I've searched through this forum looking for an answer...no luck.

My windshield wipers were working this afternoon. I go out this evening, scrape off all the ice from the windshield and try to actuate the wipers. Nothing! I check the fuses and the wires and all appear to be fine. When sitting in the vehicle I can hear the motor actuating like normal. I am able to move the wiper blades up and down through the full cycle without much effort.

What I'm thinking is that some ice got stuck on the windshield/hood cowl and jammed the blade arms.

I haven't torn into the wiper armature assembly before and was wondering if anyone knows this system well?

I'm not sure if this system has a safety feature where I can reconnect the armature to the motor or if I sheared something.

Can't do it tonight...it's dark,cold, and icy. Fortunate to have a late start tomorrow (hoping for a cancelled day!), so I'll spend a few hours in the morning taking the cowl off and investigating the armature.

Any tips or advice before starting??

Thanks!

 

Check to make sure the nut attaching the wiper arm to the shaft is tight.

 

There is no nut on this style. It has a slip lock that locks the arm into place after it slides onto the shaft. There is a key spline on the shaft to assist in alignment and torque. I pulled the wiper arms off and checked for movement with the arms off... no luck. I'm going to tear into the cowl here in a few minutes and see what's up. I researched the parts last night. Fortunately, the transmission for each side is less than $25 each new. New bushings are $6. It'll be fun with an OAT of 20 degrees F and winds. FUN FUN!


I need a bigger garage... maybe a shop!

 

I pulled off the cowl, which was a whole lot of fun with an inch of ice on it. I was able to look at the system. The splines for the arm and arm drive shafts are fine. The transmissions appear to be in good shape.

I held the arm drive shaft with my gloved fingers and was able to replicate the problem. Turns out the drive shaft for the motor is where the problem is coming from. I was unable to pull the lever off of the motor's drive shaft to inspect the splines, but I am starting to suspect it's a motor that's weak. I installed one arm and the system didn't have enough power to move the one arm.

I'm going to say that the motor has internal damage...

 

Does the motor stall when you had the linkage disconnected?

 

I didn't troubleshoot it that far, even though I should have. I had narrowed it down to either the motor or the motor lever interface. Being that the motor lever is not normally stocked from my local parts store (dealer part), I tried my luck with the motor.

The guy at the store said he'd been working on cars for 20 years and would be surprised if the motor was bad and that usually the wiper arm shaft fails first.

He said let's test the motor. I pulled out my Gerber Multi-tool and manually turn the motor shaft and we could hear and feel what felt/sounded like broken parts inside the motor. So, I turned it in on the spot for the core charge, installed the new motor and everything works great.

One thing I noticed: the old motor's drive shaft was easy to turn and the new motor's drive shaft was solid (very difficult to turn). It made it easy to rig the wiper blades.

Here's a detailed report on how-to if someone needs to remove/install wiper motor and/or cowl.

If someone is installing a new motor, install the motor mounts and reconnect wire. Close hood and slide motor lever over motor shaft, and start the shaft nut. Adjust the lever to desired location and tighten nut down (13mm or 9/16 combination wrench). I couldn't use a socket due to clearance issues with the transmission in the stowed position. The mount bolts come off easy with a 10mm socket and a 1" extension.

If adjustments need to be made to the driveshaft lever (to adjust the stowed position of the blades), back the shaft nut off a little bit and adjust the lever. Hold the lever with one hand and tighten the shaft nut with the other hand.

The whole job took about two hours, but would have been easier/quicker if I didn't have ice over everything and was in sub-freezing weather.

To remove the cowl, first unscrew antenna on right fender using a pair of pliers. Remove both windshield wiper arms (pull arms up to maintenance position, pull out stop tab at the bottom of the arm, then slide arm off of shaft).

One screw at each (left & right) front outer corner of cowl. Slide the cover piece (about 6" long) out and forward. There is one tab facing aft and one facing inward. Once remove, it exposes the two outer self-tapping body screws for the cowl (two more on opposite side). You may need assistance to have the hood held in various positions in order to get outer covers and cowl off. Once the four outer screws are removed (#2 Phillips Stubby screwdriver required), there are four more screws that are accessible from the top of the cowl (step stool and normal #2 Phillips screwdriver required). It is easier to access the the middle four screws when the hood is closed.

After cowl is free, don't forget to disconnect windshield wash hose. You may need to remove rubber insulation across top of firewall edge, it pulls right up.

 

Sounds like the motor has a planetary gear drive since you couldn't turn the output shaft. If so, bet they are plastic or sintered powdered metal and they started breaking up in your old one. Just a guess tho.