2004 buick century, windshield wiper motor

hello everyone, i have a 2004 buick century..the windshield wipers just stopped in the 12 o-clock position,there was some snow and ice on the window at the time..i was able to move the wipers down by hand but now they only move about 3" when turned on..i suspect either the motor or transmission went bad,how do i determine the problem? could the motor be bad even though the wipers still move back and forth about 3 inches? what would the symptoms be of a bad transmission? thanks

Only way to tell is to get down into the linkage look for something binding or loose/damaged.

Do you hear the motor running when turned on? If yes, then one of the linkages has popped off.......

Do you hear the motor running when turned on? If yes, then one of the linkages has popped off.......

i can't really hear the motor running but they do move back and forth about 2-3 inches when turned on..its been too cold out to really start taking it appart to have a good look.if the linkage popped off would they still move?

One might, if off the motor, no. Ice may have caused the wipers to stick to the w/s causing damage.

One might, if off the motor, no. Ice may have caused the wipers to stick to the w/s causing damage.
yes, i think that's exactly what happened..i just have to be up for going out in the freezing cold and taking it apart :shakehead

You will have to pull the whole wiper arm off each side....then you have to remove the plastic cowl under the wiper arms, to get to the transmission and motor......with the cowl off, run the motor and look for what is causing the problem....

maxwedge and tech ll, i was finally able to get out,take it apart to have a look.the linkage and transmission was all ok,turned out to be a bad wiper motor.replaced the wiper motor and all is ok now,have wipers again :smile: was not really a bad job other then being out in the cold weather