Wiper Blades Park Position

I have a 97 GP GTP with 217,000 miles. I have a common problem with my wipers. I accidently used them with snow on the windshield and since then, they park in the middle of the windshield. The mechanic I take my car to couldnt figure out the problem so I decided to take a look by myself. I have searched these forums and know about the bent tab, etc.

I want to understand the working of the wipers, especially park operation. I looked at the tab today and it was made of 3/16'' or so thick steel and I couldn't believe that it can get bent. On my car, it doesn't seem to be bent the way people described it in forums. I tried pushing it back (it was pretty hard and I didn't apply too much force yet) but wanted to confirm with you guys before I do it.

As far as I understand, when the wiper have to go to park position, the small lever on the bottom of cam assembly engages with this tab and pushed the pin on the other side of the cam out. Am I right? In my car, that lever on the bottom of the cam barely misses this tab. Should the bend the tab back so that the lever on the cam engages with this tab? Please let me know.

Some information (or directing me to a forum explaining) about working of the wiper cam assembly would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.

That tab should be 90 degrees straight up. If it's at any angle whatsoever away from the crank arm, it's bent and needs to be corrected. I've seen higher milage cars with a little wear on the wiper assembly that need that tab bent over 90 degrees toward the arm in order for it to hit.

The wiper motor crank arm has a spring loaded cam in it that when reversed after you turn the switch off, causes the arm to strike the tab. This is what indicates to the motor circuitry how many degrees to back the wipers down to park. When the cam doesn't strike the tab, the motor has no reference point and cycles one full rotation and parks the arms up on the windshield.

Rich, Thanks for your help.

Your message gave me the confidence to bend that tab (yes, that tab is thick and I couldn't believe that wiper motor could bend that). It was barely missing the lever on the bottom of the cam. It looked at 90 degrees, but since my car is old (:rolleyes:), the tab was wore out. Bending the tab a shade did the trick. It took me not more than an hour to get everything back.

Few tips that I found out:
The tab as shown in a picture in one of the posts here in kind of exaggerated. All it takes is the lever missing that tab. Mine was so slightly bent that you can't even tell. For guys with older cars, the tab might be worn out too. Bend the tab back enough that the lever catches it when the motor reverses.

After I took off the wiper arms with pry bar, I realized that it is easier to take them off, if you put pressure on the wiper side of the arm. The arm is spring loaded (pretty high spring tension) and as soon as you take that nut off, it tries to caulk. Putting pressure on other side and making it come out evenly on both sides might make it easier to slide out on the splines.

This is my input from my experience. Thanks again for your help guys. I already told the mechanic that I fixed it and he is feeling bad :tongue:

You're welcome Vik, always glad to help you out.