Wiper linkage
 

Needs replacing unfortunately. The wipers had been functioning, albeit very slowly. What are my options here?

Extremely limited at the moment - good ones are almost unobtanium, new ones non-existent. If the balljoints are ok then it can possibly be dismantled and recovered, although sometimes the bushings round the spindles wear out too.

Has it been inspected in detail? Do you have any pics of the problem areas?

Hi MJ. Ooh, don't like the sound of that. No photos currently, it's back in the Audi garage at the moment. Finally made it onto the road...for a couple of weeks! Went back to sort some niggles out & found out about the linkage this evening.

I'll see if I can get them to take some photos.

These guys are in Ireland and selling bushing kits to repair wiper linkages.
I bought a kit off them a few years back to repair the wiper linkage on a 2006 Q7. Only cost about €20 and easy to fit. They may never have seen a D2 wiper linkage though as A8’s are pretty rare over here. There can only be so many variations of an Audi wiper linkage though.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...-2_Y_XK5gY_iUX

That looks worth checking out. In the past Ive swapped my wiper linkage over for a less worn one but i still get wiper "slap" on high speed setting. MJ has been looking at this issue for a while now but if there's a supplier of a kit of parts that would be useful for those without MJs skills and tools.

I had the same problem with the wipers working very, very slowly. Had to run them on full speed to 'loosen' them up a bit to get anything near a normal working tempo.

I removed the whole linkage, stripped it, cleaned it thoroughly and gently sanded the contacting moving parts with 1000-1500 wet and dry. Greased up the moving parts and refitted. A massive improvement. Sorry I didn't take any pictures during the refurb but here's some videos of the results. (I did manage to refit the whole thing 180 degrees out the first time :ROFL: - probably as a result of not taking any photos as I went! So the wipers tried to go down rather than up.) Also steeped the whole nozzle jet in limescale remover overnight and got my spray back to a good level. Think that's why I started it in the first place but got adventurous.

The middle securing bolt for the scuttle needed cutting off as the captive below it was spinning. Bit of an awkward replacement in place now with a 10mm nut below which now needs held with a particular spanner to remove. Picture here shows initial cable tie replacement attempt. Hey ho, worse has happened. Took the opportunity to give the scuttle a real good clean. Made quite a difference being able to get right in about it off the car.

Anyway, not a terribly difficult job if you've got the time, the space, the patience and the attention to detail to put it all back together not 180 degrees out. :o Couple of circlips in there so you'll need to have the right pliers for them. Yes, I've definitely got 'the slap' on high speed but it seems to work for now at a decent tempo so a worthwhile fix if you've not other option.

Will be having a look at the replacement bushings place myself mentioned earlier here.

Best of luck.

Has anyone made a 'how to rebuild' guide on this?
Cheers.

Old link failed to work so here's one that I found that linked directly to their site, which is a post from May 2016:

https://www.autobiz.ie/news/cost-eff...te-engineering

White Engineering on 064-664-3331 or 087-652-2944
(not sure of the code for numbers in Ireland)

I emailed them back in January 2021 but never got a reply. That was when their address was whiteengineering.ie