Wipers

Has anyone had there wipers park in the upright position? It did it once when we bought it and the dealership fixed this but now its acting up again... Anyone have a easy fix for this? I haven't dug around under the hood yet to check it out if perhaps its a mechanical thing. If its a electrical thing then any ideas would be great!

Thanks

Well they wont park at all now. As I understand from a inside source these wipers are pretty much JUNK! But... Not common enough for a recall! :eek7:

The wipers still work though right, just won't park? If so, I believe this is common to these vans and the fix is to replace the circuit board in the wiper motor. You should be able to buy this at autozone or someplace similiar. I'm pretty sure its an easy fix, just a couple of screws, but have not personally done this. Do a search of the forum, I remember reading about this awhile back here.

OK thanks. So theres a board on the motor that can be replaced or the whole motor?

not the board, park pawl on wiper motor crank arm not catching on stop, either pawl spring broken or pawl is sticking or stop is bent, check these

hmmm.. just for the info: GM wiper syndrome as generally known relates to totally erratic wiper operation: when you would need it , it will go, no go, whenever it wants, but generally not . I do not know if this problem is pervasive in more recent year model, but the early 90's were all plagued with it.
The problem is poor/broken solder connections in the printed circuit that is contained in the wiper motor . Need not replace the board: just redo the solder.
Good description is here:
http://james.jaguar.net/subtopics/WiperFix.htm

His early tries with an external wire as described are just for the record.
It tells about a Suburban but this is same assembly for a lot of GM cars.
Removing the motor to get to the printed circuit looks more a problem than it is really. You almost do not see the motor ..but it is there and once a few bolts are removed, it slides out easily for one to see.

like i said, wiper module (board) has nothing to do with wipers parking straight up, wiper park operation has to do with park pawl on wiper motor crank arm, 15 years in chevy dealership ive seen many of these problems. yes your right they did have problem with wiper modules but very rare on ventures, more prevelant on s10 and full size trucks

Thank You very much for all of the information everyone! I asume.. havent looked yet but that the pawl is the joint that has the spring wrapped half way around? Im pretty sure im thinking if the right car heh. Im going to check both thank you much!

P.S. The rear wiper has decided to stop working also! It started out by not wanting to move then a helpfull hand it would go now its dead.(add it too the list)

On a happy note the head gasket job on the 1999 montana is holding up very well! I will never do it again though lol!

i had the same thing. i bought my 2000 montana from a bank repo. and the day i pick it up the wipers are up in the air. the motor work just wouldnt park. so i buy this 100 dollar circuit board put it on and nothing changes. i pissed away a 100 bucks because i had that black shield off and looked on top where it rotates and theres a ( ill call it a clip ) like thing that i wiggled and they have worked perfect for over a year now. good luck

There is a GM tech bulletin on this issue. It has something to do with a park mechanism that get out of allignment, its not an expensive fix.

If the wipers are parked, it could just be the screw that holds tension on the wiper gear.

Look under the triangular dust cover inder the hood. You will see the wiper mechanism on the motor.

There is a procedure to reset properly. It can be found in your handy Haynes manual.

The cog (or accentric) on top of the wiper assembly is designed, as one person has indicated, to park when a small spring loaded lever engages the stop post on the wiper motor mounting frame, as the motor momentarily goes into reverse.

This action causes the cog assembly to go off center and bring the wipers down to the cowl in the park position. When the motor is running the cog 'retracts' and runs on center, the wipers oscillating from the cowl to 'A' pillar to lower windshield. It is a poor design because dirt will eventually 'clog the cog' and the wipers will stop parking AGAIN!

I took the cog completely apart, cleaned it with brake cleaner, lubricated it with axle grease and motor oil and put it back together. So far it has worked without failure (touch wood, - rapping on my forehead at this very moment!) It's a Saturday afternoon project that takes about an hour. A graphite lubricant might work better as it will not allow dirt to stick. But, being a backyard mechanic, you use what you have on hand!

Be careful not to break the one-way star clip that holds the assembly together. If you do, NAPA, AutoZone, PartSource or an aftermarket shop that has odds and ends can help with a replacement clip.

Thanks for the info! That will help alot. Im going to give it a try as soon as it gets above 30 degrees!

As for as the haynes manuel theres nothing in it about reseting the wipers. Mabey its in the chilton they have more detailed info then haynes.
Atleast mine has nothing on it...


Thanks eveyone
Damien

My 97 TranSport did the same thing. I cleaned all the old dried grease from the drive mechanism, cleaned the whole thing really well then regreased with light weight multi grease. Been great for two years now. (202,000 kms total now).

Steve

I took it apart and cleaned it what a mess! I di learn one important thing that was never mentioned...


I think it would have taken alot less time if I had marked the position of everything prior to disassembly! Whoops Now im moving on to the rear wiper motor. Atleast that one is clean and really easy to change!

102000 miles so far!

Many Brakes, Head gasket job done

need struts rear shocks now!! Woo Hoo!

I took it apart and cleaned it what a mess! I di learn one important thing that was never mentioned...


I think it would have taken alot less time if I had marked the position of everything prior to disassembly! Whoops Now im moving on to the rear wiper motor. Atleast that one is clean and really easy to change!

102000 miles so far!

Many Brakes, Head gasket job done

need struts rear shocks now!! Woo Hoo!

Complicated little sucker isn't it?!?!

It took me a while to figure this out too, but I let the wiper motor cycle and then 'park' with the eccentric removed. That way, I knew where the motor wanted to stop.

Then I shifted the eccentric off center placed it loosely on top of the shaft and then parked the wipers and reattached the links. When I was satisfied that everything was aligned, I pushed the eccentric down over the shaft and re-installed the screw. Worked like a charm.

For anyone brave enough to pull the entire assembly out, it comes out real easy as there are two bolts on either side that go down into the cowl and attach to two mounts on the tubing. DON'T try to remove the two bolts that attach each wiper arm pivot to that bent piece of black tubing that makes up the backbone of the wiper assembly.

These bolts that attach the pivots themselves have a 10mm head and fine threads that are seized inside the aluminum housing of the pivot. I broke both of them and had to clamp the pivot to the tubing using two vise-grips, drill two new holes with a 13/64" bit and tap for 1/4" SAE bolts. The broken metric ones are fairly hard steel and real difficult to drill out, so I just left them.

Yes it is!

Your not alone I broke one of the bolts off also when I thought I had to move it for the head gasket job. You must be experienced sine you didnt panic and drilled now holes! Way to keep your cool lol

Time to put this poll and thread to rest. It has been inactive for quite awhile, and the problem with open ended polls is that anytime someone comes along and votes in it, it is resurrected. Polls should not be open ended, rather they should be open for a certain length of time. Feel free to start a new one if the interest exists.