Windshield wiper motor problems

[bodiez]

Ok, my wiper motors are a little odd. Sometimes they dont go down far enoguh and i get the water streaking back onto my windshield. Most of the time the wipers go too far to the left and hit against the side of the whindshield, and at high speeds once in a while they will overlap the outside of the windshield and i can actually see a good inch of the wiper in my driver side window. I need wipers that are UNDER CONTROL. Is this the motors going bad or need to be adjusted or what

[accord91lx]

I have the same issue with my 91 lx... wish I could help, but I hope soneone posts a solution!

[bodiez]

ttt

[accordmaniac]

Check your wiper motor linkage.
I had same problem and dealer charge me $90 to repair it.
I don't have the recepit any more..
so I can't tell you which part was replaced.
Far I can remeber.. parts cost $22 or something..

Good luck.

[deckeda]

... parts cost $22 or something...

Yep, I ordered the parts from Honda and did this myself. The parts are the two arms, items 12 & 13 pictured in accordmaniac 's attached image.

It's not the arms that go bad but they have nylon bushings in the ends that go bad. The arm bushing that attaches to the motor in particular will be especially wasted. The bushings are installed into the arms, not something you'd get separately. In the picture they are shown separately however I don't think Honda sells just them. At any rate I don't know how you'd replace them if you could get them.

Easy to do but you must put everything back exactly. Seems obvious however the two arms at first appear symmetrical --- they are not. Taking a picture before disassembling is a very good idea. In fact, I learned the hard way that it's possible to re-assemble everything only to discover the arms bind, causing the motor to stop (eek!). Had to take everything off and apart and re-do it.

** If this happens to you you must kill the ignition or disconnect the motor's wire harness quickly to prevent the motor from burning up or your new bushings from ruining. Then, after taking everything out again and removing the new arms you'll first have to run the motor to allow it to reset itself back the "rest" position --- otherwise you won't be able to put the arms back on where they need to go ... make sense?

Step 1 is to remove the wiper arms. Loosen each arm's nut and then apply pressure on the hinge area in such a way as to allow the arm to wiggle straight up and off.

Now would be a great time to do Wallace's DIY on wiper arm painting as well.

What you'll do is take off the cover under the hood that hides the wiper motor assembly frame. It's the black plastic cover that extends across the whole area near the base of the windshield. Most of the plastic screw/plugs that hold it on will be brittle from age and heat and break. Get new ones from Honda. But to get them off w/o breaking them (yeah, right) use a small flathead screwdriver to popup the center of the screw/plug first --- this unlocks them, then they just lift out. If you're desperate and don't care if you break them all you can get to many of them from below and just cut off the tips.

3 bolts hold the motor frame and it all comes out together. One caveat is that the motor's wire harness can be a bitch to get to (bend the bracket a little to gain access to release the harness clip with a flathead screwdriver etc.) and you must get to it and disconnect it. YMMV.

When you get the new arms, take the first one off and lay it down on the workspace exactly like it was on the motor frame. Next, take off the second arm and place it down exactly like it was on the motor frame. Use a screwdriver as a wedge to get them off --- it's a snapfit. Clean up any goo. Put new arms on; they come pre-lubed. Just press them on until you feel a slight snap.

When it's time to put the wiper arms back on press them down (again, apply pressure at the hinge area too) and then put the acorn nut back on. Start with the arms down all the way, maybe 1/2" from the bottom of the windshield and test after tightening.

[PDXACCORD]

Thank You!!!

dear lord... I have had this problem for too long, just did a trip from portland, or to oakland, ca it was raining like hell and the wier kept hitting my driver side window at speeeds above 70... sucked
-anyway thanksfor this writeup, you should put it in DIY's!

[xaxis360]

Hey, i'm doing this repair tomorrow.. do the white dust-caps go on before or after you snap the arms back into place?