Punto windscreen linkage repair.

[briwire]

My son's Punto wiper linkage has fallen off on one side. I have heard that this is a very common fault, and numerous people have suggested drilling the shaft and fitting a split pin/washer/tapped screw to secure it.

I took off the plastic nut cover, removed the wiper nut and wiper arm to reveal the top of the shaft.

My question is, what do I actually drill. Do I drill it in situe? If so how? there doesnt seem a lot of room.

Do I take the shaft out to drill it? I tried gently tapping it down but didn't want to force anything.

 

[Burnerman]

Indeed this is a regular problem, and not just with Fiats.....if its a ball joint thats come adrift, temporarily secure it in place with either an elastic band or a cable tie, pulled not too tight.
The only real cure though is to replace the linkage, either from a breaker or dealer.
John

 

[Trazor]

When you say linkage, do you mean the wiper arm is loose, if it is, do the following....

Position your wiper blade in its parked condition, drill through the wiper arm into the shaft and use a self tapper.
Although sometimes you just need to tighten the nut.

If it's the ball joint links, then as Burnerman says you will have to replace.

 

[briwire]

The wiper arm is secured to a shaft that goes through in to the void beneath the plastic grill. A linkage comes from the other wiper to the bottom of this shaft. It is here that this linkage keeps dropping off.

 

[Nitronick]

If its the one I think it is just replace it. Less the £20 from dealers!

A short term measure is to gently squeze the socket to make it slightly oval. This will stop it falling off for a while.

 

[Mart10]

I've repaired both sides on my wife's car with a bit of stiff wire I had lying around at the time on one side, and cable ties on the other (you can buy a lot of cable ties for £20 Nitromick).

If I have to do the repair often (so far the first one has lasted over a year!), then I was thinking of removing the shaft and as has been mentioned above, drilling the bottom of it and putting a washer on and securing it with a split pin through the hole, to stop the shaft dropping off.

 

[pj11]

My son's Punto wiper linkage has fallen off on one side. I have heard that this is a very common fault, and numerous people have suggested drilling the shaft and fitting a split pin/washer/tapped screw to secure it.

I took off the plastic nut cover, removed the wiper nut and wiper arm to reveal the top of the shaft.

My question is, what do I actually drill. Do I drill it in situe? If so how? there doesnt seem a lot of room.

Do I take the shaft out to drill it? I tried gently tapping it down but didn't want to force anything.

Fixed my sisters punto linkage 2 years ago with some cable ties still going strong just rap them over the linkage into a loop and tighten them together.

 

[tonys289]

Have you seen this windscreen wiper linkage repair clip http://www.askthemechanic.co.uk/wipers looks simple and cheap at £4.99

 

[Mursal]

Someone said on a previous thread that Toyota use a spring type clip and it can be used to repair the Fiat linkage.

Anyone know what Toyota's?

 

[puntoman]

My wiper linkage broke on my Punto about 3 weeks ago and thanks to this thread I managed to fix it with cables ties. It's been absolutely fine since.

But here's my question: when it comes to getting a service/MOT could my car fail because I've essentially jury-rigged the thing together myself? I don't want to have to pay for the whole mechanism (around £140 with labour) because it fails an MOT with my own job.

I'd rather buy the £30 wipex set if that's the case but the cable ties are working great so far.

 

[duncan68]

Hi all, this is my 1st post, just fitted a wiper linkage clip to my 2001 plate fiat punto. I have had all the usual problems, eg wipers failing in the rain & having to use a cable grip or piece of wire to hold it together whilst getting soaked, well i must say if anyone has had this problem, GET ONE OF THESES CLIPS, mega easy to fit and really solves the problem, excellent value at only a couple of quid, readilly available from ebay etc.