wiper adjustment

so the wipers in my caprice have been bugging me for a while and i am finally getting annoyed enough to do something about it. (after 3 years)

firstly, the delay feature leaves the wipers in the middle of the windsheild when it delays instead of at the bottom, like it should.
basically, the wipers go up, go halfway down, wait however long, go down and back up again...


secondly, the wipers dont retract all the way and swing way too far out when they go all the way up.





for the second problem, i imagine it is as easy as taking the whole wiper assembly off and moving it down a few notches on the splines, but it doesnt seem to come off, so i am kind of stuck.

i have no idea about how to fix the delay issue.

I had some issue with my delay feature on my wipes too, i think silicon mentioned something about a blue wire to do with the delay. mine still dont work completely right either, when i mist the windsheild, i have to hold them on, they dont stay on automaticly for a few seconds after a spray.

The having to hold the button on mist is normal for these wiper systems because of the way the cam setup is in the motor unit. GM fixed this in later years. In terms of the delay, I've never seen that problem so I can't help you there. Sorry. As for the positioning adjustment, on the end of the motors "crankshaft" that actually moves the wipers theres two nuts that clamp a clip onto a ball joint. Loostent those nuts, slide you wiper's where you want them and tighten it back up. Easy as that.

wait...

i have a blue motor device that has a "crankshaft" that has a slot which fits into a grove on the linkage that goes to the wipers.

the nut is there, but loosening it wont let me do anything because the motor has the equivalent of the male end of a slot head screwdriver and the linkage has the female end.

besides, moving the wipers to stop where i want them to stop would make them go about 7-8 degrees too far in the other direction, which would mean they would probably break because they are about 1-2 degrees from hitting the stops

wait...

i have a blue motor device that has a "crankshaft" that has a slot which fits into a grove on the linkage that goes to the wipers.

the nut is there, but loosening it wont let me do anything because the motor has the equivalent of the male end of a slot head screwdriver and the linkage has the female end.

besides, moving the wipers to stop where i want them to stop would make them go about 7-8 degrees too far in the other direction, which would mean they would probably break because they are about 1-2 degrees from hitting the stops

i believe you can remove arm and reposition on spline for coarse adjustment then under the air grille wiper linkage area there should be the fine adjustment which is a slot in the linkage arm....then for a finer adjustment bend arm remove put in vice and use small torch and bend for correct alignment to windshied this i found necessary only on drivers side....wiper rubber was getting damaged at high speed...

ok. So then I need to know how to remove the wiper from the splines. There seems to be a screw holding them on. There is a plate that is screwed on to the bottom of the wiper mechanism.

ok. So then I need to know how to remove the wiper from the splines. There seems to be a screw holding them on. There is a plate that is screwed on to the bottom of the wiper mechanism.

first this may not apply to your vehicle as i have not seen but,you must look for a small 1/8in dia hole on wiper arm side next to spring,then lift wiper arm off windshield and find the other hole underneath, when both holes line up insert a 1/8in dia rod[rivet] to hold wiper off windshield....then remove nut or slide the locking mechanism so that arm is not locked on to splined shaft.... then use penitrating oil on this spline area and gently rock arm...so that oil will loosen the corroded metal and wiper should slide off....it is best to stop wiper arms in a position that will make it easy to work on this...



then just put arm on loosely and see how it positions...before locking in place.... be carefull not to be to hard on this metal as it is soft ...



the arm is nutted on or it has a locking/slide mechanism....after arm is locked in the up off windshield position then release lock..

ok. thanks.
ill check tomorrow.
its rainy and stuff here, so i dont much feel like working on my car.

well its been raining steady for about a week here and im starting to wonder...
"who'll stop the rain"

i did get to look at the linkage and didnt see any adjustments
however it was well covered in grime.
im going to hit it with a bit of wd-40 to disolve the grime and maybe something will show up.

alright.
so i put everything back together and tried my wipers and nothing happened.
turns out i popped a fuse.
i go get a new fuse and after checking my connections, try it again.
nothing.
i hear a slight noise when i turn them on, but nothing happens.

so.

i guess i need a picture of how everything is connected in your cars if possible.
hopefully i just crossed something, but its not likely, as there are only 2 wires that would matter if they were crossed.

