Rear window-wiper BROKE?

[Dylansav]

I kind of have a funny problem with my rear window wiper. Whenever I try wiping the rain or snow off the back window, it just wipes off the first foot of the little U that it makes (but upside down..)

When it is going and I go in the back and look at it, it's on the glass for a second and then it's lifted off it for the rest of the way than it goes back..really annoying..

Is there anyway to replace the whole arm on the back?

thanks for any help

 

[Joe Dirt]

Yep- all you need to do is pull back the cover at the end, remove the nut and wiggle the arm loose and pull it off, then you can put a new one on there. I think there was an updated arm off the later ones that sort of fixe... er... wiped a little bit more.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

i was having the same problem. i just bent the arm a little at a time and it wipes the entire window now.

 

[Dylansav]

thanks alot guys for the help

I'm gonna bend it, and if that doesn't help, gona replace it.

 

[gijoecam]

Bending it is a double-edged sword... Sometimes it makes it wipe, but then because of the angle, the blade makes contact with the body, or can get caught in between the window and tailgate. Happens all the time.

The best fix I've found is to modify the wiper arm to allow it to flex a bit mroe than it did stock. If you flip the wiper arm up and look at the joint, you'l see a pair of fingers that hold the arm from folding in half. Those fingers are what limit the flex of that joint. I shortened my fingers back in 2000 (after the dealer replaced the arm with the revised one) and it hasn't missed a wipe in the 8 years since. Pics of the mod are in the gallery linked in my signature... use the pull-down there for the 'Explorer Wiper Mod' gallery.

There are other possibilities too... The bracket that the motor mounts to can be damaged or bent (car washes are good at that), or the rubber grommets that isolate the motor bracket from the door panel can dry-rot and fail... without removing the panel, there's no way to know for sure. Doing that is a 5 minute job... I've got it down to a science, and it only takes a philips screwdriver.

Good luck!

-Joe

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Bending it is a double-edged sword... Sometimes it makes it wipe, but then because of the angle, the blade makes contact with the body, or can get caught in between the window and tailgate. Happens all the time.

The best fix I've found is to modify the wiper arm to allow it to flex a bit mroe than it did stock. If you flip the wiper arm up and look at the joint, you'l see a pair of fingers that hold the arm from folding in half. Those fingers are what limit the flex of that joint. I shortened my fingers back in 2000 (after the dealer replaced the arm with the revised one) and it hasn't missed a wipe in the 8 years since. Pics of the mod are in the gallery linked in my signature... use the pull-down there for the 'Explorer Wiper Mod' gallery.

There are other possibilities too... The bracket that the motor mounts to can be damaged or bent (car washes are good at that), or the rubber grommets that isolate the motor bracket from the door panel can dry-rot and fail... without removing the panel, there's no way to know for sure. Doing that is a 5 minute job... I've got it down to a science, and it only takes a philips screwdriver.

Good luck!

-Joe

very good point. the way i did mine was have the window wet, and have the motor on intermittent. what i did was wait for it to make a pass, then when it stopped i bend the arm slightly, then waited for it to make another pass. it took about 2 mins for me to do this as well. but bend it in very small increments, it didn't take much.

 

[Dylansav]

thanks for the info guys