Ahhh Fuck. Wiper Help

i just finished up my camera mount. took the car out in the snow to see how it works... a few minutes in, the passenger side wiper starts to not do the full motion, and in about 3 or 4 wipes, it totally quits out, leaving the driver side working fine, but passenger side not. now it just sorta gives a little pulse when its supposed to wipe, maybe moves like a half inch, driver side still works fine.

i think i saw and smelled smoke as well, like something was burning, so i shut the wipers off and drove home.

WTF. its winter time and i lost a wiper. this is not good.

please help

my best guess is theres something blocking the linkage on that wiper keeping it from moving or the linkage got jammed or twisted. When this happened, it put waay to much load on the wiper motor, and you could have burned it out, thus causing smoke.

well i got out and while i had them turned on, i tried moving the pass wiper like it was supposed to move... it DID move, but not under its own power. so its not like jammed or anything...

any idea how i should go about fixing this or even diagnosing it?how do i get in there? it was snowing out so i just parked up and left it for tomorrow or something.

there IS an MK1 s12 at the junkyard right now, along with an s13. so maybe i can scavange what i need from them? not sure what i need though.

thanks

There is a pop in pop out linkage. Just remove the plastic covers (with phillips head screw driver) and pop it back in. Smoke might have been your imagination. Both sides opperate from the one motor with 2 linkages. One from the motor to the centre wiper, then another from that to the far wiper.

That is, unless you yanks have a completely different wiper setup.

Our wiper setup is the same, just mirrored from yours (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

If the bushings keep popping out tho, time to replace- not a bad idea regardless, if you can get a new one for the loose end, toss it in so it doesn't happen again while you are driving.

This is not an uncommon problem, no worries. I've never seen the motors stop fully, even in the car I just bought with an electrical fire and burned/exposed wires still operates just fine for now.

hmm ok. thanks guys.

where is this cover located to access the internals?

at the base of the windscreen. the meshed ones and one solid one.

Have you even checked to see if the nut was lose? the one that olds the wiper arm down?

+1

definitely worth checking

not always something that seems loose

watch the system work, if the nut is turning and the blade isn't then that is an issue.

thanks for the help guys. ill let you know what i figure out tomorrow

jeffwins24 @ Dec 16 2008, 09:37 PM
Have you even checked to see if the nut was lose? the one that olds the wiper arm down?

200sxkitcar @ Dec 16 2008, 08:03 PM
+1

definitely worth checking

not always something that seems loose

watch the system work, if the nut is turning and the blade isn't then that is an issue.

well i took the arm off, and the axle does spin by itself like its supposed to. i tried putting the arm back on and just tightening it, but i think the splines are too messed up. they def look very beat up

im gonna grab the wiper from the j yard i think. do you think i need the actual axle thing that sticks out of the firewall though? (the thing that the wiper arm bolts onto?)

You shouldnt. if the spline is munted, you may wanna replace it though. Once it's lined up where you want it add a little lock-tight to ensure it doesnt work itself lose.

Just the base part is rather simple to remove, I would grab the ones from the junkyard just in case (they'll probably charge you the same) just separate the ball joint end and there are two 10mm sized hex screws to take out and the base comes out. The splined stud is a small part not attached to the linkage permanently, so you'll be covered regardless.

if you can't find a S12 in the j-yard try S13 ones they SHOULD be the same I think (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)