Passenger side wiper problem

[RamboRat]

Hey everyone.

I have a 98 explorer sport and today while driving with my wipers on, I noticed the passenger side wiper rumbled slightly then stopped working. It returned to the base of the windshield. My driver side wiper still works fine so I assume the motor is still ok. I removed the arm and noticed the round part spins about halfway before stopping. Has anyone ever experienced this? What is the best way to fix it? Any help is appreciated.

 

[koda2000]

Hey everyone.

I have a 98 explorer sport and today while driving with my wipers on, I noticed the passenger side wiper rumbled slightly then stopped working. It returned to the base of the windshield. My driver side wiper still works fine so I assume the motor is still ok. I removed the arm and noticed the round part spins about halfway before stopping. Has anyone ever experienced this? What is the best way to fix it? Any help is appreciated.

wipers have a bell-crank attached to the wiper motor. as the motor spins a circle the bell-crank spins a circle too, then there's a short bar attached to the bell-crank, that attaches to another longer bar, which connects the two wiper shafts. as the bell-crank spins in a circle, the rods behave in a back & forth action. it sounds like the long bar came off of the passenger side wiper shaft, or the bushing is worn out. you'll need to remove both wiper arms and then the black plastic cowl cover to see what's happened and determine how to repair it. i don't know how the plastic cowl cover is held on. i had a hard time replacing a washer nozzle as i couldn't figure it out and was afraid i'd break it. maybe someone else can help with that.

on my Chrysler, there are nylon bushings on all the rods that periodically break/wear out and need to be replaced. i'm not sure how Ford does it, but i'm sure it's very similar.