Windscreen wiper adjustment

[gordsbet]

Hi All

I have just bought a 2004 Desire 1.9d 104,000 miles and driven it back from Scotland. The windscreen wipers work fine at low speeds around town, but at higher speeds on the open road the driver's side wiper blade extends further on its upward traverse and hits the windscreen surround with a loud bang! I presume it is the wind pressure on the windscreen that is causing this further movement?

Any way, has anyone encountered this problem before and most importantly, how was it fixed?

All suggestions will be most welcome.

Thanks
Gordon

[3rensho]

Haven't encountered the problem myself but perhaps if you used wiper blades like the Bosch AeroTwin that might help with the wind pressure. Just a thought.

[homeruk]

Could be a worn spline on the arm causing it to slip , have you pulled it off to have a look?

What size is the wiper blade (should be 22" on the both of them )

[gordsbet]

Hi homeruk

Thanks for your input. The blades are 21.5" long. With the wipers in their resting position, there does not appear to be any play in the shaft/spline to which the wiper arm is attached.

[ffrenchie]

I had to fit a 20" to the driver side to cure it on our car as it was wearing a groove in the surround. I tried adjusting it on the splines but it caused a problem at the lower point. It's fine now and cleans enough screen.

[geoff]

 I had similar when I bought my 55 plate 1.9d and closer examination revealed that the arms were on the wrong way around so after just 15 minutes they were swapped over and the problem was solved. Fingers crossed for you.

[gordsbet]

Thanks Geoff. Great tip. Will look into it and see if that fixes it.

[homeruk]

Could be part of the mechanism which is hidden that's worn unless you pull it all apart it diffcult to know.

[gordsbet]

Hi All

Thanks for your input. Tried to remove the driver's side wiper arm but it had seized on, so had to get help from a local mechanic who had a small puller to pull it off. All we did was to reposition it on the spline further away from the driver's side of the windscreen and tighten the nut.

I am off to Scotland tomorrow morning so will be able to see whether the problem has been fixed.

[cancunia]

I had to fit a 20" to the driver side to cure it on our car as it was wearing a groove in the surround. I tried adjusting it on the splines but it caused a problem at the lower point. It's fine now and cleans enough screen.

The great thing about this forum is the amount of useful info you can find after a short search.
My recently bought 1.6 has the same problem as above, but the 2.0 I had before was fine. Maybe there's an adjustment somewhere for the sweep angle?
The driver's side wiper is horizontal at rest so looks like a shorter blade will be next on the shopping list. Anyone tried a 21" blade? If not I'll get a 20" blade.