hopefully i dont need a new motor.
i didnt even do anything to it.
it worked when i pulled it.
now it doesnt

alright.
so i put everything back together and tried my wipers and nothing happened.
turns out i popped a fuse.
i go get a new fuse and after checking my connections, try it again.
nothing.
i hear a slight noise when i turn them on, but nothing happens.

so.

i guess i need a picture of how everything is connected in your cars if possible.
hopefully i just crossed something, but its not likely, as there are only 2 wires that would matter if they were crossed.

hopefully i dont need a new motor.
i didnt even do anything to it.
it worked when i pulled it.
now it doesnt



why did you pull the wiper motor ?????? this is a simple arm removal adjust and reinstall.....so why did you remove motor ??? and with a simple connector how did you short out this motor feed......


what is you normal occupation ?? did you ever do any mechanical work ??

the reason i removed the wiper motor was because i did it before anyone told me not to.
i figured there would be a stop adjustment on the motor its self.
wrong.

i didnt disassemble it though, so i dont know what happened.
as far as shorting it out, i have no idea, my only guess is that the electrical gremlins that seem to haunt me have manifested themselves in the wiper motor.
is it possible that i have one of the connectors upside down?
i mean, its possible, and since i didnt pay attention when i took them off...
the way i had it was so that the solid plastic was facing up and the part with vents was down.

and why am i defending my actions.
i already know that i fucked up.
i dont need your dumb ass jumping all over me.

as far as my occupation goes, i am a second year engineering student at ODU.
i have changed shocks and springs on my own, changed the water pump, spark plugs, rebuilt the carb 3x.
i periodically disassemble my, and my girlfriends bike and rebuild.
im no slouch with a wrench, but for some reason electronics hate me with a passion.

now if you are off your high horse and are willing to share your "profound" knowlege with mere humans who are unworthy of your attention and have little mechanical skill, i would appreciate it.

the reason i removed the wiper motor was because i did it before anyone told me not to.
i figured there would be a stop adjustment on the motor its self.
wrong.

i didnt disassemble it though, so i dont know what happened.
as far as shorting it out, i have no idea, my only guess is that the electrical gremlins that seem to haunt me have manifested themselves in the wiper motor.
is it possible that i have one of the connectors upside down?
i mean, its possible, and since i didnt pay attention when i took them off...
the way i had it was so that the solid plastic was facing up and the part with vents was down.

and why am i defending my actions.
i already know that i fucked up.
i dont need your dumb ass jumping all over me.

as far as my occupation goes, i am a second year engineering student at ODU.
i have changed shocks and springs on my own, changed the water pump, spark plugs, rebuilt the carb 3x.
i periodically disassemble my, and my girlfriends bike and rebuild.
im no slouch with a wrench, but for some reason electronics hate me with a passion.

now if you are off your high horse and are willing to share your "profound" knowlege with mere humans who are unworthy of your attention and have little mechanical skill, i would appreciate it.


on april 7 08 you posted the question of how to do this simple task....


i on same date explained how to do this. you then said after rain you will try to correct the wiper issue.....


so you don't have to explain anything !!!! the one thing you will do is open your wallet for not reading what i explained.... i took the time to help you and you did not do as i had explained....


if you can rebuild a carb i am finding it very hard to understand how you messed up this simple task.........

what you dont understand is that i removed the motor before i posted.

what you dont understand is that i removed the motor before i posted.

since the motor don't work i would go to scrap yard and get another one.... then if possible practice removal of arm on scrap yard vehicle similar to yours....

update:

i pulled a motor from a junkyard caprice.
it is identical in all ways that i can tell to the motor i already have.
i installed it and am getting nothing.

when i turn the wiper selector to the delay portion, i get a buzz from the wiper motor.
when i turn it to low, i get a click
when i turn it to high, i get nothing.

everything is connected what seems to be correctly.
i really dont see how i could screw any of this up.

i havent connected the linkage to the actual wipers yet, but i think that would only make it harder to tell what is going on.




these symptoms are the same as i had on the original motor.
that tells me that either BOTH motors are bad, or that something is wrong in the switch.
could someone please do me a favor and check on their car:
a) How many connections are there.
b) How is it connected. which way is the purple wire facing, which way is the red wire facing
c) Is there a ground wire anywhere that i have missed. My uncle suspects a missing ground in the form of a copper strap or something.

