W/Wiper arm adjustment?

[labonnevillastrangiato]

Hi there!
After having to push all of that crappy snow off the windshield for me to see, my wiper arms went out of adjustment. I took them off today to paint them, and I was able to set the passenger side one in the correct position, however the drivers side still sits too high.

Keep in mind, the "park" function works fine for my car, but I can't figure out how to adjust the drivers side? Both arms connect to splined shafts, but un-like the passenger side, the drivers side has a larger tang for the wiper arm to set in to, leaving you only one choice. I tried clamping onto the splined part with vice grips in hopes of rotating it slightly so it sat properly, but was afraid of breaking something so I stopped. Is there something in there I can take apart to give the drivers side one a turn so it lines up right? Some pics are below so you can see my challenge, it sort of looks funny.

Thanks in advance,

Yup, those are original air deflectors on those wiper arms. I got them from a junk yard and figured they must be hard to come by!


Adam

[labonnevillastrangiato]

Hmm. Anyone have experience with this one? I was thinking if I took my cowel apart I might be able to check out the arms / gears in there and see if something is up. Any advice on that??

Thanks,
Adam

[Echo SSEI]

I didn't find anything about adjusting the park position of the wiper arms in the FSM.

Just to double-check, you did put the correct one on the correct side, right? There is a difference in shape between the drivers and passenger side arms. The drivers side has a "bent" angle near the attachment point whereas the passenger side is straight.

If so, then I suspect a gear in the wiper "transmission" may have slipped when pushing against the force of the snow. Again, no adjustment in the FSM is identified, that I have found, yet.

[Bugsi]

I had this happen on my wife's previous Grand Prix, a 1988 model. I too, thought it would just be a matter of pulling the arm and repositioning it on the splines, and I too was surprised to find out it was keyed and could only go on one way.

Final solution was to replace the wiper transmission.

-Mark

[labonnevillastrangiato]

Yes, the wiper arms are marked with an L & R, and the passenger side arm does not have a cut out to accept the large spline, unlike the drivers side. Yes, I was surprised by this too, I thought it would be a 5min adjustment, but it turns out GM had a surprise in store for me. How do I get in there to see what's going on? I see some bolts along the cowel, I am assuming under that is where all the mechanisms / wiper motor are to be found? Something must have got bent, and I'm-a-fixin' to teach it a lesson and un-bend it.

Thanks for your help so far.

Adam

[Echo SSEI]

The connecting rod for the wipers is under the cowl. I'll need to look up how to remove the cowl, but I think it is pretty straight forward.

One thing I would do, before ripping apart the cowl, would be to reset the wiper sytem to park (unless you already did this). Remove the wiper arms, again. Insert the key into the ignition. Turn to ACCY, then turn the wipers on low. Turn the wipers off. This is the procedure to set the mounting points to park, before reattaching the wiper arms. If this is what you did before or if this doesn't help, then you would need to open up the cowl and either fix (if you can) whatever may be bent or replace the transmission.

[bill buttermore]

... Something must have got bent, and I'm-a-fixin' to teach it a lesson and un-bend it.

I think you have the right approach in mind. That's what I would try, too. If that fails, there is always the local salvage yard.

[labonnevillastrangiato]

One thing I would do, before ripping apart the cowl, would be to reset the wiper sytem to park (unless you already did this). Remove the wiper arms, again. Insert the key into the ignition. Turn to ACCY, then turn the wipers on low. Turn the wipers off. This is the procedure to set the mounting points to park, before reattaching the wiper arms. If this is what you did before or if this doesn't help, then you would need to open up the cowl and either fix (if you can) whatever may be bent or replace the transmission.

Yes, I had tried to synchronize the Park position with where it should be. It's funny, because I can see it trying to go into position, that is when I shut the wipers of, they slip down as they should a few inches. The passenger side neatly goes to where it should since re-aligning the arm, but the drivers side sticks out like a sore thumb. I had thoughts of filing off that big spline so I could re-align the arm, but was worried about wrecking it some more. It sure looks goofy right now. I'll see if I can pull the cowel off, and report my findings.

Thanks,
Adam

[Echo SSEI]

The FSM says to "synchonize/park" the wipers with the wipers not attached. I was thinking if you tired this, then maybe the drivers side (and cut-out/spline) may rotate further than it is now and might realign in "park position". If the DS would align, then you'd be set to go since the passneger side can be mounted at any position.

Also, before you go tearing into the cowl, while scanning through the FSM last night, I remember reading about a "park position" cam and retaining pin (I think) located under the cover of the wiper motor. I can't remember any of the details at the moment, but maybe that could be realigned so the DS wiper would be in "Park". I have a lot of running around to do this evening, but I will do my best to read up on it and post the details as soon as I can, probably late.

