Windshield Wipers Neutral Position Up???

[409industries]

For some reason when the wiper stalk is at the "OFF" position, the wipers reset to the top of their swipe, in the middle of the window. If they are switched to the intermittent wipe setting, they sit at the middle of the window until they swiped down and then back up to their incorrect OFF spot.

What is up with these?

are they just screwed onto the wiper motor pegs the wrong way, or is there a crossed wire somewhere?

I don't think i can put on the wipers back on the pegs differently, because it would make them try to go down when they are already at the bottom sitting below the hood...

Been doing a little bit of reading, but there's not much Subaru specific information on the topic. With other cars, the suggestion was to swap out the wiper motor because something may be wrong with it... anyone seen this happen before? im open to ideas how to fix this.

Thanks!

[kreitz3]

I have dealt with this on my brother's Jetta. If I remember, there is an arm that connects the two "wiper pegs" and we had it on upsidedown. The best thing to do is flip something over or switch it around and see what difference it makes. Then go from there.

Hope this helps.

[409industries]

I will definitely be checking this out. I have to just get in there and pull things apart and put them back together to see if it makes any difference!

[UP2MTNS]

I dunno Aaron, I think you're just fubar'd and have to rally around with your wipers all messed up like that.

[subyspawn]

maybe when the wipers were put on the 'splined studs' were in the wrong position.

take the wipers off, run them, turn them back to off and re-install

[409industries]

Originally Posted by subyspawn

maybe when the wipers were put on the 'splined studs' were in the wrong position.

take the wipers off, run them, turn them back to off and re-install

This sounds like what might be happening, but when the wiper is on intermittent wipe, it pushes the wipers down, and then back up on the window then stops. If i run the splines to the down position then turn the car off and re-attach the wipers, when i turn them on again, wont the motor try to push the wipers down even further and damage the wiper arms?

I'm going to really just have to pull everything apart and see whats up.

[WRXCMM]

i'd say put a mark on the bolt like a tooth pick taped to it instead of risking the wiper arms. and follow procedure like keith is saying.

gl

[Slim]

Same thing happened to my uncle in his Mercedes. About 2 weeks later the wiper motor was shot. Dunno if it was from running backward, or that running backward was the final sign of a soon to be dead wiper motor. It's been fine for over a year since we replaced it.

Good Luck
-Slim

[409industries]

Originally Posted by Slim

Dunno if it was from running backward, or that running backward was the final sign of a soon to be dead wiper motor.

Indeed. This is very similar to what i was reading on Yahoo answers or something like that regarding several cars that had this problem (a pontiac i think, and some other random car).

They replaced the wiper motor and this problem went away. I'm going to have to dig through my death closet of car parts to find it as a last resort option!

Thanks for all the great suggestions. The marking of the splines is a very good idea too.

[UP2MTNS]

so I was just thinking about this again....I assume you had to pull the wiper motors off and then re-install?

is it possible to re-install the motor backwards and/or flipped? because if so, that would make the wipers do what they're doing.

I think something just got put back together wrong.

[Rallycat66]

It sounds a lot like you got the linkages and/or the motor incorrectly installed with respect to each other.

Typically the wiper motor spins in one direction and only one direction (I've seen a few cars that the motor changes direction, but those are rare and very prone to problems - I don't think Subaru used that type of design). So, it is the linkage that makes the arms go up and down as the motor spins. So, if you assembled the whole mess with the linkage in the middle of it's swipe where the motor is in its resting position (or with the linkage in the resting position and the motor stopped in the middle of it's cycle), everything is going to be out of sync.


Make sure the motor is in it's resting position, disconnect the linkage from the motor and reposition it to the resting position, then reconnect the linkage and motor. While you are in there, make sure you didn't accidentally reassemble something upside down or backwards.

Take the wiper arms off and test it to see if it works right.

I'll pull up the service manuals tonight when I get home to see if there are any details and/or confirm my suspicions.

Tim

[409industries]

Yeah the motor is a single unit. It is jammed in behind the passenger side strut tower, so it really can only fit in there mounted in one direction.

I think Tim is onto something in that the linkage is connected to the motor in the wrong orientation and needs to be disconnected and re-attached. The more I sit here in the office thinking about this, the more i want to go home and try to solve the problem! hahah!

[Rallycat66]

BTW, don't assume the wiper arms are in the correct position on the posts and put THEM in the resting position. It is the posts adn linkage that needs to be in the resting position, so you may need to spend some time understanding how they articulate and where "resting" actually is for them.

Tim

[Azewaldo]

No experience here, but I would think it's the linkage. I suggest disconnecting the linkage to the motor, turn wipers on/off to make sure motor is in resting position, then re-connect the linkage with the wipers at rest position. Probably way easier said than done, though...

[Rallycat66]

Well, the service manuals have no details and looking at another car didn't help much either (everything is buried under cowlings that I'm not keen to pull off when it's so bloody cold out). But, did you remove the linkage assembly in one piece as suggested in the manuals? That would positively rule out the linkage being assembled incorrectly.

Random thought this morning - if the swipe of the wipers is correct (and they are just stopping in the wrong spot), then the wiper arms are probably in the correct orientation on the posts.

I really suspect the linkage is on the post to the motor in the wrong orientation. Try the suggestion to pull the wiper linkage off the motor, move the wipers back to resting state, then reattach.

Tim