Td5 / D2 - Rear Screen Wiper

Question - Is it too much to have a clean, crisp, smear-free silent sweep on the rear window?

            
              

Despite thinking its unnecessary, I like the rear window wiper system! It's like a big happy dog wagging its tail.

I can get really distracted when following a car that is 'wagging' it's rear wiper. The motion of the rear wiper is often in the opposite direction to the front wipers and together they can conspire to produce a confusing hypnotic crossover dance to my captive gaze.

Viewed from the driving seat, all right hand drive D2s sweep in the same direction. I like how the rear wiper will sync its sweep in time to the front screen wiper and also auto sweep when reverse gear is engaged on a rainy day (providing the front wipers are in operation). Add to that the 5 speed intermittent wipe function... and the auto wash/wipe...

On the other hand, it does seem like a lot of fancy over engineering, a legacy from the BMW years, using half a dozen of the thousand plus  'improvements' over the original Discovery.

The D2 uses a re-designed wiper blade with an integrated washer jet. No more messing about with the rear water jet on the D1 which was mounted separately from the wiper blade. Many times it would squirt water everywhere except on the rear screen!

WIPERS AND THE MOT.

The UK MOT test ignores the function of the rear wiper, so it's not surprising to find that many of them have worn out blades and/or are non-functioning.

(Update May2018: New MOT rules mean that the rear wiper system is now included in the MOT test )

Generally speaking, wiper blades tend to wear and 'split' as shown on the photos above. This condition leads to squeaks/judders and smears. Amazingly, even when the front screen wipers are in this condition, they are not an automatic 'fail' on the MOT. !! 

If the swept area in front of the driver is 'reasonably' clear, it will pass. Often a split blade will be held in contact by the wiper arm and dragged accross the screen surface till the enevitable happens and the blade completely detaches from the wiper arm and if still unchecked, the arm just scratches into the screen.

Rather then argue the point with the tester, it is surely common sense to replace the blade once it starts to split? 

       

If unchecked the wiper blade will completely detach from it's mounting. 

BRIT(LE)PART  -v-  RUBBER RE-FILL.

About a year into ownership of Hx, the rear wiper blade began to split and a replacement was sourced. I recklessly went out and bought the first Discovery rear wiper that I saw only to realise that the D1 and the D2 have different and incompatible wiper fitments! The D2 fitment has much more of a designed look and feel about it, and a replacement 'Britpart' was sourced.

Replacing a wiper blade on any vehicle  generally follows the same procedure. Hinge the wiper arm away from the screen to allow access to the blade mount, detach the pivoting mount and remove/ replace. However, the rear mounted spare wheel (an iconic feature of Discovery's) restricts the movement away from the screen of the wiper arm and requires that the spare wheel be removed in order to get access to the rear wiper arm pivot.

I followed this procedure the first time I replaced the rear wiper, but decided never again as it's just way to much faffing about!!

The first replacement wiper I fitted was a 'Britpart' brand and at the time I was still on the fence with those guys in terms of their quality.

Straight away, the wipe pattern and contact pressure was not the same as the original and when I tried to correct it, the Britpart plastic arm just snapped off!

That episode ended with me salvaging the actual rubber blade from the Britpart and fitting it into the original wiper arm. That restored the full silent wipe pattern and was a lesson I won't forget. 

Rubber blade 'refills' are available at a fraction of the price of new 'blades'. The attachment method and indeed the profile pattern is shared by many manufacturers and is truly 'generic'.

Fast forward a couple of years and once again, the rear wiper rubber blade is torn and needs replacing. So I go online and order one hoping to avoid the curse of Britpart....

Sourced from 'TransglobalDistribution' via E-bay for £4.79 delivered lightning quick! (despite the name, this is a 4x4 LR specialist).

FITTING THE REAR WIPER ...HX STYLE 

As I wrote earlier, removing the spare wheel from the rear door just to access the wiper arm is a no-no and I settled for removing the blade in its 'parked' position.

Careful levering with a suitable broad flat tool is all that's needed to lever the wiper arm away from the blade.

Use of a second lever to ensure the separation is parallel may be necessary. Don't forget that the end of the wiper arm also contains the washer jet.

The new blade simply snaps into place. Doing it this way takes seconds and you don't even touch the spare wheel!

BEARMACH  POSTSCRIPT...

Having fitted the new Bearmach wiper arm, the initial wipe pattern was a disappointment as the blade did not maintain contact on the glass toward the top of its stroke.

Recalling the hassle with the previous Britpart wiper I de-mounted it and was preparing to swap over the rubber blade to the original wiper mount when I noticed that one of the pivot arm claws on the Bearmach unit was incorrectly fitted causing the blade to be 'pinched' slightly. 

I figured this would probably effect the sweep pattern and after a bit of dismantling and re-positioning, the wipe pattern was restored. 

Here is a close up comparison of the two wiper blades, Bearmach on the left and the original LR unit on the right with it's torn blade. It can be seen how the fit of the component parts is better on the LR unit.

It was one of these pivoting arms that was misplaced on the Bearmach blade that seems to have caused the initial problem.

So the answer to the opening question is indeed a positive negative - pretty much like every aspect of Land Rover marriage...