wiper motor arm??

[dkpath96]

I can't seem to find info for this issue anywhere (here or Haynes or internet)

so I will ask...

 

The windshield wiper motor's arm that connects to and moves the wipers keeps

popping off of the wiper control arm. It looks like a simple ball-and-socket

connection with sticky or greasy rubber gasket between the joint.

 

My problem is that this joint has come apart twice now within a few months, and

for no apparent rhyme or reason. It happened last night while going 45 mph in

a light drizzle, which sucked.

 

It almost seems as if the rubber gasket could stretch out over the top motor

arm joint to hold it against the wiper control arm joint, but I can't seem to stretch

it that far...

 

Any ideas out there as to how to fix this problem??

[Pezzy]

dunno if this will help - it's from an Xterra, but they may be similar...

 

 

(Reference wiper assembly dwg above...)

 

The wiper assembly as made up of essentially the motor, 2 linkages, 2 pivots, and 2 wiper arms (you wiper blades are attached to the arms.) The ends of both linkages are similar to ball joints, with a steel ball snapping into a plastic lined sleeve. What happens over time is that the sleeve wears, and the strain with the wipers turned on makes the link sleeve *pop* off of the ball.

 

As some of you know, I had wiper problems... What had happened was the sleeve on the left end of the drivers side linkage had worn and my wipers subsequently would not work because the linkage would pop apart every time I turned them on.

 

Pat had drilled through the sleeve and ball, snapped them back together and put a cotter pin through it to hold it in place. Voila, it worked great! I had no more problems since then, until last weekend.

 

Upon using the wipers, they *broke*... and they found that other than Pat's fix, the rest of the linkaes AND the pivots were shot! They *jerry rigged* it enough to work for now, but it will basically just blowup soon without warning.

 

In the end he ended up getting new parts...

[dkpath96]

Thanks Pezzy, that diagram is almost identical to the '96 pathy setup. And the

desctiption is exactly the issue I am having.

 

I have to get the parts from a dealer, since no auto parts store around carry the

ball joint linkage that is worn out. I have thick rubber bands holding it together

in the meantime...

[hardwaretoad]

Did you notice that there's a little grease-gun logo at the joints? Evidently they're supposed to be lubed at some interval or another. Might prevent future failures... -thnkboutit-

 

I'm sure they're a piece-of-cake to get to and stick lithium grease or something in, too. Dang ol' engineers ~ makes as much sense as the "yellow doohickey" holding our door handles together...

[dkpath96]

Yeah, the plastic joints that are holding the wiper arm linkages together just

don't look like they'd last that long, but apparently they do. Unless you're

referring to my pathy...

 

My local garage told me they'd get a replacement linkage... I walk in a few days

later to see a used POS linkage kit, everything but the motor, looking like it'd

fall apart when I picked it up. For $65!! I said, um, NO, and they decided to

order a NEW linkage - the specific part I need - for $20 from Nissan. Wow.

 

What gets me is, I could have (and should have) done it myself... pssd