REAR WIPER FIX

1

The E61 has a split tailgate, with the wiper arm on the glass-hatch section. The wiper motor incorporates a circular disc with the elongated hole in a recessed section. This operates the wiper arm, a separate unit with a steel pin that engages in the elongated hole you can see here.

2

This is the pin on the wiper arm mechanism. It’s spring-loaded and is supposed to engage in the elongated hole, but on our car it’s out of alignment by about 2mm. The pin will only engage into the recess around the elongated hole, resulting in a weird clanking sound.

3

The first job is to remove the tailgate upper inner trim to reveal the wiper motor drive disc. A common fix is to further expand the hole with a drill, but we tried manoeuvring the motor sideways first.

4

Start detaching the main trim by undoing these two screws. With the carpeted inner trim out of the way (two twist clips reveal the warning triangle), you’ll need to detach a few more self-tappers, as well as a pair of plastic rivets at the bottom edge before the main trim comes off.

5

The boot light can now be removed – it unclips using a small flat-blade screwdriver and there is an electrical connector that pulls out. When refitting the boot, position it and fit those two black plastic rivets first, to hold it in place before you screw it on.

6

Here are two of the three wiper motor securing screws (circled). By slackening all three, shifting the motor sideways and retightening the screws, we got the springloaded steel pin of the wiper arm mechanism to engage with the wiper motor drive disc.

7

Before refitting the boot trim, turn on the ignition and get someone to operate the rear wiper. Ours worked first time and, for the first time in our ownership, we got a full rear wiper sweep with no nasty noises. If this doesn’t work, you’ll need to resort to using a drill to enlarge the hole.