I have a 2006 A6 and one night there was ice on the windshield , i turned on the wipers and they were stuck to the windshield and have not worked ever since, now when i turn them on i can hear a noise as if they were on but nothing happens , I looked at the linkage and everything looks to be in tact nothing is disconnected so i don't believe it's a problem there but what else can it be ? If i open the hood i can not run the wipers probably due to a sensor that won't allow the wipers to operate because the hood is open . I would really like to take a look at what is going on while running . Does anybody have any idea where the sensor can be bypassed if possible and also any other ideas at what could be the problem ? Any help would be appreciated thank you .

 

It has probably stripped a gear or popped the pressed-on gear off the shaft of the motor that runs them. You generally cannot see these issues with the unit in the car because they are usually sealed under a cover plate.. You'll need to remove the wiper assembly to fix it or replace it. These things are fairly simple units (getting them in and out isn't always that simple though) and can be repaired once you find the issue.

 

Thanks for the reply , yeah it doesnt look like a whole lot of fun to remove the wiper assembly i got half way there but couldnt take off one of the wipers i probably need puller of some sort to get it off . I replaced the linkage before on a ford econoline van i own and i must say it takes great patience to do

 

Yep. Unfortunately, not a lot of room to wiggle them in and out on some of these newer cars..