Wiper mechanism broken: how do you remove wiper arms?

[fsch]

The wiper on passenger-side stopped working while under heavy rain this weekend. We drove back home (150 km) hoping the drive-side one doesn't break. Surely, this had to be one of the arms in the wiper mechanism since the other wiper was still working.

As I'm out of warranty for long now and like to hack around things a bit, I thought I could give it a try and replace the mechanism by myself. I checked if I could find a video about it, but I didn't. (I namely found this funny video where they remove about every panel and trim you can remove on a Model S, but they didn't remove the wiper arms, and this is where I'm stock right now.)

Being all by myself, before ordering anything, I wanted to see if I could access the part. I removed the panel you remove to access the fuses inside the frunck, and I was able to take a picture of the culprit (see pictures attached: one showing the arm that broke (I added blue and red arrows showing where it broke) and another of a used wiper mechanism for sale on the web, with an arrow showing where mine broke.)

In order to access and replace the mechanism, I have to further remove the panel at the base of the windshield. I'm able to access and remove all the clips, but I have also to remove the wiper arms. I unscrewed them but they won't come off. They are still stock with the screws and the one that is still working still moves with the mechanism. I hesitate to use priers or apply any force. I can't see any locking mechanism.

Any suggestions? And do you know about any other issue about removing this panel?

 

[fsch]

Following up on my own post, I finally decided to ask my local car repair workshop to change the part. Tesla only sells the complete mechanism with the motor (but excluding the wiper arms themselves). 520 CAD = 390 USD + tx. It took the workshop 2h. They say they had to remove one of the diagonal bars to be able to take out the wiper mechanism.

Also to answer the question in the title of my post: the wiper arms are kind of press-fit, which is pretty common, but they have a tool to extract them.

I preferred to ask that nearby workshop because they charge half the hourly rate compared to the SC, and the Montréal SC is always very busy. I had to go purchase the part their beforehand because they do not deliver to other workshops, and I had to wait 45 min only to get the part! I don't know, however, if the SC would have made it in less than 2h.