Sticky worthy??? Quick fix for rear wiper motor turning but not moving wiper arm

Does your rear wiper motor make a clicking sound but the wiper arm doesn't move? It may not be the wiper motor broken again but something simpler and free to fix in less than 10 minutes. When my third rear wiper motor in a month stopped moving the wiper arm I investigated further. Turns out its not a bad motor or worn gears. The cause is wiper arm assembly spring. The spring coils are too strong and knock the pivot screw out of alignment with the internal gear drive. Take note of how your rear wiper motor is working by listening for the click which should be the wiper arm rotating on the windshield. If your wiper arm doesn't move then remove the wiper arm and watch the pivot screw. If it turns then this fix is for you!!!

Here is the fix - You will need a flat head screw driver and a 1/2" wrench, that's it!

1. Remove rear wiper arm assembly, remove plastic cover from base and loosen & remove nut. Then pull off rear wiper arm assembly, you may need to pull with some force! See pic #1 & #2
2. Turn over the wiper arm assembly. Backside facing you. Next, pry open / expand wiper arm spring (bend wiper arm back which stretches the spring)
See pic #3
3. Place flat head tip of screw driver into the first spring closest to wiper.
4. Release spring, trapping tip
5. Twist flat head tip which create an opening (about 1/8") between the spring loops.
See Pic #4.
6. Spring wil look like bubbled (See pic #5) after you enlarge a few of the spring coils.
7. Repeat from step 3 with the second spring and so on until you feel you created less tension and a flatter appearance from the base of the arm to the tip of the wiper blade.
8. Reinstall and test....you should see difference in how freely it moves.
9. Yes, this proceedure applies less pressure to the glass but it still cleans the water off of it properly.

Maybe if the mods agree this can be a sticky for those who think its a wiper motor failure but really is too much tension from the wiper arm spring.

Let me know how you make out fellas! It worked for me!

Its been a few days now and my rear wiper always rotates when I turn it on...at least 50 tries so far!!!

273HYPO

i never ever use that wiper in rear. wish it wasnt there....would look cleaner back there. car wash never get it right to around it when washed.....lol

i hate the mark the rear wiper leaves on your window. took my arm off completely

fix worked perfectly for me, thanks!

Good to know for the future. Mine works fine. AIRCARGO: I wash mine myself so I don't have that problem. LOL

i've never used it...in 7.5 yrs...nor on my 4runner that i had...

My problem was that the nut that held the arm on was loose, a couple seconds and a pair of channel locks remedied mine.

i think we all can agree shaveing that damn thing off our tailgate looks better. im gonna do that on mine eventually

aircargoo said:

i never ever use that wiper in rear. wish it wasnt there....would look cleaner back there. car wash never get it right to around it when washed.....lol

Click to expand...

I just took mine out and put a VW logo over the hole I mean the expedition is really just a monster wagon

This is an old thread, but I have to say this helped me fix my rear wiper. I didn't have to adjust the spring, just remove and reinstall. On mine, the nut was too loose, and that prevented the motor from operating the wiper. Once reinstalled, everything worked as expected.

Maybe you guys in warmer climates don't need them, but they're essential up here. This is a fix for 1rst gen. 2nd gen's have their own problem. My '05's pivot bearing is seized. Motor's fine, but need to find better bearings when I see this thing apart. My 1rst gen '97 never had a rear wiper problem in the 225k that I had it. I also never had to assist the "power" windows by pulling up with my hands when -8 degrees like I did with my '05 this morning.

Fixing siezed rear wiper mechanism on 2nd gen and up.

Moisture seeps through the "O" ring on the shaft between the arm and housing on 2nd gen rear wiper mechanism.
White metal housing that wiper shaft goes through swells up with
corrosion, seizing the shaft. Ford probably didn't put adequate lubrication from new. Bronze bushing is usually OK. Remove "C" clip to take mechanism apart after removing wiper arm shaft nut and two nuts holding mechanism to glued in plate on rear hatch glass.
After removing corrosion from shaft housing I pack in a water resistant red grease containing silicone that is used for the sliding pins on brake calipers. It's called "Siliglide". For good measure, the "O" ring, if not damaged, gets the grease and extra "O" rings are added OUTSIDE the big nut before the wiper arm is attached.
They're not going anywhere and will help keep moisture out of the
housing. A bad execution of the rear wiper design by Ford, IMHO. The
1rst gen rear wiper was more complicated and expensive to
manufacture, but for me, was more reliable than this one. Haven't had
any issues since rebuilding mine. Occasional usage will probably keep it from siezing again. With this design, I think not using it may allow it to freeze up faster. Do it to yours instead of wasting over $80 on a new mechanism.

i think i may try this my rear sprayer works but wiper does not BUT i can not figure out how the dam wiper blades come off to save my ass,i don't want to break them like i have on my last two trucks hehe someone explain please that goes for the windshield wiper to

So you could do this

whitelightning99 said:

Took back wheels off today,Took calibers and rotors off cleaned and sprayed all the moving parts in there very little bit of wd-40 got the e brake cable and stuff to work better still sucks though lol. BUT found the right rear axle seal has been leaking for some time every things caked and soaked with gear oil.So axle seal will be needing to be replaced uggg

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But you can't take a wiper blade off?? That's "odd"

yea it's about as ODD as your Rainbow avatar pshhh *****

Mine works, but it's pretty worthless as it wipes all over the place. The gate only... part gate part window... The passenger side gate... pretty much wherever it wants to but usually NOT the actual window itself.

I gave up on mine i took mine out and the motor just stuck a plug in it from the inside some lock tight and then plastidipped it the rest of the trucks color... granted mines a white trash warrior wheels build but she runs and drives when I wanna take her out

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I took my wiper arm off didn't want it to start working all of a sudden with a junk wiper blade on there and f my back window up.i'll be getting few other wiper motors cause i am getting power to the plug that plug into it.be nice to actually see it work an do it's job hehe

Cool story bro.