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So I had my first brush with Customer Care today, as I noticed my passenger windshield wiper wasn't operating. The driver's wiper activated fine, but the passenger-side one would just remain down.
Luckily, I tend to use the washer function just about every day, so I noticed this quickly. They were behaving fine yesterday. (More on that later in the post.) Also fortunate that today was nice and sunny, so I didn't really need my wipers.
I texted customer care, but I'll talk about that experience on another thread, since this is a how-to for anyone who wants or needs a quick fix. We can debate the merits of DIY vs. waiting for a technician elsewhere. Personally, I'd rather have operating wipers in a few minutes than wait who knows how long for someone to come out and do it.
Shout out to Frank (the San Diego mobile tech) who was gracious enough to send a quick tip via my colleague and fellow mod @Bobby. It was really beyond the call of duty for Bobby to ask, let alone for Frank to then respond.
The trick is to tighten a nut on the windshield wiper arm. I imagine this would work the same on either wiper, but it was the passenger side that was loose for me, so that's what I'll show here.
Tools needed for this task:
Start by opening the frunk and taking off the upper plastic cover that protects some important bits under the bonnet. It's connected via clips, so you have to pop them off to remove.
Once you have the plastic cover removed, you should see at the connected end of each windshield wiper arm, there's a round plastic cap. Pry that off with a flathead screwdriver.
The plastic of the cap is a bit soft, so pry carefully. A thinner, smaller screwdriver would be best.
Once you have the cap off, you'll see the nut beneath. Using the wrench, tighten the nut.
Be sure when you are tightening that the wiper is fully down and at rest along the plastic edge at the bottom of the windshield. If the wiper is turned up when you tighten it, the wiper will not go all the way back down, and it may bang into the other wiper while deploying. Tighten with the wiper in its resting position, in other words. Like so:
Once you have the nut nice and tight, replace the round cap, replace the plastic cover, and you should be good to go. Close the frunk and try out the wipers. They should function normally again.
Honestly, the hardest part of this was getting the plastic top cover back on. It can be a bugger to get all the clips aligned properly.
As to how or why this happened, I have a theory. I was washing the car yesterday, as it was full of Colorado winter grime. While I was drying the windshield, the wipers activated on me. (They probably detected the moisture on the windshield, and auto-wiper mode took over.) It was quite jarring, of course, and I didn't get my hand out of the way fast enough to avoid the wiper hitting my microfiber towel, which got stuck for a second underneath the blade. My guess is that little incident loosened the wiper just enough to start the process of getting looser on every subsequent wipe, until it was too loose and failed to engage the next day.
So bonus tip: Until Lucid creates some sort of "Car Wash" mode, turn your wiper mode to fully off before washing the car. Alternatively, open the driver's door while drying. The wipers won't activate when the door is open.
Luckily, I tend to use the washer function just about every day, so I noticed this quickly. They were behaving fine yesterday. (More on that later in the post.) Also fortunate that today was nice and sunny, so I didn't really need my wipers.
I texted customer care, but I'll talk about that experience on another thread, since this is a how-to for anyone who wants or needs a quick fix. We can debate the merits of DIY vs. waiting for a technician elsewhere. Personally, I'd rather have operating wipers in a few minutes than wait who knows how long for someone to come out and do it.
Shout out to Frank (the San Diego mobile tech) who was gracious enough to send a quick tip via my colleague and fellow mod @Bobby. It was really beyond the call of duty for Bobby to ask, let alone for Frank to then respond.
The trick is to tighten a nut on the windshield wiper arm. I imagine this would work the same on either wiper, but it was the passenger side that was loose for me, so that's what I'll show here.
Tools needed for this task:
- Flathead screwdriver (Thin head preferred)
- 15mm standard wrench or socket wrench.
- Five minutes of your time
Start by opening the frunk and taking off the upper plastic cover that protects some important bits under the bonnet. It's connected via clips, so you have to pop them off to remove.
Once you have the plastic cover removed, you should see at the connected end of each windshield wiper arm, there's a round plastic cap. Pry that off with a flathead screwdriver.
The plastic of the cap is a bit soft, so pry carefully. A thinner, smaller screwdriver would be best.
Once you have the cap off, you'll see the nut beneath. Using the wrench, tighten the nut.
Be sure when you are tightening that the wiper is fully down and at rest along the plastic edge at the bottom of the windshield. If the wiper is turned up when you tighten it, the wiper will not go all the way back down, and it may bang into the other wiper while deploying. Tighten with the wiper in its resting position, in other words. Like so:
Once you have the nut nice and tight, replace the round cap, replace the plastic cover, and you should be good to go. Close the frunk and try out the wipers. They should function normally again.
Honestly, the hardest part of this was getting the plastic top cover back on. It can be a bugger to get all the clips aligned properly.
As to how or why this happened, I have a theory. I was washing the car yesterday, as it was full of Colorado winter grime. While I was drying the windshield, the wipers activated on me. (They probably detected the moisture on the windshield, and auto-wiper mode took over.) It was quite jarring, of course, and I didn't get my hand out of the way fast enough to avoid the wiper hitting my microfiber towel, which got stuck for a second underneath the blade. My guess is that little incident loosened the wiper just enough to start the process of getting looser on every subsequent wipe, until it was too loose and failed to engage the next day.
So bonus tip: Until Lucid creates some sort of "Car Wash" mode, turn your wiper mode to fully off before washing the car. Alternatively, open the driver's door while drying. The wipers won't activate when the door is open.
