Merkin

tools needed

16mm socket
t30 torx
10mm socket
high quality grease
small hammer or heavy rachet to pound with
flat head screwdriver
needle nose plier or snap ring plier
carb/brake cleaner
about 1-2 hours
some cussing during removal

first remove top cover and should see this.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/31824/no_cover.jpg">

remove wiper arms by removing the 2 16mm nuts on the pivot, if you don't have a small puller, gently lift the pivot point up with a flat head and hammer the top threaded area down, that should separate the arm from the linkage.

remove 3 clips on the upper trim, left, right, and center.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/31824/cover_clip.jpg">

push up to remove trim, the hood has to be at different angles to make removal/install possible or else the back corners would crush the trim.

after taking out the trim you should see the wiper trans in plain sight
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/31824/wiper_in_car.jpg">

remove 3 10mm bolts on the sides and center to loosen trans/motor assembly. also either cut the cloth holding the wires on the bottom side of the wiper motor. i prefer cutting because its easy and that area is not critical.

also remove the ECU cover as it is in the way of the linkages.

now loosen the gold center 13mm nut with a open end wrench on the wiper trans to ease removal since the pivot rods are free to move around. this might take a while as you cuss and swear trying to maneuver the assembly out, also don't scratch up too much of the paint under the hood.

don't yank on the assembly since there is a wire connector on the bottom.

now the wiper assembly is freed
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/31824/wiper_out_car.jpg">

the proper position of the gold gyro center section is to the left, that means the wiper is all the way in the down position. if the wipers are not in their correct resting position, this pivot arm with gold center nut is not in this position.

now the entire assembly is removed and able to be worked on. remove the top 13mm nut and the 3 gold t30 torx screws.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/31824/wiper_trans.jpg">

with the 3 screws and center nut gone, you can separate the wiper trans from the wiper motor.

now that the assembly is apart you can fix the wiper transmission assembly.

if you'll notice, the bottom of the shaft is starting to corrode. that is where our wiper trans start to fail and rust eventually seizes the assembly. if you managed to get this far there is a chance the wiper trans can be salvaged by sand paper and fresh grease.

if the "PLASTIC" joints on the linkage ends fail, you will need a new assembly. however if you catch this early enough, the plastic joints won't fail yet from pushing against a seized pivot housing.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/31824/wiper_trans_apart.jpg">

there is a snap ring on top of the pivots where the wiper arms been the linkage.

you can remove the snap ring with a sharp needle nose plier or snap ring plier. it is a C type so you'll have to hit the edges off the C opening to slide off the clamp. there is a washer and 15x1mm o-ring under the snap ring
lightly tap the rotating pivot out of the housing. there are also metal washers on the bottom as well, they don't seal water out so the assembly rusts from the bottom up, you can try different methods to seal it up, but i left it alone.

clean up the shaft and housing with carb cleaner and paper towel, apply thin coat of grease on the shaft and use a screwdriver to coat the inside of the housing with grease.

installation is reverse of removal. only tighten the center gold nut after the assembly is in place, or else it's impossible to get it back in.

Casablanca Avant

thing...though for the B5, B6 looks to be very similar.

A4darkness

Nice write up. Good info.

raido

they move very slowly and stop in different positions. If I hit the wiper switch they will move some more but stop any where. No speed adjustment--slow no matter what I do. May make one swipe and stop.
Thanks for the pics and advice-I wonder if it is a switch, a relay or ign switch or the trans as you show in the pics.

cparke

This write-up is somewhat better than the tech article, because it mentions things like the proper positioning of the the gyro to get it out.

Has anyone tried disconnecting the motor from the latch before trying to remove the latch? I think that's the way I'll do it next time when I get my new motor because it is a very tight squeeze to get the latch out with the motor attached.

Who maintains the tech articles here? How do new submissions (or revisions to existing submissions) come about?

cparke

I'd like to know that too... this is technically classified as a rebuild since the wiper motor and wiper transmission are sold together. Who does rebuilds? How can I sell my broken wiper motor for somebody to rebuilt it?

PaulW

1. To get the wiper arm off the shaft, unscrew the 16mm nut and then screw it back on until it is almost flush with the end of the shaft (nut protrudes above shaft slightly). Then tap the nut with a ball pen hammer. This will cause the wiper arm to come undone from the shaft. Remove nut, remove wiper arm.

2. I did not have to unscrew the 13 mm gold nut. I just popped the joint that connects the linkage to the passenger side wiper, shown to the left of the 13mm nut in this picture. I just used a large screwdriver wedged between the bar below it and the arm with the joint.

Once you pop that top joint, you can pull the whole thing out with ease.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/31824/wiper_out_car.jpg">

3. I never disconnected the motor. Just popped the joint below the one mentioned in 2 above for the linkage going to the driver's side once removed. It was difficult getting the shaft out of the sleeve because it was seized. But I got it by using a vice and some patience.

Thanks for the procedure. In the end, the passenger side wiper assembly freely rotated and the driver's side was basically seized.

I used some 350 grit sandpaper to clean the rust off the shaft, and some more 350 grit sandpaper wrapped on a Phillips head screw driver to clean the bore out. Greased it up, assembled it, good as new. About an hour.

milwaudia4

Excellent DIY. Here's my experience. I broke the casting on the passenger side spline support, so I had to replace the transmission. The new transmission has some nice seals under the wiper arm attachment spline (no idea why they would have added these). Attached are some pics. First is my existing transmission that was seized and subsequently broke:

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/enystrom1/AudiA4Quattro/photo?authkey=ejBpcLoteoo#5230375091757860018"><im g src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/enystrom1/SJYGbypHRLI/AAAAAAAABPk/p7vV_xej68w/s800/IMG_1717.jpg" /></a>

The next two are of the replacement I purchased from my local Audi dealer ($200.00 with tax, what a bargain):

You can see the new seal installed under the spline:

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/enystrom1/AudiA4Quattro/photo?authkey=ejBpcLoteoo#5230375080422895026"><im g src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/enystrom1/SJYGbIapbbI/AAAAAAAABPU/JhBtdxgQFmU/s800/IMG_1715.jpg" /></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/enystrom1/AudiA4Quattro/photo?authkey=ejBpcLoteoo#5230375083617094546"><im g src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/enystrom1/SJYGbUUNC5I/AAAAAAAABPc/SAjIoNm5vTU/s800/IMG_1716.jpg" /></a>

StlDrew

THANK YOU!!! My wipers on my 2004 A4 stopped working a couple weeks ago so I ran by the dealer to see what the problem was. They told me that the wiper motor was fine, and the linkage was "broken" and would need to be replaced. They quoted me $740 for parts and labor, I couldn't believe it would be that much to fix it. I found this forum post and decided to give it a shot myself. $13 at the auto part store for sandpaper, parts cleaner, and grease (along with this great walkthough and a couple hours of my time) and the wipers work better than they did before, no new parts needed! MUCH better than $740 at the dealer. I really appreciate you taking the time to post this and the pics were very helpful.
THANKS AGAIN!!

d_j_s

I'm in the middle of trying this fix and I can't get my wiper arms off, no matter what I do. The nuts came off without issue. I've tried gently tapping with a hammer while using a flathead as leverage. I've also tried screwing the nut back on (not all the way) and tapping with a hammer to see if I could dislodge them. I even tried a battery terminal puller to see if that would work and the things won't budge, even slightly. I've soaked them with Kroil to try and breakdown and corrossion, still no luck.

Any suggestions??