremely annoying because as they move fractionally up the wiper blade becomes the highest obstruction of my vision. Only by a tiny amount but it does seem a very strange system.

[elliot_holder]

Sounds like its a common issue.

Still havent managed to fix mine, fingers crossed I dont need a new wiper assembly, as Im out of warrenty!