Excellent work with a spanner

About a week ago, Fiona had to go to the dealer to fix a radiator fan problem that came on suddenly on a Friday evening: after 172,000 miles, the fan control module failed, so that the fan wouldn't cut out after turning the engine off. In fact, I had to drive home and just let the fan drain my battery. It was the only way to stop the fan running. 

The following Monday morning, I called out Volvo Assistance and the chap who quickly arrived got the engine started with a view to driving in convoy - his van and my car - to the nearest Volvo dealer. Of course, as soon as the engine fired, the fan sprang into life again. So it was essential not to cut the engine before we got to the dealer, as the battery was flat and might not have enough power to restart the engine if it stopped. We were already suspecting a faulty fan control module. It also seemed likely that the battery was kaput and would have to be replaced.

The nearest Volvo dealer wasn't the one I normally go to, but one in Crawley. In fact I didn't know it was there. It was an easy drive to get there, some of it on the dual-carriageway A23, and some of it on the M23 motorway. It was in fact a swift drive of half an hour. The dealership I've been going to was forty-five minutes away at best, and it was soon to be moving to new premises even further away. Perhaps I should go to Crawley instead from now on? 

That thought was bolstered by the reception I got. Remember, I was a casual customer with a problem, and it was a Monday morning. I was very lucky to have got this far by 10.30am on the busiest day of the week for car breakdown emergencies. To be treated like royalty on top of that - with an impressive degree of polite and prompt attention, at any rate - was unexpected. They were most efficient at taking my details, and outlining to me what would happen next. And they kept to plan. The Volvo Assistance chap had got me home by 11.30am, and soon after the results of a comprehensive car-check were emailed to me, with choices as to what I wanted to do. I made my choice - replace the module - and discussed the state of the battery with the person handling my case: could they run a special check on its health? It was four years old - surely it couldn't recover after running flat? 

I had lunch, then another conversation. The battery was fine. It was a Volvo battery, and apparently they are especially tough and resilient! The module was coming by the afternoon delivery, but could they hang onto my car until next day, and then drive it back to me in the morning? Oh, yes. How convenient. Meanwhile I paid by credit card over the phone.

Next day. A phone call. The job was done. Once my car had been washed and vacuumed, they'd drive it to me. And an hour later, there it was outside. Gosh, Fiona was gleaming. And no noise from the fan! It was under control again.

However, there was a new issue. The offside front windscreen wiper now tapped the edge of the windscreen when wiping. Why? I wondered whether the windscreen had been so well-cleaned that the wiper blade was now skidding beyond its usual sweep. In which case, muck from the road would soon roughen the windscreen and stop that. But it got worse, the blade starting to thump the edge of the windscreen quite hard. 

I knew what to do: re-position the wiper arm. I got out my Haynes manual to remind myself how. It was straightforward. You prised off a plastic cap, removed a nut with a spanner, then pulled the arm off the splines on its spindle, so that it could be put back in a slightly different way that corrected the sweep of the wiper blade on the windscreen. Although I'd not performed any 'skilful car maintenance with tools' for donkey's years, changing rear brake and indicator bulbs being my usual limit, I was quite prepared to have a go. 

This was the problem. At full sweep, the tip of the blade was striking the edge of the windscreen. The 'click' as it did so was irritating; but in the long run it couldn't be good for the windscreen.

Step One: prise off the plastic cap, expose the nut underneath, and get that off with a spanner.

The nut was at first stiff, but moved, and was soon off. 

Then Step Two: the wiper arm had to be freed from the splines it was pushed onto. As expected, mere hand pressure wouldn't budge it. Anticipating this, I had a length of wood to place against the arm, a light hammer to tap it with, and some WD40 to act as penetrating oil. A few taps, and the arm came away, revealing the splines. 

Now Step Three. Putting the arm back onto the splines, but shifted around a little from the old position, so that the blade was parked correctly. And when it moved, its sweep wouldn't involve a collision with the edge of the windscreen.

The position of the offside wiper when parked now looked right. I tightened the nut, pushed on the plastic cap. and closed the bonnet. Time for a test - Step Four if you like. Would the wiper behave?

Ah, yes! I've caught the blade starting to return to its parked position, but you can see how far it had swept to the right, and that position was clear of the windscreen edge. So yes, the arm had been properly adjusted. At the first attempt, too.  

I felt ridiculously pleased. I never rate myself highly for fixing things. It was in any case unusual to deal with a purely mechanical problem on Fiona, who is essentially a computer on wheels. And to deal with it personally was very satisfying! For once, a fix that cost me nothing except my own time and effort.

All photographs were taken with LXV, my Leica X Vario. LXV kept out of the misty rain by sheltering in a plastic bag in between shots.

I'm all set now for my caravan jaunt to East Anglia.