Wipers

[850gle]

I've been quoted £166 including VAT to change the motor on the rear wiper blade of my 850 Estate.
It recently gave up on the motorway in the pouring rain.
The motor is approx £110 and it's half an hour labour.
Does this sound reasonable?

Also, has anyone had problems with their front blades coming loose?
I have to tighten the nuts up every 6 months otherwise they go slack and end up sticking out over the wings. Is this an 850 trait?

regards

[sheerwater]

If the garage does the job make sure that the plastic cover is put back on properly. If you do it yourself there is a good chance that you will break the clips/fixings but there is a repair kit available. Its a real sod if the cover is not held securely as the back door slams and comes loose eventually. With your front wipers the softer ally bites into the harder splines on the tapered drive bolts. Take the wiper arm off, clean the splines adding some locktite to the joint and tighten up to the correct torque(sorry dont know what it is) Cheers Nigel

I fixed mine myself. The motor is made by Bosch so you could try them to see if they sell it cheaper. I removed mine and found it didn't turn when I applied 12v so I removed the cover from the gear mechanism and found that all the grease was packed to one side. I spread the grease around evenly and then it worked fine. Unfortunately, the alloy mechanism was also seized solid, I priced this from Volvo and they wanted over £150 plus vat just for that!!! I got one for £30 from a Volvo breakers and it all works fine. If they remove it and decide that both parts are seized you could end up with a bill for over £300!!!!