The Safrane.Info Forum!

Hi,

Owned a Safrane for several years.

Today I went for a MOT at a council testing facility. It had a partial fail because the drivers side wiper arm was a bit twisted.

MOT tester said to twist it back with pliers or somethng, Twisted it back a bit by hand and asked the MOT tester if that was okay ....he said a bit more...tried adjusting it a little bit more and the wiper arm snapped off

I have 10 working days to take it back for a free re-test.

Where can I buy a replacement wiper arm for the drivers side? I have phoned around car parts places but they do not stock it. Tried the well known online auction website but they only sell the wiper blades.

Does a laguna or vel satis or any other wiper arm fit and does the job as an alternative? Is there such a thing as a universal fitting wiper arm?

It seems stupid if I won't be able to get a passed MOT on a low mileage 1998 2.5 petrol Renault Safrane because I am unable to source a reasonably priced part.

As a last resort could I use an epoxy putty to fix the two parts of the arm back together? Would this be illegal and a MOT fail so not worth messing about with?

Thanks very much for your help.

Hi and welcome to the gang

Snapped driver wiper arms is a growing problem. I've broken two of them myself and am now on my last one from my spares supply.

Assuming you've still got a broken stub left, you need a wiper puller OR a gear puller (the latter being quite common amongst DIY car people if you know any that will lend you one). As for the replacement, try the scrap yards in your area. The safrane is becoming an incredible rare beast to locate in them these days but sometimes you get lucky. My local is annoying me - he has his dads safrane and despite his dad dying years ago he is refusing to put the car into the actual breaking yard for me to pick to bits - he's keeping it outside the office taunting me instead lol.

No idea about the lag or VS wiper arms, you can but try I suppose and then let us know how you get on.

As for epoxy, it won't be strong enough to withstand the forces of the wiping I'm afraid. It will just snap off. You could in theory have it alloy welded though OR use something super strong like fibreglass wrapped / epoxied around it but not just epoxy by itself as it won't be strong enough. I couldn't comment on it being legal or an MOT failure but I can only assume it would be a bit dodgy.

Keep us updated as to how you get on and if you get chance, pics of your car would be nice (we always ask new members but very few bother lol)

One last thing, you're now out of moderation so you can post away

Saffles

Thanks Saffles.

There is probably about 3-4" of wiper arm still attached to the vehicle. Suppose I have to be thankful the windscreen didn't get damaged when it snapped. Looking back I wish the MOT tester would have tested the wiper function when I asked is this okay instead of saying a bit more. Oh well.

Someone in another forum said cars around the period of the Safrane have similar splice threads, with the suggestion of going to a motor shop and seeing what may work.

I am going to ring my local Renault dealership on Monday as the parts dept. was closed by the time I telephoned in the early afternoon. Hopefully they will have the exact dimensions and perhaps other manufacturers will be happy to help as to if any of their wiper arms fit the bill.

Shame a univeral arm doesn't exist with interchangeable connectors. Hopefully Renault hasn't used an obscure thread size and perhaps a Vectra/Mondeo or similar of that time period may just work. I wonder if the hole could be filled and the drilled of a different wiper arm in order to fit the Safrane?

Trying to get the car back on the road as it has been SORN; so I keep my NCB as I had a break in insurance due to health issues. I hope I can get it resolved quickly during next week.

Otherwise it seems silly to lose driving a car which drove smoothly to the test centre after being stuck on a driveway for a long time, because I can't get a replacement wiper arm.

Wouldn't have minded if it failed due to something major going but this just seems a rather simple thing yet it is proving a challenge to resolve!

Welcome to the forum,and good to hear you are trying to get your car roadworthy again.
Don,t bother ringing the Renault parts,they won,t list any dimensions i know,i work in parts!
No other wiper arm will fit ,and a phase 2 is different to a phase 1 Safrane BUT i think they do fit but don,t lift as far of the screen as a phase 2.
I have loads pf spares but all Phase 1 i,am afraid,Saffles is the Phase2 man but he may only have one spare and as he said they often break.
I will see what i can find on the web.....

This might be worth contacting,obviously breaking a Phase 2.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Renault-Safra ... 2c8bf95265

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RENAULT-SAFRA ... 51c33dc638
Might be worth contacting these aswell.

MOTORHOG are breaking a black 2.5 phase 2 aswell

No mate as I said in my reply I'm on my last one - as in the last one I had is now part of the car. If I break that one (god forbid) then I'm stuffed too! I think I'm going to have to setup www.renault-safrane-driver-side-wiper-collectors.com at this rate as it appears to be a growing problem. The arms are aluminium and it appears that past the 12-13 year mark they're getting fragile. I wonder if removing them (with the tool) and then heating them up with a blow torch would restrengthen them?

All I know is I've broken two, I think we had another user recently with the same problem and now our new friend has the same problem. This is worrying!

Maybe I should get a mould made and start smelting replacements myself lol

@afterinfo i just remembered we have another user here who recently bought a 2.5 as a breaker - bit of a tatty old beast from the pics but he might have a wiper arm you could buy from him.

Put an ad in the wanted forum and see if you get any replies.

Hi all and thanks for your comments so far.

I have sent an email to Valeo to ask if the wiper arm was a part used on other vehicles at that time. My rear wiper arm has Valeo on it. I think it is safe to assume the front wiper arms will also be made by Valeo. Hopefully someone at Valeo will email back the beginning of next week. Surely Valeo must have some sort of database or record of what the part dimensions are and what vehicles it was used on. Worth a try.

I am wondering if a Volvo model wiper arm will be the same as the safrane wiper arm as Volvo engines were used. Probably need to find someone who has a big enough collection of wiper arms for a museum!