rear wiper

I have a 1999 ford explorer the rear wiper stopped working it worked once i awhile and then quit all together is it the fuse or the relay or could it be the motor.? second question how do you remove the back panel on the back hatch without breaking the plastic or tabs? Thanks Dan

Turn the rear wiper on and go back and feel the wiper arm at the base. Do you feel vibration there like the motor may be turning?

When I bought my Mountaineer, the rear wiper didn't work either. I pulled the wiper arm off and decided to try the motor. It worked. I looked in the wiper arm and noticed that towards the inside of the splines, the splines were stripped. I turned off the motor and allowed it to go to the park position, the reinstalled the arm and torqued the nut that holds the arm on. The rear wiper now worked again! Yippie, I didn't have to replace the arm (yet) or the motor.

I had read on these forums that the motors fail quite often and almost just assumed that was my problem as well.

If you'd like to send me a private message with your request and an e-mail address that can accept PDF attachments, I can e-mail you with a PDF of the steps to replace the motor on a 2000 model year. Your 1999 should be very similar.

-Rod

Rod here is my email adress [email protected] please send me info on how to replace the motor if its bad thanks Dan