Windshield wiper quit working

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Corky

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 29, 2011
Posts
413
Location
Great Black Swamp
We left Toledo OH Thursday morning for Savannah GA, with plans to stop midway for the night.
The place that we planned on staying wasn't available so last minute changes had to be made.
We had been driving thru rain on and off rain for a good part of the day, and at times the rain was quite heavy. Due to the changes in our stopping over place meant I had to drive a bit after dark.
At about 40mi from the stop, and in heavy truck traffic the wipers started acting up. The wipers would momentarily stop half way thru their stroke, and then return to the normal back & forth motion. This happened 3 or 4 times, and I didn't think much of it, but eventually they just stopped. And of course they stopped right when I needed them the most. I pushed all of the buttons to no avail, while assessing a safe exit from the expressway. After a few seconds the wipers started back up, and act normal for about a half an hour. This time the wipers did a mid-stroke pause, restarted for a few swipes before I turned them off. The wipers have always homed themselves in the center of the windshield except now. The new rest position is at the outsides of the windshield.
I'm asking for any insight on how to get these back to their normal mode of operation, and what may need to be replaced.
Any help is appreciated.

Corky
 
Not common, but windshield motors do go bad.  That's what it sounds like to me.  Usually not too difficult, Google it.
 
I have a similar problem. Is yours a Workhorse chassis?

We arrived in KOFA almost 4 weeks ago in the rain. The wipers had been working fine but started to get squirrelly. Soon they would only run on High and even then they seemed jerky. The park function must be on low as they stop wherever the switch is turned off of high.

My research shows there are three components (plus wiring and connectors) and any one could be bad. There is the multi function switch, the control box, and the motor Assy.

I hope to isolate the problem tomorrow.

Looking forward to your responses and solution.

Tom

 
Have you had a windshield replaced or the wipers worked on? Have you inspected the linkage? Is the wiper arm bolt tight to where the arm can't slip on the shaft?
 
Heli_av8tor said:
I have a similar problem. Is yours a Workhorse chassis?

We arrived in KOFA almost 4 weeks ago in the rain. The wipers had been working fine but started to get squirrelly. Soon they would only run on High and even then they seemed jerky. The park function must be on low as they stop wherever the switch is turned off of high.

My research shows there are three components (plus wiring and connectors) and any one could be bad. There is the multi function switch, the control box, and the motor Assy.

I hope to isolate the problem tomorrow.

Looking forward to your responses and solution.

Tom
Click to expand...
Tom
I have a Freightliner chassis. The wiper would act up on any setting I put them on, and was completely random.
Right now my biggest concern is that if the problem isn't on the mechanical side I may be screwed on getting it fixed anytime soon.

John Canfield said:
Have you had a windshield replaced or the wipers worked on? Have you inspected the linkage? Is the wiper arm bolt tight to where the arm can't slip on the shaft?
Click to expand...

John
I did have the driver's windshield replaced when I first purchased the coach 2 years ago. No work done on the wiper, other than me taking the passenger side arm off in hopes to re-position it so the it wouldn't hit the center gasket. I didn't improve anything. I did inspect the linkage and nothing is bound up and seems to be free where it should be. The main arm coming off the motor is pointing down, and this is with the blades now parking to the outsides, I wonder if that arm should be pointing up.
Do you think this could be a control problem? I have the steering wheel control option, and am wondering if that could be the culprit.
Corky
 
I had a similar problem with the wipers on our 1997 Chev. C2500 indicated in my signature below.  I did some research and found a common problem was due to breaks in the solder of the circuit board where the electrical wires enter the wiper motor assembly.  If your MH by chance has the same or similar design, this could be the problem (who knows - maybe these are assemblies made by 3rd party suppliers).  Here is one of the YouTube videos that I used (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW9iYGYDP10) - I re-soldered mine and it has worked well since I did this.
 
We had a similar problem with the windshield wipers on our 2005 Winnebago Voyage on the Workhorse chassis.  The problem was that rain was coming in by the wiper motor causing it to rust internally and eventually fail.  My fix was to tape the connections to the motor real well, and tie the motor and connections up higher under the hood.  No problems since.
 
John Canfield said:
Does the wiper motor run?
Click to expand...

I just now tried it, and yes the motor runs, and still parks at the wrong position.
I only allowed the wipers to cycle a couple of times.

Corky
 
Flip the wiper arm out so it doesn't touch the windshield. Run the wipers - do they sweep back and forth and stop in the same position every time? I assume the park position is wrong? If this is the situation, it sounds like the wiper arm has slipped on the shaft or some part in the linkage has slipped.
 
John Canfield said:
Flip the wiper arm out so it doesn't touch the windshield. Run the wipers - do they sweep back and forth and stop in the same position every time? I assume the park position is wrong? If this is the situation, it sounds like the wiper arm has slipped on the shaft or some part in the linkage has slipped.
Click to expand...

I just about did a total wig out! Turned the key to accessory to do the test and found that the wipers only actuated when the steering wheel button was pushed. Regardless of which mode I used the motor only ran when there was pressure on the button. Yeah I was winding up for a melt down, and then I turned the key over to the ON position and my mental state leveled out, and the motor worked as it should, except for the park position is still wrong. Tomorrow I'll pull the assembly and look at things. Especially to see if the linkage has slipped on the motor shaft.
Thanks John & et al, I think I can start to enjoy my vacation now.

Corky
 
Same problem on my 2015 Trend.  Luckily was still under warranty, so my Dodge dealer just replaced the motor, pretty much no questions asked.  The wipers worked intermittently then quit totally on the way home from Kentucky in --- of course -- driving rain.
 
Today I removed the arm from the motor and found that the arm has a hex shaped hole. However the motor shaft is knurled, and there is no matching hex. So I adjusted the blades to be in the normal docked position put the arm back on the motor and tightened the bejeebers out of the nut. Fingers are crossed that the problem was the nut wasn't really torqued down and too loose to drive the wiper properly.

Thanks for the help.

Corky
 
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