Rear wiper fix?

[BNick]

My 98's rear wiper (as opposed to rear kicker... ) wipes the left third and the right third of the window but doesn't touch in the middle third of it's sweep (11-12-1 o'clock range).

I noticed that the shaft come through the hatch at an angle. I was thinking that maybe the motor was installed wrong and needed to be either squared with the hatch and/or shimmed so that less of the shaft protrudes through the hatch allowing the arm to be closer to the glass. Bending the arm could work, but it looks like the blade would just scrape the paint below the window like Rob_B said.

I took a quick look at the hatch's inside panel, but could figure out how to remove the panel. Any leads here?

 

[Garth]

The top portion of the hatch cover is snapped on, you just have to pull on it. It can be done by hand. Then you should pull out the little cover things above the lock and remove a few screws, you should also remove the two screws that holds in the strap. then you push upward on the cover to remove.

Before you go that far I should warn you that it is a waste of time, since thats the way the motor is mounted. Its also protected by a dust cover thats also a pain to replace.

What size wiper blade are you using?

 

[matey]

i havnt had that problem ...yet but if i park on a hill facing up all the washer fluid drains out through the rear washer

i love that one about turning the squirter around im gonna do it right now

 

[rangerjeff]

Garth,

What blade are you using ? Maybe you should post what brand and size you are using, part number may help too. This might save some us some serious dough and keep me from bending my wiper arm.

 

[X24]

My rear wiper went from touching about 1/10 of the window to totally working. This happened sometime last week. It just suddenly started working right all on it's own. I thought about what I might have done to make it work and the first thing that came to mine was the fact that I opened the hatch. I never open the hatch. I'm guessing that the main problem lies in the mount inside the door and when I opened and shut it it moved it a little. Well, I cant complain... it works now.

 

[Phelony]

This isn't constructive but I remember looking for my car in the mall parking lot and mistaking another car for my own because I saw the path of the rear wiper in the dust of another Explorer's back window...that is how rampant this is...

 

[matey]

yeah my car is like that some times the rear wiper dosnt work then i get out open and close the rear window then it works

 

[Bottomlesspit]

OK, just wanted to give an update on my rear wiper window missing woes.
I broke down and went to the local little Ford dealer. I asked the parts guy for the arm number from the earlier post....and said it has to have AB stamped on it. He says, " I know exactly what you are talking about!" Here it is...that will be $25. I put it on and sure enough...it works great. The whole window gets wiped!!!
Yea!!!!, one more thing off the 'fix the Explorer' list.
Just thought I'd pass the info along.
Ken

 

[Garth]

mine is working fine now but I just might buy one of them blades for safety

 

[R&L98EXP]

Mine stopped working when my lady snagged it with her sweater. I had to bend the wiper a couple of times. worked ok but not good enough. Then I moved the whole assembly around(just grab it from where it comes out of hatch) It now works perfectly. I must of moved it where it was supposed to be originally?

 

[vbtruk]

Hey guys i searched and gave it a try as mine would just smear water all over the back glass and not work at all so i did what some of you mentioned earlier and bent the rear wiper arm towards the glass re-installed the original blade and voila like you guys said, with the extra tension it cleans the whole glas now no prob's. In all took about 35seconds.
Thanks.

 

[mcgyver ky]

i just had to replace one too

and from some info i have gotten from the manufactures of wipers concerning the explorer rear window were that the window has a concave design unlike the front window and with the combination of heat and exposure to the elements the rubber cracks and becomes hard making it stiffer and not conforming to the windows pitch i have a post on it

just thought i would let you know thank you

 

[RLBurkett]

I had the same problem on my 2000 Mountaineer. I had to take the arm off, take out the spring and grind and cut down the stops at the hinge point of the arm to allow it to more farther. These stops wouldn't allow the arm to apply enough pressure to keep the blade in contact with the glass. I tried bending the arm to get more pressure but then the arm would get stuck on the bottom edge of the glass when it came off of the parking stop for the arm.

Bob