Washing the MG4 - useful tip - place the wipers in the service position - here's how

[siteguru]

Try it?

 

[the briggie]

Is this not on the MG5 forum somewhere? Hey ho perhaps this forum is becoming a font of all knowledge

From the mg5 user manual

MAINTENANCE
Replacing Front Windscreen Wiper Blades
1 With the bonnet in closed state, and within 20 seconds
ofsetting the START/STOP Switch to the OFF position,
operate the wiper stalk switch by pressing down and
releasing, the wipers will enter the 'service position'
and stop on the windscreen.
2 Lift the wiper arm away from the windscreen.
3 Press the button on the wiper arm (as illustrated),
and pull the upper end of the wiper blade outward to
disengage from the wiper arm.
4 Unhook the blade from the wiper arm and discard.
5 Locate the new wiper into the slot of the wiper arm.
6 Push the wiper blade towards the arm until the wiper
blade is engaged.
7 Check whether the wiper blade is fitted correctly to
the arm before positioning on the windscreen.
8 Operate the wiper stalk switch by pressing down again
and releasing, or set the START/STOP Switch to ON,
the wipers will exit the service mode and automatically
return to its original position

 

[micky]

Gave my wife’s MG4 it’s first clean yesterday I must say it is not the easiest car I have ever washed.
There are lots of nooks and crannies to get your sponge into, and the black at the bottom of the doors
on the sills and the sills inside the the door frame apertures, where pretty dirty plus the front and rear black trims also, but I have done others almost as bad over the years black is not the easiest colour to keep clean in my opinion

So now for the word of warning, some of you that have been reading this forum for some while will remember that when the MG5 came, back in 2020, that a few people damaged the paint work on the rear edge of the bonnet, this happen by trying to lift the wiper blades off the screen while washing their cars, without first putting the wipers into the service position.

Well the MG4 is the same you need to place the wipers in the service position if you want to lift them off the screen to clean it, the wiper blades or the wiper arms.

I know a lot of you will know this, especially if you have had the MG5 for a while but, there will be new owners out there both new to the MG4 and to MG cars also, who may not so that is why I have done this posting.
Les

In the hand book page 301 it attempts to tell what to do but just in case your unsure here is what you need to do
Sit in the car touch the brake pedal to wake the car up and the home screen will light up.
View attachment 12238
So now you press the Car icon bottom right see my pointer

View attachment 12239

Press that and the drive mode screen will come up.
View attachment 12240
At the top you will see the Saftey icon on the right hand side. See my pointer again.

View attachment 12241
Press the saftey icon and then the saftey screen comes on
View attachment 12242
So on the saftey screen press the power off button

View attachment 12243
And then push the wiper control stalk down once within a few seconds and the Wipers will come up to the drivers side and stop there vertical on the screen, and then in that position you can lift the wipers off the screen for cleaning or changing if you need too.

Now just one other warning be sure to lay the wipers back down on the screen before you get back into the car reason being when you get in if you just touch the brake pedal the car will wake up and the wipers will go down again to there rest position and very probably damage the paint on the bonnet and probably the wiper arms as well so wipers flat on the screen be for you do a thing else.
You have been warned.

But I Hope this might be of some help to some of you.
Les

spot on les great info

 

[Brianlescargot]

Almost all new cars are the same, the wiper blades are below the level of the bonnet for aerodynamics, so yes you are going to have to put them in the service position if you want to lift them.

 

[Les burrows]

Does this also work for mg5 long range 72 plate (not facelift)

Yeh I sure it does try and see switch off the car and then inside 20 seconds flick the wiper switch down once they should come up vertical in front of the drive and stop there now in that position you can lift them of the screen for cleaning or changing but IPORTANT be sure to lay them down on the screen again before you touch that wiper switch again hope this helps.
Les

 

[jonno58]

Yeh I sure it does try and see switch off the car and then inside 20 seconds flick the wiper switch down once they should come up vertical in front of the drive and stop there now in that position you can lift them of the screen for cleaning or changing but IPORTANT be sure to lay them down on the screen again before you touch that wiper switch again hope this helps.
Les

Cheers for that I noticed it's a very simple procedure to the mg4 which one has to menu hunt

 

[wiz043]

Yeh I sure it does try and see switch off the car and then inside 20 seconds flick the wiper switch down once they should come up vertical in front of the drive and stop there now in that position you can lift them of the screen for cleaning or changing but IPORTANT be sure to lay them down on the screen again before you touch that wiper switch again hope this helps.
Les

Just for curiosity...many cars have wipers than freewheel on the shafts when engine is off and you can just move them up and away from the bonnet and lift them away from the screen to wash it. Is this not the case with the MG4 or are they unable to be moved on the shafts?

 

[tsedge]

Just for curiosity...many cars have wipers than freewheel on the shafts when engine is off and you can just move them up and away from the bonnet and lift them away from the screen to wash it. Is this not the case with the MG4 or are they unable to be moved on the shafts?

Never heard of that, are you sure it is 'many'?

 

[Deleted member 9692]

Never heard of that, are you sure it is 'many'?

My wife’s Volvo XC60 does this, useful when washing not that she would know that

 

[Les burrows]

Hi Charlie they is already such a list or guide running take a look at the thread called Hint Tips And Solutions in the MG4 forum if that’s the kind of thing you are looking to do but all ideas or welcome if you have something different of course.
Les

 

[Les burrows]

Just for curiosity...many cars have wipers than freewheel on the shafts when engine is off and you can just move them up and away from the bonnet and lift them away from the screen to wash it. Is this not the case with the MG4 or are they unable to be moved on the shafts?

