It stopped working a few days ago and I can hear it whining when I try to turn it on. What's likely to be wrong with it?

Hello Alex,

Possibly/probably water ingress Alex. You wil obviously need to access it to check.

Please let us know how you get on.

Kind regards,

Gareth.

Yeah I probably will have a look at it tomorrow see if it's something I can sort easily before I refer it to my friendly local garage.

Thanks

1 hour ago, TheBuell said:

It stopped working a few days ago and I can hear it whining when I try to turn it on. What's likely to be wrong with it?

Hi the gearbox inside the unit has nylon gears as Gareth said its water ingress which seizes the metal gearbox components and strips the nylon gears of their teeth, just buy a new unit they are cheap enough because you will only get away with re using the clips on the cover on the tailgate once as if you remove the trim twice they pop out and bend fairly easy job to do.

Steve.

eurocarparts sells replacements for about £170. Gawd knows what my friendly local garage will charge. I've just seen a video where someone extracts the wiper motor, disassembles it, pops the gears out of it and puts it in vinegar for a day or so, and it's fixed with some grease.

Has anyone tried that and had positive results?

That won't solve the leak that caused the problem in the first place. It's your money to burn as you wish, but Steve is right, the best solution is to buy a new one.

You may be right, I'll get it replaced. But I still think we should be able to repair these things rather than put into the landfills 😞

3 hours ago, TheBuell said:

You may be right, I'll get it replaced. But I still think we should be able to repair these things rather than put into the landfills 😞

Hi why go to ECP there are plenty of offers on eBay which are much cheaper thats where mine all came from and if you do get a new unit please buy a new rubber spindle grommet, they go rock hard and shrink thats where the water gets in.

Steve

5 hours ago, TheBuell said:

 But I still think we should be able to repair these things rather than put into the landfills 😞

Agreed, but that is the way of things now. Glands or replaceable O-rings are more expensive to manufacture, and it is price rather than quality that is the prime concern of most motorists.

2 hours ago, cliffcoggin said:

Agreed, but that is the way of things now. Glands or replaceable O-rings are more expensive to manufacture, and it is price rather than quality that is the prime concern of most motorists.

Hi Cliff I think we have had this conversation before, the parts aftermarket in real terms have actually become more reasonable but it still boils down to the fact that the whole unit is designed badly and guaranteed to fail sooner rather than later, my latest cab has a system whereby the washer fluid is sprayed from a separate nozzle at the top of the window and has no contact with the motor, therefore I have no real reason to believe the motor will fail during my ownership as has been the case with all the other cabs I have owned fitted with the same system, Audi seem to excel at building obsolescence in to various car parts especially the rear wiper motors, all for the sake of a £12.00 rubber grommet.

Steve.

It's particularly surprising given the Teutonic attitude to quality. 😞

That attitude was abandoned several years ago. Audi is just another car maker cutting corners to gain a bigger market share.

OK sorry for not following up on this for ages.

I took it to my local VW garage and they refused to touch it and told me to take it to Audi instead.

Replacement was £450-ish, new part was £180. Audi charges £155 A HOUR for labour and they kept the car for two weeks as they found other issues with the braking system which cost another £2k to put right - no thanks to the previous owner who wasn't very careful with it). Not going back there unless absolutely necessary.

Edited February 9, 20251 yr by TheBuell

Similar issues regarding rear windscreen wiper and washer turning on intermittently, and drips of rusty water running out. I removed the tailgate trim, which is held on by two screws with star shaped heads underneath the emergency triangle storage box, and also by press in clips, which pull out fairly easily. The electrical connector and the hose clip are easily removed. I removed the base plate for the wiper motor assembly and washer spigot (very small star bits). It was full of rusty sludge. I cleaned it up and also cleaned the washer nozzles, using fine brushes. I reassembled it. On test, it leaked. I dismantled and re-evaluated.The washer fluid hose connects to a plastic spigot attached to the base plate, which in turn connects to the metal spigot that feeds the washer jets at the base of the wiper arm. When pressure builds up behind the nozzles, due to fouling, the plastic rather than the metal gives way and stretches slightly. Then the pressure of normal operation squeezes some washer fluid between the central spigot and its connector. I wrapped the metal spigot with a turn and a half of self amalgamating rubber tape and reassembled. The leak has stopped. The washer operates normally. The wiper operates normally, switches on and off when operated and stops at the correct point. Note that I would have preferred to work on the unit at the bench but the spline connector for the wiper base has rusted in. In my view it is a bad design to run water through the middle of an electromechanical device  using press on fittings rather than securing the fluid tubing with pressure resistant connectors. The design is worse because it mates plastic and metal.

Edited August 11, 2025Aug 11 by Ellewas
correction of typo

Yep, penny pinching caused this issue. Old Audis don't have this issue as they're exceptionally well designed. 

yes there used to be more investment in design.The components for a good design might cost roughly the same as for a bad design. The high end engineering design is invested in engines and frames rather than in the bits and pieces that make it serviceable. It is the same for my Honda VFR800VTEC motorcycle.  The engine, frame and running gear are brilliant. The ancillaries and wiring are terrible, everything is in the way of each other if there is any issue. I cannot understand why the manufacturer tolerates these well known issues. We have had the car from new but I doubt our next one will be this brand.

Now the ‘investment’ is in how can we make that product cheaper and just outlast the warranty. Does quality and longevity matter any more? 
No, in my book.

Regards,

Gareth.