Rear Windshield Wiper on Loyale wagon - Kaput!

[robm]

I tried to use the rear wiper to clear way too much snow the other day, and it went half way across and stopped. I finished the job with the snow brush, and it worked OK after that, but slooowly.

 

After a couple of days, it quit completely, stuck half way.

 

The fuse is good (front wipers work fine, so does the rear washer), there is 12 V at the connector, and the motor reads 150 ohms or so with the meter.

 

It doesn't look bad, but it won't work.

 

I tried to remove it, but no luck. The 2 bolts inside the hatch come out nicely, but the mechanism that sticks through to the outside world won't budge.

 

My Haynes has disappeared ( I think it went into the recycling by accident!), so can anyone tell me how to get this thing off the car?

 

And maybe shed a little light on what might be wrong with it?

 

Thanks.

[hooziewhatsit]

are you sure that the teeth on the wiper arm didn't just get stripped off? I believe that's designed to fail if it tries to move too much weight.

 

If you can move the wiper arm by itself, the teeth are just stripped and you need another arm. Otherwise... I'm not sure exactly how to get the motor out.

[robm]

Well, it was the motor. The output shaft to the wiper arm was pretty much seized, or bent or something, so it can't turn.

 

 

Removal of this device in one piece is nearly impossible in Canadian conditons. The plastic jobby that is supposed to keep the mud and crap out of the output shaft traps water and salt, so the 17 mm nut freezes to the threaded aluminum housing that extends thorugh the body to support the output shaft. The aluminum shears before the nut comes loose.

 

 

If you are forewarned of this, a good blast of spritz lube may help.

 

 

In the end, I used a grinder and zipcut to remove it. Not recommended, I now have (more) body work to do. It is possible to remove a tiny circlip on the output shaft instead of grinding, but this is not apparent when the whole thing is covered in crud and rust.

 

 

Of course, all the wiper motors at the wrecker were in a similar state. Spritz lube did not help.

 

 

A new motor from the dealer was only $225, but it took 2 weeks to get here. They send out the parts order on Wednesday, and get it back a week later. I ordered it on Thursday, so had to wait 13 days....