[apex]

Hey everyone - been off the forums for a while - nice to see so many new posters.



Here's the situation - I need a few of you to check in with opinions to confirm/deny my hypothesis.



I was vacuuming out autumn crud - leaves and such - at the head of the engine bay - and while I was at it decided to replace the double-sided tape holding the blower cover. So to do this, of course, I had the wipers off.



Done this many times before - no issues - had the wipers off, that is.



So I get everything cleaned up, put the new 3M sticky on, replace everything, and WTF! the driver's wiper blade is now 1" ABOVE the glass in the rest position, and makes contact about half-way up it's arc of travel.



OK so what happend? How to fix this safely?



The wiper actuator spindles are held in place by rubber washers, etc., holding then to a surprisingly flexible piece of sheet metal below the windshield glass. I think that I must have somehow bent this corner down when I was maneuvering the vacuum nozzle through and behind the fuse box - and lowering the hood slightly to make room for the vacuum nozzle. I don't remember anything catching but its the only thing that makes sense.



So I tried this AM to carefully bend the metal back and did improve the situation by about 1/2" but decided to take it easy and consult my local body shop (not 968 experts) and you guys here (968 experts!)



What do you think? This really has me stumped, although there really is no other logical explanation that I can think of. Safe to (gently) keep bending to get the adjustment right? Has this happened to anyone else here?



Thanks - and happy holidays to all.



Signed - feelin' foolish!

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[PorscheDude]

Possibly of by one tooth on the splined shaft the wiper arm goes on?

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[apex]

[quote name='smokiemon968' post='44509' date='Dec 10 2007, 07:04 PM']Possibly of by one tooth on the splined shaft the wiper arm goes on?[/quote]





Hey smokie - thanks - definitely not a splined tooth problem - which would make the wiper come to rest too high or too low. This wiper is hangin' in the air!



The overwhelming number of responses :-) confirms my suspicion that my dilemma is too tweaky to solve via an internet forum - even one as excellent as this! Hope my body shop guys will have an insight. I haven't been driving the last day or two - it's been raining.

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[gryphon]

Apex, nothing beats having your 968 side-by-side with another one to compare things like this, if you know another owner in your area.



Tom

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[ldeprat]

apex,



I had a similar situation happen to me on a 944. If you suspect having bent something on the wiper pin, chances are you can't see it without pulling out the entire assembly. This isn't too difficult, but you may be disappointed with what you discover. Hopefully not!



In my case, one of the plastic bushings in the wiper pin socket had rounded rendering the entire assembly useless on the driver side, since the plastic part was not available separately.



Maybe your assembly can be adjusted if it's just bent, but again, you'll probably need to remove it from the car to inspect the damage and repair it. HTH

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[apex]

well kids, the verdict is in.



<img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/rolleyes.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> <--(that's the "sheepish" smiley")



I reversed left/right when I put them back on!!!



But, but, but...!



( he stammered in his own defense )



I did think of this as a possibility - held the two arms next to each other to compare profile (identical) and even looked at the part numbers stamped on each (identical).



However, I never did the deed, which was to physically take the (identical) arms and switch them.



Now everything aligns nicely.



I just checked the PET pdf I have and yep, two each of one part number are needed for the wipers.



I need to get out a microscope this weekend and see if I can determine what the bleep is goin' on.



So mystery solved. I really am brain-dead after all.



J

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[Anchorman]

So, is it true? Is confession good for the soul?



Curious that "identical" items behave differently. The result of your microscopic examination are awaited with interest. The lesson appears to be do one at a time, or mark them. Thanks for giving us this lesson.

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[PorscheDude]

It takes man to publicly admit he made a mistake..

I am glad you not only admitted guilt, but were sharp enough to figure out the problem and fix it.



Kudos!

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[apex]

Ha well... thanks. My manliness may be adequately sensitive to admit a "mistake" but I'm enough of a Guy to say



Hey! So shoot me! I interchanged two identical things! <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/cool.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />



If I find anything interesting I'll report back.

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