Good point, thanks !

 

I vote for a long wire tie.

 

yea, chucked in a drill.

 

I tried yesterday to remove the cowl, but I was afraid to apply too much pressure to get the wipers off. How hard are they to remove, and is there a special tool needed to perform the task?

 

Yes, a small gear type puller.

 

OR, I have always had luck just raising the wiper arm with the nut off, then gently rocking the portion on the shaft.

 

If you raise the wiper arm so that the pressure against the windshield is eliminated, you can get a small terminal puller to pop the wiper arm off. A search for battery terminal puller on Amazon, eBay, etc. will give many purchase options. Or you can pick one up at a nearby discount parts store; also a nearby Harbor Freight.. It will probably be a little scary the first few times you do this. Wiper arm is secured to the shaft using a tapered, spline fitment and the final torque really locks it down. Norton Search

Likewise when you re-install the wiper arms, get them positioned where you want. Then while applying a small amount of pressure to secure it to the shaft, raise the wiper arm to finish tightening. Again, try to keep the pressure caused by resting against the windshield from applying a bending-moment at the shaft. I've had to repeat the removal & install a couple of times before I got the wiper arm where I needed it to be located. You can mark the end of the shaft with black scripto & put a small mark with a white scripto on the wiper arm (at the edge of the mounting flange rim; won't be seen when you install the nut cover).

Later,

 

A SMALL dab of lithium grease wiped on the spline will forever allow EASY removal, onward!


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Well this is exactly what is happening to my 05 coupe, just another project to be done over the weekend. This is why my stereo is dead in the left channel and the fan motor is fried. I see said the blind man. . . .

 

You guys are a wealth of information. The first option I tried was to clean out the Rainwater overflow tanks on both sides of the body.

I did not need to take off the wipers, only the six, six-star screws on the cowling piece front. Then the cowling was able to be lifted almost two inches on the passenger side. About one inch on the Driver's side. I taped some old vacuum cleaner hoses together reducing the size until at the end I had an 8-inch 1/2inch rod with a 45-degree connection on the end. With this, I thoroughly vacuumed both overflow tanks. Then I went looking for the drains y'all mentioned. On the passenger side, they are at the front of the tank and it is easy to get to with the wider opening. It was covered in 1/2 inch of organic matter I vacuumed out as much as I could. Then I filled the tank with hot tap water and waited. Nothing happened! I went inside and got a turkey baster and a piece of black hose that fits over the end. Held the hose as tight as I could against the drain opening and shot air into the drain line. Nothing, Next I filled the turkey baster with hot water and on the second blast, it begins to drain at the back of the tire as it should. Letting it sit for a while I went to the drivers side tank and repeated the process. With the smaller opening, it was a little more difficult. One other problem is the drain is on the outside wall of the tank and the opening was directly below a Fender Body bolt location. I shot hot water into the drain I found the drain came through the wall at the back of the electronics box mounted there. I could not reach it so I got a 1/4 inch dal-rod and massaged all I could of the draining hose and it begins to dribble. I continued to run hot water through the drains on both sides until it ran out freely. Then I added a shot of Dawn liquid soap to 15oz of hot water and ran that through both sides. I have a friend that embroiderers on this hard plastic perforated sheet you can pick up for nothing. I am going the cut out a half-moon shape and use Clear sealant to hold it over the Black fingers that are supposed to keep larger stuff out of the tanks!

 

There are more than two drains under the cowl, four I think, two are in the middle.

 

Just remove the wipers and do it right. You won't regret it.

 

Hello all,
just did this yesterday while removing my siren. I did remove the cowl. There are one driver, one center, two passenger separated by a little rubber flap.
I used a shop vacuum and reduced the hose size to 1/2 in and ran it in there got a lot of interesting plant matter out.
then I used solid stream on a water hose sprayer and sprayed a little stronger each time till ran without restraint.
I also had a camel pack hose brush about two feet long and ran it through till clean.
Hope this helped.

 

Last week, after almost 15 years of ownership, I decided to replace my factory original alarm with one that beeps when locking and unlocking. I've read on the forum that the internal rechargeable batteries seem to go bad in 10 to 15 years and eventually leak acid on the circuit board. I may be on borrowed time and I don't want that problem. Several years ago I had installed corfire's solution which worked perfectly. Then one of the times that I had a stratified battery I was convinced to remove that modification, which obviously didn't cause the problem. I never put it back in. If it wasn't for the possibility of acid leaking on the circuit board, I wouldn't be replacing the factory alarm. I ordered my new alarm from FCP Euro (Bosch 2198203226).

After removing the cowl I made sure that all five passageways were cleared of debris. The drains on both ends of the cowl had some small leaves and maple tree whirlybirds. The passageway on the passenger side with the rubber flap in front of the fan vent had some small leaves. None of those three had enough debris to cause a blockage. The drain under the wiper motor had one whirlybird which was held up by the internal rubber flap. The vent in the middle with the funnel up to the cowl looked clear. In 2019 I replaced my cracked washer fluid reservoir and removed lots of leaves from that area. At some point I need to do the same on the drivers side.

I have two questions for the forum.
1.) What is the purpose of the vent with the funnel in the middle of the cowl? Why a funnel? Where does the vent go?
2.) Has anyone figured out what the small foam part is that several others on the forum have found under the cowl? I have attached a picture of mine. Here is what is strange in my case. I cleaned out all of the debris with a shop vac and wiped the areas that I could reach with a rag on Friday (two days ago). Since then I drove the car without the wiper arms attached. The cowl was laying in place but not fitted or attached. Then today (Sunday) I decided to pour water down three of the drains. That is when I found the mystery part sitting above the drain on the far end passenger side. It wasn't there on Friday. The part is completely clean, unlike that area was until Friday. If it had been there it would have been removed by the shop vac or I would have seen it when I finished. The two tabs on the right side of the part as it appears in the picture obviously wrapped around a rectangular shape while the end with the Mercedes star was designed to be inserted into a rectangular hole.

 

stlouistrucker
Like you I just completed this work and I am very happy with the new chirping alarm. My wife likes it very much as well. Cool feature if you didn't know is that if any of the doors or trunk is open it only beeps twice at locking to let you know something is not correct.
To answer your questions. The why is way beyond my knowledge. But I can tell you that the center funnel on my SRT empties out just to the drivers side of my transmission.
The foam piece that you have taken a picture of I found under my windshield wiper cowl stuck in a little plastic clamp molded into the cowl near the middle still in place. I'm guessing to help cut down on noise and vibration as the wind moves past.
Again just my observations hope I helped. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of it while I was in there to show you where the foam piece goes but I think you will see it once you look under the cowl.

 

As I recall there are four drains under the cowl, one at each end and two in the centre one of which vents through a hose on the front face of the firewall and the other directly over the transmission.
The end ones dump the water behind the fenders, the passenger side one dumps the water by the windshield washer reservoir and a lot of fine debris can be found there. I cleaned out that area when changing a cracked reservoir. I sprayed some rust protector in that area. Extending that hose is probably a good idea. I should look at the other side to see what it looks like, as there is no other reason to look there and find a problem.