WD 40 is a dewatering fluid and not a very good lubricant:mad:

When you take the wiper out of the window theres a brass (coloured anyway) collar on the spindle... The thick part. It is very hard to start moving but just keep pulling and wiggling it to take it off, give it a good clean, light grease and re-assemble.
It's just footery more than anything. Keep trying at it, it'll save you some money 👍

JT667 - The design is such that the motor should run only with the rear window closed. Therefore, with the window open, and using a screwdriver or preferably a piece of bent stiff wire, manually move the window latch into the closed position. You will then be able to see if the motor turns the operating disc when the rear wiper switch is turned on. Remember the action is intermittent and do 'unlock' the latch in the usual way before attempting to close the window.

Seized rear wiper arm
 

Hi all, have to reopen this thread again as mine has seized. The motor is fine and operates without any problem. Ive removed all nuts a circlip and a small rubber seal from around the shaft, I've sprayed 3 in 1 silicone lubricant into the space between the shaft and the tube it is supposed to freely rotate in and I still can't free the shaft enough for the motor to turn it without the glass in the closed position actually moving in the tailgate.

Does anyone know how to extract the shaft from the tube without either breaking the glass or applying heat which I 'm reluctant to do.

As an aside, I've found an easy way to test the motor with the window open. Slowly insert a flat bladed screw driver into the keep the rear glass striker would go into then remove it and the wiper motor thinks the window is closed, the motor should then work as normal with the window open. Before closing the window press the opening switch mounted in the handle and the keep re-opens to recieve the striker from the rear window. Do not try to close the window without pressing the opening button on the window glass to open the keep or you could damage the mechanism.

Thanks Woodworkwilly

I've just had to do mine. I was barely able to move the arm by hand. It's been fine for 4 years I've owned the car and then just started playing up in the last 24 hours.

I found that removing the wiper arm and circlip, then, with the tailgate glass horizontal, spraying some WD 40 round the spindle and leaving it over night made removal very easy.

In fact, removal, cleaning, greasing up and re-assembly took less than 20 minutes this morning. I also gave the motor spindle a quick squirt of white lithium grease. My rear wiper has never worked so well, or been so quiet.:D

Another resurrection i am afraid,,, i have the same problem on my tourer. I had the usual siezed wiper arm spindle through the glass scenario. I freed this off, still needs a bit of work though, i checked for the motor turning with tailgate open, no luck there. Then i checked the fuse, all ok. I then dismantled the tailgate trim and removed the motor to get full access to the electrical plug. I then tested for voltage. I have 10.9volts between the white and black wires, this is constant wether switch is on or off, presumably for parking. I then checked for voltage between grey and black, nothing at all. Next test is 12 volts across the wiper motor, i bet it runs, then it will be delving in to wiring etc! Does anyone know what the problem is here, or are we all running around with rear wipers that dont work?? 😎

I've got to replace the wiper motor. Smell of burning when out driving and found a little smoke coming from wiper motor! Disconnected lead (burnt my wrist; very hot motor!) and ordered one from fleabay. Wiper hasn't been working for some weeks prior to this incident so maybe this had something to do with motor eventually going u/s.

Rear wiper not working
 

On all my 5 tourers the non working rear wiper has been down to a seized spindle. Cure has been to remove spindle from tube,can be a slow process, combination of chapping spindle end with a soft faced hammer ,plenty of penetrating oil and refitting the arm and trying to move it by hand(window open for this ). Patience will have its reward but it takes time.;)