[labonnevillastrangiato]

Hi Bob,
That's great, thanks for that information.

It looks like rain here for a couple of nights, but if I can, I will pull both wiper arms off and try to Park them again. I did that when I took the arms off originally to paint them, but it wouldn't hurt to try again. What you mentioned about the Park cam, that might just be the ticket. Please let me know what you find when you can.

Thanks again,
Adam

[Troyport]

Yes, I've adjusted quite a few of these over the years, including when I reinstalled the system in my project car. Remove both wiper arms and the black plastic ramps that are suppose to slightly raise the wiper off the windshield when they park. Then remove the little screws that hold the plastic cowl / screen thing on. If you've had the windshield ever replaced, you may have a bitch of a time getting it out, in my parts car it was forever part of the urethane holding the glass in. I hate slobs. Problem is, there are more slobs out there than there are non-slobs, which is why I do all my own work. But I digress. You'll look in there and see an adjuster, it is a bracket that connects the linkage together, a few philips screws, I think, with a slotted adjuster. Loosen these screws, reinstall the driver's wiper and move the wiper into position with your hand, you'll see the adjuster slide in the slots. Tighten it back up, reassemble everything except the passenger wiper and try it out. Do it all again if you have to. The drivers wiper should park all the way down and just lightly hit the stop at the top of the ramp when the glass is wet. Then install the passenger wiper wherever it needs to be. You might get lucky and even see where this adjuster moved when you pushed the snow, should have left a nice clean spot.
Unless something is physically broken, which I doubt it is since the wipers still work, this stuff can be adjusted out with a little messing around, even if you bent something in the tranmission you can unbend it. I wouldn't waste money at a boneyard for parts, I doubt you need them. Just take your time and analyze what changed, and then unchange it! Mike

[Echo SSEI]

It sounds like Mike, above, has some good advice and experience. It could be worth a shot as the cowl simply removes with a few screws.

Anyways, the Cam thingy (no, that is not the technical term, it is just referrred to as a cam) appears to be a half circle piece (a little more than a half circle actually) with a slot in it, that is attached to the wiper motor cover (electrical harness also attaches to cover). The cover is held on to the motor with three screws. The diagram also points out a drive pin on an arm on top of the gear in the motor housing itself and a pawl in a relay slot near the drive pin. It then says to install the cover with the wiper motor in park position (pawl in relay slot) and the drive pin in the open area of the cam (not the slot in the cam, but the void remaining where the cam is NOT). I know this sounds like a bunch of jibberish, and it probably is without the diagram. The battery on my camera died, so it won't be until tomorrow night until I can take a pic of the diagram in the FSM and PM it you. The more I read about it, the more I don't think this is your problem, and it probably won't help, unless the pawl, drive pin, or cam broke or became misaligned in your wiper motor. I like Mike's advice above, as a first place for you to look at. Either way I will PM a pic of the diagram to you tomorrow, in case you need to get into the cover/motor and the whole cam thing.

[labonnevillastrangiato]

Wow, guys! Thanks for the help! I appreciate it, and thanks in advance for the drawing, Bob. It might not hurt to have it as a reference.

Adam

[labonnevillastrangiato]

You guys were right on the money!

I removed the cowel, and it was a pain to do so. Connected to the wiper arm motor is a linkage for the left side. It is connected with 2 nuts. When you lossen them, you are able to rotate the drivers side spline either way just a little, as the drivers side linkage is connected down the line. I rotated the drivers side just a bit, and tightened the nuts. Re-assembled, and it looks nice and normal!

For those of you that experience this problem, follow the wiper motor through the removed cowel. You will see the two nuts, connected to a ball joint on the wiper motor. Those are the ones!

I'm having a tough time getting the cowel to fit into the correct position. It seems part of it will not slide underneath the windshield properly, and it is sort of buckled. I was able to get it far enough to re-assemble for now, but it's not 100%. Any advice on that would be appreciated!

Thanks again. Things don't look nearly as goofy any more!

Adam

[Echo SSEI]

Great to hear that you found and adjusted the linkage. Good information to know.

On your cowl, Mike said above, that the windshield goop may be a problem coming out. I suspect it could also be a problem going back in, especially if it is cool out. Maybe if the troupble spot were warmed up or on a hot day, the goop may be more pliable and you could get the cowl back into position. I can't think of anything else that would be in the way of reinstalling the cowling.

[ohenry5]

I have been waiting for a thread like this for months and months and months. Hope it helps me but not sure it will. I have this problem with mine because I was dumb and operated the wipers without cleaning all the ice away. But both mine dont rest right, I thought maybe I bent something. But maybe i will try to do this and see if it helps. Its not a big deal but bothers my OCD side that the wipers dont go down all the way.