Technical Wiper arm bolt size

[theWarhelm]

Good afternoon all,
I looked in existing threads and couldn't find an answer, hopefully I haven't missed an existing one!

I took my Grande Punto (2007, 1.4 77hp) about a month ago to get new springs. While they were working on the car the had to remove the wipers and they noticed that the bolt head on the driver side had been previously glued on. They replaced the bolt and it's been working fine so far (although I haven't used the wiper as much) but yesterday I noticed that the wiper is catching on the bonnet plastic.

I saw other people reporting a similar issue but it has never done that prior to the the bolt replacement. I also noticed they added some spacers so it could be that the bolt is too long and maybe isn't pushing the wiper down correctly.

Does anyone have the size and length of the original bolt. I looked for a new arm as well but they seem out of stock everywhere.

Let me know if more details are needed.

Many thanks!

 

[portland_bill]

It is not a bolt.
The arm sits on a tapered spindle, with a nut on top to hold it tight. The spindle is part of the mechanism that gives it the back & forth motion, from a motor that just spins. If the spindle is damaged, the whole mechanism issupplied complete. New will be expensive, but Ebay may throw up a used one form a crashed car.
The spindle has sharp splines on it, and the arm has a tapered hole, that when tightened for the first time gets grooves cut into it by the spindle splines. From then on, it is difficult to reposition it except for one whole spline either way. It is important to ensure that the mechanism is in it snormal park position before refitting the arms. There are usually little circles on the screen as markers for the blades at rest.
To reposition, you have to remove the nut, then the spring in the arm will try to twist the arm, making it tight, so you have to lift the arm off the screen to relieve this tension. usually a good wriggle, and some swearing will remove them, but sometimes a tiny puller is needed.
Once off, you try to refit in the position you want, but the splines and grooves will fight to put it back where it was, good luck. A new arm of course will go wherever you put it, but will still try its best to sit in the wrong position.

They have removed the wipers to then remove the plastic cover, to gain access to the strut tops, necessary when removing the struts to replace the springs.

Edit: Found this one quickly. Looks a bit grubby, but should clean up ok. Better ones might be available if you look.

WIPER LINKAGES MECHANISM 2006 FIAT GRANDE PUNTO | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for WIPER LINKAGES MECHANISM 2006 FIAT GRANDE PUNTO at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[theWarhelm]

Thanks for the detailed reply!

It is not a bolt.
The arm sits on a tapered spindle, with a nut on top to hold it tight. The spindle is part of the mechanism that gives it the back & forth motion, from a motor that just spins. If the spindle is damaged, the whole mechanism issupplied complete.

Ah, I see. So maybe whoever worked on the car before broke the spindle and they glued it back together. When they looked at it at the other garage they thought is was bolt.

They have removed the wipers to then remove the plastic cover, to gain access to the strut tops, necessary when removing the struts to replace the springs.

Sorry, I know they had to remove the wiper to access the strut, I didn't mean to imply the had something wrong

I am also thinking that they might have removed the bonnet and that might also need repositioning as well. The wiper arm catches on the bonnet even when I close the bonnet, it didn't use to do that before.

Thanks for link, I'll have a look as well for a new wiper mechanism.

Any detail that is missing from this video to install the replacement?


Thanks again!

 

[portland_bill]

Painful video to watch, nothing really wrong with what he says, just takes too long to say it.
Nice point about the locator bush.

Clean up the splines on the spindles before fitment, easier that way.
Run it several times before fitting the arms, to ensure they are in the proper parked position.
You may need to get new nuts if yours have been 'lost'.

 

[portland_bill]

There is supposed to be a thin washer under each nut, so may need to source replacements for these too.

 

[theWarhelm]

Apologies for the late reply, I finally got around to install the replacement today. It's still catching on the bonnet when I close it, but at least both spindles are now intact. I tried to tighten the bolt a bit more so that the arm would get lower but if it's too tight the wipers won't move.

The passenger side (the "good" one) didn't have a washer as well, will get a couple to fit in.

Thanks for your all your help, much appreciated!