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u/Intelligent_Jicama51

▲ 3 r/MechanicAdvice

Loose driver's side wiper arm - Skoda Octavia 2003

I’ve had a front wiper problem for weeks, on the driver side. At normal speed or single-wipe mode, when the car is stationary or moving very slowly, the driver side wiper doesn’t travel far enough and leaves about 15–20 cm uncleared on the far left side of the windshield. If I set the wipers to maximum speed while stationary, it reaches the full area. But when driving faster than around 40 km/h, especially on normal or max speed, the wiper sometimes travels too far left, goes slightly off the windshield, and in some cases gets stuck over the edge.

I also noticed that while turning right, the wiper reaches a bit less, but while turning left, it tends to go too far and can leave the windshield.

When the wipers are off, if I physically grab the driver side wiper arm, it feels loose from the base and can move around 30 cm in the direction it normally wipes. Does this sound like I just have to replace arm itself or the whole mechanism?

u/Intelligent_Jicama51 — 6 days ago
▲ 1 r/MechanicAdvice

​Hey guys, I have a bad situation with my 2003 Skoda Octavia 1.9TDI and I’m not sure if I’m being ripped off by my mechanic.

​About 3 years ago (around 20.000km ago), my mechanic replaced both front wheel bearings using Topran on one side and FAI part on other. Then, 6 months ago, he put on new front discs and pads, plus one ball joint and two bushings (all on front wheels). Only two months after that, the steering wheel started shaking when braking, especially downhill or over 60km/h. I thought it was just the car being old, but then I started hearing a loud humming and squeaking from the front left wheel, squeaking only when I go in corners.

​I took it to a different shop today and the guy told me the wheel bearing is completely shot and that the rotors are warped. He didn't even have to take the wheel off to see how bad it was. ​Is it even possible for a bearing to fail after only 20k km? Could a bad bearing cause the brand new rotors to warp this quickly? I’m wondering if I should go back to the first guy and ask for a refund or a fix since he did both the bearings and the brakes, or should I just cut my losses and find a better mechanic? Any advice would be appreciated..

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u/Intelligent_Jicama51 — 17 days ago
▲ 1 r/AskAMechanic

​Hey guys, I have a bad situation with my 2003 Skoda Octavia 1.9TDI and I’m not sure if I’m being ripped off by my mechanic.

​About 3 years ago (around 20.000km ago), my mechanic replaced both front wheel bearings using Topran on one side and FAI part on other. Then, 6 months ago, he put on new front discs and pads, plus one ball joint and two bushings (all on front wheels). Only two months after that, the steering wheel started shaking when braking, especially downhill or over 60km/h. I thought it was just the car being old, but then I started hearing a loud humming and squeaking from the front left wheel, squeaking only when I go in corners.

​I took it to a different shop today and the guy told me the wheel bearing is completely shot and that the rotors are warped. He didn't even have to take the wheel off to see how bad it was. ​Is it even possible for a bearing to fail after only 20k km? Could a bad bearing cause the brand new rotors to warp this quickly? I’m wondering if I should go back to the first guy and ask for a refund or a warranty fix since he did both the bearings and the brakes, or should I just cut my losses and find a better mechanic? Any advice would be appreciated..

reddit.com
u/Intelligent_Jicama51 — 17 days ago