Window Wipers problem NOT WORKING. HELP PLEASE! :(

[Mike_z]

Hey guys,
Driving in rain yesterday, with wipers on of course with no problems. 15 minutes into the drive, the wipers just suddenly die in the middle of the windscreen. Puzzled, I put my hand out the window to try and move them, they just went back down. Continued to play with my wiper stalk and they wouldn't move, I'd just hear a constant buzz coming from the vent area in front.

Today morning I went and re-checked the fuse for the wipers, all good. I played with the window wiper relay as well. The relay switches through the different speeds as intended but the wipers don't budge for anything.

My question to you is, would that point to the motor being at fault? Keep in mind both of the wipers don't work. I searched everywhere and surprisingly this isn't as well documented as I thought. Would the motor burn out just like that? Work fine one minute then completely burn out the next?

Also I provided some pics, I have no clue how to take these wipers off. Figured I'd ask before I start breaking shit. Someone know how? Thanks guys!
-Mike

I posted a video on youtube today of the problem
link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRA6_AUH-DU

Help guys!! :(

[Mike_z]

bump :/

[5Toes]

if you can hear the motor running, the linkage is stripped. it happens to alot of cars, sometimes you can just muscle the wiper arms back to the sweet spot on the toothed linkage and get em to work again.

[MikeK]

have you check the wiper relay in the fuse box?

[Mike_z]

have you check the wiper relay in the fuse box?

Yeah I unplugged it, tapped it. No avail, when its out, theres obviously nothing happening when changing between speeds on the wiper stalk, when i plug it back in, i get different buzzes at different speeds but no movement.

[jeffnhiscars]

assuming it's not your linkage and you hear the motor running either the motor is stripped internally or its your crank arm. The output shaft of the motor is hardened and has splines. The crank arm when new has no splines but gets cut in to by the output shaft when the nut gets tightened.

The idea is that the crank arm is a "breakaway" so that if the wipers get jammed up the softer crank arm strips and your motor is protected. If this happens I've found that you really need to replace the crank arm as it's tough to get it to bite again. Last one I bought was like $11 from the dealer.

[Das Delfin]

It's something with your linkage. Fairly common on our cars. Usually it's just the piece that connects to the motor, like Jeff said.

Don't do this

sometimes you can just muscle the wiper arms back to the sweet spot on the toothed linkage and get em to work again.

because then you will have to replace the entire wiper linkage assembly

Getting to the linkage isn't hard but it's pretty cramped. Just take the wiper arms off with a 14mm or so, then remove the heater blower motor and its plastic box (careful of all the brittle plastics), and look down into the drivers side cowl to find the motor. Standing on the passenger side, stick your hand into the cowl and unplug the wire harness, then remove the motor's center nut and then the three mounting nuts. You have to figure out which way to turn the linkage so it comes out, but it's not terribly hard as long as you remove the motor from the linkage first and take that out by itself

[Reichart12]

Ive also had my wipers give out during a drive because the nut holding the arms on was loose. A simple turn of a wrench and they were good to go.