well i got it to spin once.
i turned on the sprayers.
it started spinning and never stopped.
i turned off the ignition to stop it.
it didnt do anything else for a while until i disconnected the battery for a while thinking that the motor might "think" it was in the retracted position.
when i turned the key to on, the motor spun about half a turn, leaving the wipers at the top of the travel then stopped.
it wont move any more.

update:

i pulled a motor from a junkyard caprice.
it is identical in all ways that i can tell to the motor i already have.
i installed it and am getting nothing.

when i turn the wiper selector to the delay portion, i get a buzz from the wiper motor.
when i turn it to low, i get a click
when i turn it to high, i get nothing.

everything is connected what seems to be correctly.
i really dont see how i could screw any of this up.

i havent connected the linkage to the actual wipers yet, but i think that would only make it harder to tell what is going on.




these symptoms are the same as i had on the original motor.
that tells me that either BOTH motors are bad, or that something is wrong in the switch.
could someone please do me a favor and check on their car:
a) How many connections are there.
b) How is it connected. which way is the purple wire facing, which way is the red wire facing
c) Is there a ground wire anywhere that i have missed. My uncle suspects a missing ground in the form of a copper strap or something.

since YOU removed from scrap yard wire connections should not be a problem...

the ground problem is possible... so get a piece of wire and jump /connect wiper ,motor frame metal to engine block metal....see if with wiper switch on if there is an arc or if wiper motor operates..

if this works connect motor to a good ground point..

one thing that has developed is that when i disconnect the wipers for a period of time and reconnect them and turn the car on, they start going for about a second or so then stop.

also, if i disconnect the black wire it starts buzzing even if the stalk selector is on off.

one thing that has developed is that when i disconnect the wipers for a period of time and reconnect them and turn the car on, they start going for about a second or so then stop.

also, if i disconnect the black wire it starts buzzing even if the stalk selector is on off.

what happened when you connected the wiper motor case to the engine ground?


the wiper motor has a switch [park switch] this will return blades to the normal resting point when engine shut down then wiper stick switch to off..upon restarting wiper motor will bring blades to rest in proper position..

ok, explain that last part to me because i do suspect a faulty ground or something of the sort.

i never connected the motor casing to the chassis.
was i supposed to?
i never dis-connected a wire from the case to the ground.
all i have is a single black wire going to the part witht he black plastic cover.
then there is a connector with two connections, one pink (hot) and one white with two wires coming out, and one with three connections, one purple, one white (with a resistor connecting it to the purple one) and a grey one.


could you explain the part about the ground to the motor case?
thx

ok, explain that last part to me because i do suspect a faulty ground or something of the sort.

i never connected the motor casing to the chassis.
was i supposed to?
i never dis-connected a wire from the case to the ground.
all i have is a single black wire going to the part with he black plastic cover.
then there is a connector with two connections, one pink (hot) and one white with two wires coming out, and one with three connections, one purple, one white (with a resistor connecting it to the purple one) and a grey one.


could you explain the part about the ground to the motor case?
thx




the mounting hardware should have had a strap from frame to a mounting stud..sometimes this corrodes/falls off .....

just get a wire and with wiper switch on ground out the wiper frame to engine ground/on non painted surface...if it runs make a permanent connection.........do you have wire? use coat hanger for test...

this makes sense now.
if the black wire is not a ground, what is it?
i measure 12.4v with the car off between pink and black wires with multimeter...

this makes sense now.
if the black wire is not a ground, what is it?
i measure 12.4v with the car off between pink and black wires with multimeter...

did you connect the wiper motor frame to engine ground????????

look. i connected the three wires that i unplugged.
thats it.
i only unplugged three wires originally, and i only re hooked up three wires.
one was black, one was pink/white, one was purple/white/grey.
could you please use complete, correct english sentences, without the excess of question marks?
thank you

look. i connected the three wires that i unplugged.
thats it.
i only unplugged three wires originally, and i only re hooked up three wires.
one was black, one was pink/white, one was purple/white/grey.
could you please use complete, correct english sentences, without the excess of question marks?
thank you

ground straps have no colored wires

I GIVE UP .....YOU WIN ! I'M DONE....

thats all i was asking.
so i need another wire to connect the frame of the motor to the ground of the car?

im just confused because I NEVER DISCONNECTED A GROUND STRAP ON EITHER CAPRICE THAT I TOUCHED.
my wipers worked perfectly before, so thats why im so puzzled.
sorry for the confusion

tried it.
nothing.