97 Park Ave - Wipers park in vertical position when turned off

[Greg5150]

Here is the problem. My wipers work fine on all settings except when turned off they stop in the vertical position. I replaced the wiper motor & cover assembly with a used one that worked fine in the car it was removed from. I still have the same problem. Any suggestions?

[Tech II]

What kind of wiper arm(between the motor and linkage) is used? A solid one, or one that rotates?

If it's the kind that rotates, a tab is bent on the mounting bracket and a special procedure to install it is needed.....

[patriot777]

First let me say that I am not an expert so you will want to take my advice at your own risk. I was able to fix this exact problem on my buick. There is a wiper park tab that bends that is connected to your wiper motor. I tried bending it back but the problem reoccured in a couple weeks. What I did to solve this was take out the entire motor and wiper transmission assembly and replace it with one from the junk yard. Then I brought it to an engine shop and paid them $5 to weld reinforcement on the the new park tab so I didn't get a repeat of the problem. I made sure they welded it in exactly the right place so it wouldn't interfer when the mechanism turns. Remember to disconnect your battery before you take anything apart. Apparently this problem is extremely common on these cars. See this link... and if you scroll down far enough you can see the park tab. This link is apparntly for an '05 Impala but the diagram worked perfectly for me when I replaced it on my '98 Regal.

http://chevroletforum.com/forum/impa...s-stuck-20731/

Here is another link:http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f...nt-park-61024/ Scroll far enough down the page.

REMEMBER I AM NO EXPERT....BUT I DID FIX IT ON MY CAR!! Please post if you fix it!

[Tech II]

Like I said before, what Patriot is talking about, only applies to crank arms that rotate, not the solid ones.....

What usually causes the "problem", is turing the wipers on in the winter time, with the wipers frozen......it usually fails right then and there.....however, it can bend it slightly, and then over time, it gets to a point, where the "gap" between the crank arm and tab, becomes too great....

Usually, bending the tab back vertically and adjusting the gap by removing and reinstalling the crank arm fixes the problem(special procedure)......however, "repeated" bending of the tab "weakens" it, and then the bracket needs replacement.......I had several customers who would always just turn their frozen wipers on repeatedly, and have problems like this.....also, some people bent the tab back, but didn't measure the "gap", and had intermittant problems.....

[Blue Bowtie]

A little more SEARCHing and you might have found this:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...20&postcount=7