Wiper explosion!!

2661 Views 11 Replies 8 Participants Last post by E39LOLZ, Dec 17, 2011

BlueBomber

Discussion Starter · Feb 22, 2005 (Edited)

Well a friend and I decided to go on a day trip to Atlantic City to play some poker yesterday. On our way home, it was raining pretty hard and I had the wipers going at full speed. All was well, when all of a sudden we see that the two wipers for some odd reason got tangled in the middle of the windshield. Then as the motor tried to separate the two wipers, it practically exploded!! I mean my driver side wiper blade and mount riped right off the wiper arm and flew off my car. The passenger side wiper was just stuck upright.

We pull over to assess the damage and find out that we have no driver side wiper anymore and the passenger side wiper motor is toast. I was hoping to find some "Rainex" at the gas station but they didn't have any.

We ended up driving home (~100 miles) without any wipers...

I'm willing to bet no one here has experienced this before... just thought I'd share this "interesting" experience

Going to the dealer to find out what this will set me back. Luckily, I made out like a bandit at poker!!

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Beamer_usa

· #2 · Feb 22, 2005

I'm not sure if your car is covered with the CPO, but I hope it covers the work.

Keep us posted??????

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SpiderSense

· #3 · Feb 22, 2005

fun. glad you made it home ok. good job at AC. alot of my money is there.

i've had that happen, but not the M5. it happens when the wiper lengths are not right. or maybe yours weren't locked in, slid, and collided.

i bet the hardest part driving home was resisting the urge to wipe! windshield scratches are always in the worst spots.

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boostmiser

· #4 · Feb 22, 2005

Had a similar situation occur years ago with my 93 Mustang LX 5.0. I was in college (UofD) and went to see a friend at St. Bonaventure (380 miles each way) On the way up, it started snowing. It's night time and I'm in unfamiliar territory far from my home, driving through mountins in a Mustang with no snow tires. Then my wiper motors starts acting up. It slows down then goes. Then all of a sudden it goes out completely. It's late and dangerous but I keep on moving and arrive at my destination. I was pissed because it was a new car. The next day, I was going to find a Ford dealer but the wipers begin working, plus I'm there to party. Of course I had a fun weekend and before I knew it, it was time to head home. On the return trip, here we go again. It's raining and the wipers go out on me again. It was downpouring so hard I had to pull over several times. Other time my head was out the window. I think this rain lasted the entire trip...it just wouldn't end. It took a lot of concentration but I arrived home safely. No fun, to say the least. I feel for you.

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BmwNut

· #5 · Feb 22, 2005

Wow, that is really interesting. I never even saw the wipers get close on my E39, so I think the wipers coming unlocked somehow is the best theory.
That wouldn't have bothered me too much as I hate wipers so much I hardly use them unless the window is really bad. I only swipe them when there are small droplets everywhere. Any big drops I let the remaining Rain-X take care of or areodynamics. Something about the E39's big wipers crossing my view all the time used to drive me nuts.
:cheers:

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zooop1

· #6 · Dec 13, 2011

Old thread Revival
-This just happened to my M5 only on the passenger side flew apart after they crashed into each other. I cannot find on realoem the exact parts I'm missing now, but I believe its a linkage that connects the two arms together. Can someone take a pic of your wiper setup in detail so I can see what I'm missing? Thanks.

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mattmartindrift

· #7 · Dec 14, 2011

You'll basically need everything, but the motor - i just went through this after a windshield installer improperly reinstalled the wiper arm assemblies. It comes to about $400 in parts; or, you can buy a set from an e39 parts car - check the classifieds.

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zooop1

· #8 · Dec 14, 2011

The wiper arm is still there, but nothing to connect the two together. When I look at them I cannot see where the parts even are supposed to connect, even with the covers removed.. I'll have to spy on someone's e39 in a parking lot and see what I'm missing I guess.

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mattmartindrift

· #9 · Dec 14, 2011

There is no connecting linkage, at least above the cowl.

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E39LOLZ

· #10 · Dec 16, 2011 (Edited)

So we can safely assume that this happens more or less than rod bearing failure

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zooop1

· #11 · Dec 16, 2011

E39LOLZ said:
So we can safely assume that this happens more or less than rod bearing failure

HEY don't curse me! I just turned 100K last week!!!

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E39LOLZ

· #12 · Dec 17, 2011 (Edited)

zooop1 said:
HEY don't curse me! I just turned 100K last week!!!

I am at 122k miles and I pray to the M5 God's that my rod bearings will last as long as Tranck's 2nd set of bearings..... Yet again another thread hijack.

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