No they are not. and I have never heard of freewheeling wipers
Les

 

[the briggie]

No they are not. and I have never heard of freewheeling wipers
Les

Are they not an American BMX display team?

 

[wiz043]

Never heard of that, are you sure it is 'many'?

Yes, but I am talking about ICE cars, especially Fords, not really sure about EV's.

 

[wiz043]

No they are not. and I have never heard of freewheeling wipers
Les

You can move the wiper arms up and down with some cars because the pivots/shafts whatever that they are mounted to freewheel or turn with the engine off. Don't ask me why.
In my case with my Ford I needed to remove the arms to access something and replacing them was a pain because you need to turn the engine on and wipers on and off to position the shafts in the correct place to carefully replace the arms otherwise they are out of sync with the wiper motors.
The only advantage I suppose is that you can easily move them up and away from the bonnet to wash the screen but I do not know if that is the reason they were designed that way

 

[yharry]

Very useful tips Les.

Sure I’ll remember it when it’s time to wash my MG4 which is due for collection in a week’s time.

Stupidly I damaged my old car in a similar situation!

Thanks again

 

[M101]

Gave my wife’s MG4 it’s first clean yesterday I must say it is not the easiest car I have ever washed.
There are lots of nooks and crannies to get your sponge into, and the black at the bottom of the doors
on the sills and the sills inside the the door frame apertures, where pretty dirty plus the front and rear black trims also, but I have done others almost as bad over the years black is not the easiest colour to keep clean in my opinion

So now for the word of warning, some of you that have been reading this forum for some while will remember that when the MG5 came, back in 2020, that a few people damaged the paint work on the rear edge of the bonnet, this happen by trying to lift the wiper blades off the screen while washing their cars, without first putting the wipers into the service position.

Well the MG4 is the same you need to place the wipers in the service position if you want to lift them off the screen to clean it, the wiper blades or the wiper arms.

I know a lot of you will know this, especially if you have had the MG5 for a while but, there will be new owners out there both new to the MG4 and to MG cars also, who may not so that is why I have done this posting.
Les

In the hand book page 301 it attempts to tell what to do but just in case your unsure here is what you need to do
Sit in the car touch the brake pedal to wake the car up and the home screen will light up.
View attachment 12238
So now you press the Car icon bottom right see my pointer

View attachment 12239

Press that and the drive mode screen will come up.
View attachment 12240
At the top you will see the Saftey icon on the right hand side. See my pointer again.

View attachment 12241
Press the saftey icon and then the saftey screen comes on
View attachment 12242
So on the saftey screen press the power off button

View attachment 12243
And then push the wiper control stalk down once within a few seconds and the Wipers will come up to the drivers side and stop there vertical on the screen, and then in that position you can lift the wipers off the screen for cleaning or changing if you need too.

Now just one other warning be sure to lay the wipers back down on the screen before you get back into the car reason being when you get in if you just touch the brake pedal the car will wake up and the wipers will go down again to there rest position and very probably damage the paint on the bonnet and probably the wiper arms as well so wipers flat on the screen be for you do a thing else.
You have been warned.

But I Hope this might be of some help to some of you.
Les

I wish i had seen this post before giving my MG4 its first was this weekend.
i lifted the bracket as i would on any other car in the world to wipe the blade, the metal arm made the faintest of touches on the bonnet lip and now im missing about 1cm of paint and it went down to bare metal!!!!!!!. The paint is also the thinnest coat i have ever seen on a car so this is clearly 1 area where MG saved on material to bring the cost down

 

[tsedge]

I wish i had seen this post before giving my MG4 its first was this weekend.
i lifted the bracket as i would on any other car in the world to wipe the blade, the metal arm made the faintest of touches on the bonnet lip and now im missing about 1cm of paint and it went down to bare metal!!!!!!!. The paint is also the thinnest coat i have ever seen on a car so this is clearly 1 area where MG saved on material to bring the cost down

I've had the same thing on two other cars from different manufacturers than MG. This is common and I don't think it reflects on MG's paint, it is the fact that the bonnet has a sharp edge and so the paint is very weak at that point and the hard metal of the wipers is very abrasive. Although the paint will be softer when new, which doesn't help.

 

[M101]

the metal wiper arm barely touched it, it didnt scrape it and there was almost no force.
If the bonnet edge is too sharp and this happens a lot then its a minor design fault, and hopefully they will correct it in later models.
But im certain the majority of owners will end up with paint missing on the bonnet after the first wash!

 

[tsedge]

the metal wiper arm barely touched it, it didnt scrape it and there was almost no force.
If the bonnet edge is too sharp and this happens a lot then its a minor design fault, and hopefully they will correct it in later models.
But im certain the majority of owners will end up with paint missing on the bonnet after the first wash!

Yes, this is exactly what happened to me with my Golf and a Qashqai before that. Tiniest touch and 1cm of paint came off the edge. I think it is common though I think manufacturers should mechanically prevent the wipers from striking the bonnet.

 

[M101]

My Passats wipers used to hit the bonnet too, but the paint never came off
Maybe i will try and claim it under their amazing 7 year warranty as a clear design fault that damaged my car???
The worst they can tell me is to F- Off