Bebonos
New Member
- Joined
- July 2, 2010
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Boston, MA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '14 Explorer XLT
Hey guys,
This site has definitely saved me some headaches the past 2 months helping me get my X up to my standards, so I decided to give back with this write up (My first ever by the way). Also, I couldn’t take a lot of pics, since I went at it alone and it turned out to be a messy job.
In my case I had just bought the truck and had everything checked out ok (even tried out the front wiper/washer, my wife’s a neat freak when it comes to the windshield), but never bothered with the rear wiper until weeks later. Flip the switch and nothing.
After I took care of all of the maintenance and little minor details to bring the truck to my O.C.D. standards I took a swing at it. First thing I noticed was that when the switch was turned, I could hear a "click" from the motor. I thought the motor was done and I would need a new one, so being curious I decided to take it off and take it apart to have a look. It was dead anyways.
First thing you need to do is remove the plastic cover by pulling on it carefully. Don’t hang from it like an ape, look for the clips that hold it. There’s 2 on each side and one that goes into the wiper plate if I recall correctly. Next you’ll see the wiper assembly backplate. It held by 2 nuts to the latch and 3 screws to the assembly. Take those off and this is what you’ll see.
This is where it starts to get messy. Behind the big white sprocket there are 3 electrical contacts for the motor as well as on the back side of the sprocket. This is what makes it go back and forth by reversing the polarity on the motor when it gets to a certain point.
I couldn’t take a pic of it, but it was very dirty with carbon deposits. I wiped the whole thing clean and re-greased. Because of the carbon deposits I assumed that the carbon contacts on the motor had worn out and that’s why it wasn’t moving.
So I decided to take the cover off, just take off the 2 screws on the side of it.
The core is held by the big sprocket via the worm screw, so to avoid the magnets pulling the core out hold on to the worm screw. If it does come out, don’t panic. The brushes do not fall out, just be careful not to drop the core.
I did take it out and cleaned the contacts, since they looked very dirty. Probably shorting out from all the carbon residue. Sorry no pic. Cleaned everything up and put it back in. You’ll need something to push back the brushes, be careful not to damage them. I used a small precision screwdriver and wiggled it in. When re-installing the cover, make sure the core is not pulled back out.
At this point you’ll want to re-lubricate everything and put it back together. Make sure that the area with the cutouts on the electrical tracks of the sprocket line up with the electrical contacts, as well as having the wiper arm on its resting position (towards the driver’s side of the truck).
Otherwise you’ll have to remove the wiper arm and readjust it, so it doesn’t color outside the lines (You know what I mean, stays within the glass area)
Don’t forget the gasket. Screw everything back together and break out the hose.
Now you have a functional rear wiper and you can sit back and spend hours watching it wipe.
Hope It helps someone out there.
This site has definitely saved me some headaches the past 2 months helping me get my X up to my standards, so I decided to give back with this write up (My first ever by the way). Also, I couldn’t take a lot of pics, since I went at it alone and it turned out to be a messy job.
In my case I had just bought the truck and had everything checked out ok (even tried out the front wiper/washer, my wife’s a neat freak when it comes to the windshield), but never bothered with the rear wiper until weeks later. Flip the switch and nothing.
After I took care of all of the maintenance and little minor details to bring the truck to my O.C.D. standards I took a swing at it. First thing I noticed was that when the switch was turned, I could hear a "click" from the motor. I thought the motor was done and I would need a new one, so being curious I decided to take it off and take it apart to have a look. It was dead anyways.
First thing you need to do is remove the plastic cover by pulling on it carefully. Don’t hang from it like an ape, look for the clips that hold it. There’s 2 on each side and one that goes into the wiper plate if I recall correctly. Next you’ll see the wiper assembly backplate. It held by 2 nuts to the latch and 3 screws to the assembly. Take those off and this is what you’ll see.
This is where it starts to get messy. Behind the big white sprocket there are 3 electrical contacts for the motor as well as on the back side of the sprocket. This is what makes it go back and forth by reversing the polarity on the motor when it gets to a certain point.
I couldn’t take a pic of it, but it was very dirty with carbon deposits. I wiped the whole thing clean and re-greased. Because of the carbon deposits I assumed that the carbon contacts on the motor had worn out and that’s why it wasn’t moving.
So I decided to take the cover off, just take off the 2 screws on the side of it.
The core is held by the big sprocket via the worm screw, so to avoid the magnets pulling the core out hold on to the worm screw. If it does come out, don’t panic. The brushes do not fall out, just be careful not to drop the core.
I did take it out and cleaned the contacts, since they looked very dirty. Probably shorting out from all the carbon residue. Sorry no pic. Cleaned everything up and put it back in. You’ll need something to push back the brushes, be careful not to damage them. I used a small precision screwdriver and wiggled it in. When re-installing the cover, make sure the core is not pulled back out.
At this point you’ll want to re-lubricate everything and put it back together. Make sure that the area with the cutouts on the electrical tracks of the sprocket line up with the electrical contacts, as well as having the wiper arm on its resting position (towards the driver’s side of the truck).
Otherwise you’ll have to remove the wiper arm and readjust it, so it doesn’t color outside the lines (You know what I mean, stays within the glass area)
Don’t forget the gasket. Screw everything back together and break out the hose.
Now you have a functional rear wiper and you can sit back and spend hours watching it wipe.
Hope It helps someone out there.
