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

[tsedge]

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

Well the fact that I did it twice on two different cars and will probably do the same on my MG4 should tell you that I have a design fault too.

 

[Deleted member 9692]

Well the fact that I did it twice on two different cars and will probably do the same on my MG4 should tell you that I have a design fault too.

Bloody stupid design. I’ve had it on several cars and scraped the bonnet on all of them despite being double triple super careful and then all of a sudden.…. aaaaarrggghhhhh!

 

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May help to protect (or cover damaged area) of the bonnet.

 

[EVNewbie]

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

Thanks for the info, glad to know this upfront as this is my first EV and I'm absolutely clueless

 

[siteguru]

This wiper issue isn't exclusive to EVs.

 

[wiz043]

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

They probably will but not in that exact terminology.

 

[Les burrows]

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

Hi there Jonno only just seen you Question and yes the 5 is the same but to set the wipers into the service position you just switch off the car and then within around 15-20 seconds press the wiper switch down and the wiper arms will move up to the service position bug be sure to lay the wipers back flat on to the screen before you switch the car bavmck on again as when you do the arms will gone back down to the rest position
Sorry for the very late reply not hadn’t seen it.
Les

 

[jebimasta]

So like an absolute **** I didn't know about the service position and have done some damage to my paintwork.

Anyone got best practice for touching it up? I am tempted to mention it to the dealer and see what happens.
there's something a little bit un-satisfying about just covering it up with the touch up paint.

 

[Brianlescargot]

It’s not a design fault, the wipers are behind the top of the bonnet to improve aerodynamics. Read the manual of any such car and they will all have a service position some of which are very obvious. I’ve had several cars with a similar set up, now an Enyaq, which actually has the service position option on the infotainment before it shuts off.

 

[jebimasta]

It’s not a design fault, the wipers are behind the top of the bonnet to improve aerodynamics. Read the manual of any such car and they will all have a service position some of which are very obvious. I’ve had several cars with a similar set up, now an Enyaq, which actually has the service position option on the infotainment before it shuts off.

Whilst I technically agree, I also wouldn't expect anyone to RTFM before lifting a wiperblade.
It's probably a well established concept now, for the aerodynamics, but I only came from a 2018 Leon, and I was totally oblivious.
Perhaps something like a sticker on the black part of the windscreen with a little warning, would have been nice.

 

[Brianlescargot]

Whilst I technically agree, I also wouldn't expect anyone to RTFM before lifting a wiperblade.
It's probably a well established concept now, for the aerodynamics, but I only came from a 2018 Leon, and I was totally oblivious.
Perhaps something like a sticker on the black part of the windscreen with a little warning, would have been nice.

Nearly every new car is like this now. I would suggest it’s pretty obvious that the wiper blade is not going to lift past the bonnet hence I have and would refer to the manual.

 

[tsedge]

It is never obvious if someone has never had it before.

New cars should come with an A4 sheet inside highlighting the key points that might surprise people coming from an older car.

 

[wandle MG4 trophy]

It is never obvious if someone has never had it before.

New cars should come with an A4 sheet inside highlighting the key points that might surprise people coming from an older car.

A good dealer should point these things out

 

[jebimasta]

A good dealer should point these things out

Add "a good dealer" to the "nice to haves"

 

[TheArcher]

Back in the day you could do this just by flicking the wiper stalk. I used to do it accidentally quite a lot! Ho hum.

 

[Geoffree]

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

Thanks. Had this problem and I was wondering how to do this!

 

[charlie bravo]

Thanks. Had this problem and I was wondering how to do this!

Brilliant thanks

Very helpful, have any body had the faulty door handle lock and unlocking fixed properly please, my 4 trophy is back in on 28th to be fixed with software updates, have that cured the door handle, or do it need replacing please.
Thanks for looking

 

[the briggie]

Part of the software update is to solve invalid key deadlock problem. This is nothing to do with door handles not functioning properly. We suspect it is a hardware problem, be it mechanical or door micro switch.

 

[FiferMG4]

Very important tip, thank you!

Just washed the car for the first time (so many wee nooks and crannies) and followed your advice Les about putting the wipers into the service position and then laying them flat before sitting down in the car again. I can easily see how someone not used to wipers tucked under the bonnet, could fall foul of this and damage either their wiper arms and or bonnet edge.

*Edited to say, I can just imagine someone washing their wiper arms and blades (in the service position) when one of their kids hops on the driver’s seat and the wipers attempt to go back into their normal position and then hit the bonnet. Better watch out for that!

 

[Diggsy]

I think in all honesty, the safest and easiest way to wash is leave the wipers in situ and carefully wipe underneath them. So long as you’re not using an old school ‘jumbo sponge’ then there’s more than enough room to clean underneath and around the blades without causing the wiper arms to touch the bonnet.

If you use a modern wash mitt, it’ll clean below the wipers quite easily with them in place, just by lifting them a small amount and you won’t have the worry of needing to remember to place them flat on the window again before getting into the car.

Edit simply to say that it’s still a good idea to warn users not to lift the wipers too high when washing though