Oh boy, rusted out rear wiper shaft

[ornithology]

Hah! So I try fixing my rear wiper thinking it's a fuse/dead motor and low and behold it's another rust issue with these Mazdas! Unbelievable, rust gets everywhere too easily. Anyways, the shaft is horrendously seized and nothing is getting it off the glass. What ways have you guys tried to address this issue? I've already hit the shaft as hard as I can with a hammer and I'm sure any harder will end up in shattered glass. I've also tried twisting the hex bolt off but that failed as well. Must I really put a dremel to the shaft and cut the damned thing out to replace the unit?

(canada)

 

[MazdaP55]

My motor broke last week... same problem. Mazda really have rust buckets! Zoom rust Zoom rust lol.

 

[hornsfan10609]

WD-40, liquid wrench, PB Blaster. If that doesn't work yank on it and once you get it off get a Mazda 6 wagon rear wiper.

 

[Mad Mike]

Nice little write up for you

Based on how many times this topic was listed in the search it should be in the how to section.


http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123733608

 

[CheeseHelmet]

The method linked to by Mad Mike is the way to go. Same thing happened to me, I tried for days with PB blaster on the big nut that holds the motor to the window, no success. I ended up removing the shaft then sanding off all the rust and using massive amounts of white lithium grease when putting it back together.

Once you get the motor opened up you can tap the shaft with a hammer and a small punch/flathead from outside the car. I fixed mine last fall and it's still working great

 

[ornithology]

Yeah I checked out that word doc already. I searched and found it, thus leading to me discovering my shaft was seized. However, it is SO SEIZED to the point that all of the aforementioned ways of releasing the shaft is obsolete. I'm thinking I'll just buy a new assembly and torch the damn thing off...

 

[CheeseHelmet]

Yeah I checked out that word doc already. I searched and found it, thus leading to me discovering my shaft was seized. However, it is SO SEIZED to the point that all of the aforementioned ways of releasing the shaft is obsolete. I'm thinking I'll just buy a new assembly and torch the damn thing off...

Keep trying, if you can get the shaft to start moving you can probably get it out. Use a small hammer to tap the shaft and a big pair of needle-nose pliers to grip and turn the gear inside the motor assembly. Penetrating oil will probably also help.

In my case rust wasn't the main reason it seized-up; there's a rubber seal on the shaft that disintegrated and got lodged everywhere along the shaft. Inside I don't recall seeing much rust, the rubber seal bits were really the problem.

 

[ornithology]

Did you have to replace the rubber seal? Or did you just use silicone?

Keep trying, if you can get the shaft to start moving you can probably get it out. Use a small hammer to tap the shaft and a big pair of needle-nose pliers to grip and turn the gear inside the motor assembly. Penetrating oil will probably also help.

In my case rust wasn't the main reason it seized-up; there's a rubber seal on the shaft that disintegrated and got lodged everywhere along the shaft. Inside I don't recall seeing much rust, the rubber seal bits were really the problem.

 

[CheeseHelmet]

Did you have to replace the rubber seal? Or did you just use silicone?

I didn't, I just put a massive amount of white lithium grease on the shaft and inside that little plastic cap on the outside of the car.