How To Change Hatchback Rear Wiper Blade

[Rob Clack]

How do you change a rear wiper blade on a 55 reg hatchback? The arm will only pull up by about 10 degrees, so I can't rotate the blade to extract it. I downloaded the manual which is completely useless in this regard. The diagram is unintelligible and the English so mangled I have no idea how to interpret it.

I did see a posting on this forum which said "Raise the arm and rotate the blade" but as I can't raise the arm, that's no help. There must be a trick to raising the arm so it's at 90 degrees to the glass, but what's that trick?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Do the spring and hinge assembly on the wiper arm need lubricating?

[Rob Clack]

Don't think so. The arm moves freely until it comes up against something solid that stops it moving further.

[alan333]

I had the same problem, as did a workmate. However if you persevere you will get it swapped, you don't need to remove the wiper arm. Think of it like one of those puzzles you get with the two rings which only come apart if the exact placement is made.

[Rob Clack]

Intriguing, Alan333. I'll take another look tomorrow morning.

[t-spiritpete]

If you really get stuck lift the cover at the bottom of the wiper arm undo the nut and gently lever off the complete arm and blade assembly from the spline, now you can replace the blade with ease.

Pete.

[jumbojake]

I usually just buy the refills and feed the old one out, new one in.... cheaper and less hastle

[Rob Clack]

Thanks all. Final solution was t-spiritpete's. I removed the arm completely, swapped the blade, then refitted the arm having cleaned and greased the spline. The reason I could not raise the arm to 90 degrees is that the arm has a couple of points where the sheet metal has been indented, preventing it from hinging up by more than about 10 degrees. Sadly, I can't work out how to upload the photo I took which would have made this clear. What's baffling me is that no-one seems to have known about this