Hello fellow Impala owners,

OK I'll try this again. I see my first post got a lot of views but no replies so hopefully this is a better explanation or at least makes more sense. I drive a 2003 Impala 3.4. I was using my wipers yesterday on my way to work and they worked fine. When I started my car to leave I immediately heard a loud humming noise and noticed my wipers were stuck about 4-5" from the bottom of the windshield. I was able to push the wipers down, shut them off and the humming stopped. When I turn them back on same result. I removed the wiper transmission and found that when I disconnect the arm from the transmission crank it will rotate, so I know the motor is not dead but as soon as I reconnect the arm to the crank it will rotate about half a turn and become stuck and create the humming from the motor. So can someone please give me an idea what it could be? A bad motor or transmission, or the crank itself? Since they are all sold separately I don't want to guess which is bad and end up buying the part I don't really need. I really need help with this. I am on a tight budget and rain is on the way. Any replies would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

Wow all these Chevy experts on here and not a single reply. Thanks guys you're all heart.

 

With the wiper linkage disconnected does the motor turn completely around with no noise? With the linkage disconnected do the wipers move completely around like the are supposed to? There are plastic clips that connect the linkage to the motor. They may be cracked or damaged. Sounds like you are getting a bind somewhere jamming the motor. Hard to tell without actually seeing it.

 

The motor does turn completely around, no unusual noise just like an electric motor running is all. It also turns completely with the crank mechanism attached. It's only when I attach the arm to the crank that it jams up. The wipers do move freely, It seems like the spring loaded crank(transmission) doesn't disengage to allow the wipers to run through their full cycle. I read about the bent tab problem and the small "arm" on the bottom of the crank mechanism lines up with the tab when I attach it to the motor. Possibly the motor is going and is too weak to disengage the locking pin on the crank mechanism if that makes sense. I'll probably end up getting both a motor and crank mechanism from a u pull it place to cover my bases.I really don't know what else to do. You're right I guess it's one of those you have to see it to understand it. Of course right now it is pouring down rain so I can't do anything. Thank you very much for your reply.

Stan

 

Sorry bro, never had a wiper motor go bad. I guess I'd have to drive in the rain for that to happen.

 

OK so I went to a U Pull it place this morning and found a 03 in great shape. I got the complete assembly (motor, transmission, crank) for 16 bucks. Problem solved. Let it rain.

 

that probably was the best way to go.




for you old wipermotor/trans:


with the motor disconnected could you grab the linkage and move it through its full sweep. if you couldn't, the trans is probably nfg.

 

Yeah the linkage was fine and the motor turned so I was guessing it was the trans too, but what the hell for $16 bucks it was just a matter of a simple swap and the one from the salvage yard looked better than the one that was in my car.

 

yep! my a/c compressor fix went that way too. $37 used verses new $250

 

Nice, yeah for prices like that, I might rebuild my whole car