Wipers stopped working last night in snow storm!

Yeah.... THAT was fun! Luckily I didn't have far to go and get home just fine. I THOUGHT it was because the the bezel was caked with ice. So I used a heat gun to get it all out and noticed some gunk build up... leaves dirt etc. Cleaned it all out with and flipped the switch and the passenger side works fine, but the drivers side gave an anemic wiggle. I looked closer and the shaft appears to be turning but the arm doesn't move under it's own power. I figure the teeth on the wiper arm are probably stripped. It was late and I didn't feel like messing with it, but I probably will tonight or tomorrow.

My question is, where's the best place I can get a replacement part for the wipers? I figure if the driver's side is out, the pass side is probably on it's way too, so I'll just do both. Id rather have have two new ones than something from a bone yard.

thanks,

Mark

The wifes lincoln drivers side did the same thing stripped the splines in the arm,.
i wrapped the drive splines with 3-4 wraps of tin foil, then put the arm back on, been a couple of years at least,.it,s an option,.

Nick

phantom 309 wrote:

The wifes lincoln drivers side did the same thing stripped the splines in the arm,.
i wrapped the drive splines with 3-4 wraps of tin foil, then put the arm back on, been a couple of years at least,.it,s an option,.

Nick

NICE!!!

What's a snowstorm?

it's like a thunderstorm... only in solid form... oh... your boogers and eyelids tend to freeze. A high of 17 today!

81X11 wrote:

What's a snowstorm?

Frozen rain with wind

Mike,you remember what rain is dont you?
Jim

Going to be sunny and upper 60's both Sat and Sunday. I think I'll pull out my shorts.

I took this last night and sent it to my buddy who left for Hawaii earlier this week. Taken last night before my commute home. Caption read:
"Hope you've got your toes in the water and ass in the sand. Wish you were here!"

No...nononononono.

Scary stuff! Stay warm!

phantom 309 wrote:

The wifes lincoln drivers side did the same thing stripped the splines in the arm,.
i wrapped the drive splines with 3-4 wraps of tin foil, then put the arm back on, been a couple of years at least,.it,s an option,.

Nick

That's a good tip, Nick comes through again!

Tom C.

That happened to my Caprice last winter, it just slowly stripped out the splines on the arm over the course of using it during one rainy week. I took that opportunity to do the H body wiper arm mod. I've done Nick's trick with the tin foil on my van, still going strong!

Lynol wrote:

I took that opportunity to do the H body wiper arm mod.

Whazzat? Link?

Olds Weighty Eight wrote:

Lynol wrote:

I took that opportunity to do the H body wiper arm mod.

Whazzat? Link?

^^^^^ link or pics of mod?

I 2nd that. What's the H-body mod? Does it park the wipers down lower in the off position? That's one of my few gripes on my Roady, that you see the wipers. On the old B-bodies like my '86 Caprice and '89 Custom Cruiser, what you saw beyond the dash was the long hood, not the wiper blades and then the hood.

-Mike

You can use wiper arms off a '00 to '05 LeSabre or Bonneville. The advantages of using these arms are that you can tilt the wiper arms out for easier cleaning of the windshield/stop blades from freezing to windshield i anticipation of a storm, and they also press the blade harder against the glass and stop a lot of chattering that happens. I did it on my blue Caprice and it worked very well, although FYI use the "beam" style blades or at least don't use cheap Duralast blades like I did. The pressure put on the passenger side blade caused mine to make a "click" noise as the squeegee flipped to the other side as the arm reached it's farthest point, then headed back down.

http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=227892

Since they no longer hit the factory stops, do they park lower on the windshield, or is the main plus the ability to fold them up, and possibly less chatter?

Remember it hardly ever rains here....but I like the idea of the wipers sitting lower on the cowl.

-Mike

Plus sides are just that. Ability to fold up and elimination of chatter.

They don't park any lower on the windshield.

81X11 wrote:

Since they no longer hit the factory stops, do they park lower on the windshield, or is the main plus the ability to fold them up, and possibly less chatter?

Remember it hardly ever rains here....but I like the idea of the wipers sitting lower on the cowl.

-Mike

remove your wipers, then buy some rainex,..you shouldn't drive the car in the rain anyway, it gets dirty,.

Texas still needs rain,. the lakes are still waay down,.

Nick

Anything that quiets these noisy damn wipers is worth a try.Have razor bladed the windshield and
tryed all the good blades and the cheap ones too.Still starts sgueaking after a few minutes.
Jim

I saw Lynol's F-body wiper arm in action on his car and it worked awesome, much better than stock. I did this on my Caprice and didn't get such great results. I don't know if I got some arms with worn springs or what, but mine always squeak if there isn't enough water on the window. I tried a couple sets of different blades with the same results. When they don't make noise they are awesome though!

Going to try this mod anyway!
Jim

Flasheroo wrote:

Going to try this mod anyway!
Jim

Its worth trying, if not anything else, the spray pattern for the washer is much better than stock.

Thanks Nick for the suggestion... the aluminum foil worked like a charm!

MarkH wrote:

Thanks Nick for the suggestion... the aluminum foil worked like a charm!

I sent you the invoice in a pm,..

i,m an idea man, i got lots of idea's,.

some are good ones,...

nick

I did the Bonneville wiper mod. Even with Duralast blades, it worked better than stock. But the Duralast blades only lasted a few months before they started chattering too. That was about three uses last year. The locking clips keep opening up.

The pre-curved blades hug the passenger side of the windshield. Next time I'm going to try a higher quality curved blade.

Bump of sorts.

I pulled a pair of wiper arms from a LeSabre when I went to the junkyard last week, then headed to Amazon to order some Bosch Icons. Holy crap, what a difference! This mod is awesome. Took me no more than 10 minutes to do. Spray bolts with PB Blaster, eat lunch, come back, remove wipers with ease, replace.


The hoses fit just fine and all works as it should. Awesome. I bought a 22" for the driver's side and 20" for passenger like someone said here... works great.

I tried the LeSabre wiper arms last year and while they do work better than the B body arms they don't look right when parked. They are too bulky imo.

I don't think Texas Mike will like the look either.

For another quick fix on the wiper arms.
Clean the splines on the transmission shafts good with WD-40 and a wire brush. Then use a copper pipe fitting brush and clean out the wiper arm hole. Clean both parts with a non-residue solvent. Put a dab of blue lock tight on the shaft and bolt the arms back on. The splines on the shaft will make nice new splines in the wiper arm... Good as new.

Mike

Nick Danger before you buy the fancy blades,try this old trick.Saturate a old washcloth with pure
bleach and slowly wipe down the blade.Go back and forth a few times.Bleach removes all the
sunburned surface rubber and leaves a like new appearance.Been doing that trick for 40 years or
so and it has always worked and is a lot cheaper.Get some of that bleach on the carpet and you
are in big trouble with the wife so be careful.
Jim