I can't figure out if something is installed wrong or what. Just bought a 2001 S40 and noticed that the wiper arm on the driver's side had a shiny spot.



It is where the bottom edge of the hood scrapes when closing. This seems to be normal....

I went to a junk yard Saturday that had 4 '01 S40. They all had that problem. Am I crazy? This seems to be a horrible design flaw.... "feature" in computer programmers lingo. What the hell?

 

My S40 does this. Do your wipers make contact with the windshield all the way? Common for the cast aluminum base to get bent and the wipers not being pushed down hard enough. Apparently there was very little clearance between the wiper base and the hood to begin with so they start rubbing once it bends a little. My cars a little beat up anyway so it doesn't bother me.

 

the metal in the wiper arm fatigues over time and after a while it won't put pressure on the blade - and may even rub on the hood. Cure is to buy a new wiper arm... Common problem to Volvos (I've replaced arms on both my S40 and 850...)

 

I even tried to swap sides with the arms and the pass side one hits worse when mounted on the driver's side.. The wipers seem to push the water just fine. But if I "stand on my head" and look to see if the arm is pushed down completely on the motor shaft it appears to NOT be. But there again, it also appears that it will not go any further. The splined hole in the arm looks to be smaller than the motor's splined shaft. So I think the nut pushes it down as far as it will go.

I can live with it. I am pretty sure that I will be the only one lifting the hood.

 

you can also put some washers between the arm pivot mount and the mounting screws to lower the pivot a bit. MY 02 S40 did it was well, My 04 is ok.

 

My 2001 scrapes too