Wipers stopped wiping

[miro1118]

I pulled a bonehead move last week. I turned on the wipers with snow on the window. They went up and got stuck on the downside I heard some noise and they stopped. After clearing away the snow The wipers would only go up. I had to push them down and they shot back up. Now they just plain dont work. I hear the motor whine at the appropriate speed when I turn them on. My question is this. Should I just order a new motor (I have a feeling that a cam inside is stripped or something) or is it possible that something happened on the frame (Like a screw came loose or out of adjustment)?

Just wanted to get an opinion before I opened it up.

BTW, I did a search on wipers and found the uniwiper installation on the diy. Based on that I think I can do the swap if necessary.

Any input would be appreciated.

[boschmann]

What year car?

[miro1118]

Sorry, Its a 96 jetta GLS

[boschmann]

You should look under the cowl to see if the linkage was damaged. If you hear the motor it's probably okay. To get to the linkage raise the hood & remove the caps on the wiper arm pivot to see the 10mm nut that holds the arms on. After removing the arms you will need to remove the six plastic philips head screws that hold down the cowl. Remove the plastic cover & the rubber seal to the engine compartment to see the linkage. I think you will see some bent or broken linkage.

[miro1118]

Thanks,

I just ordered a whole assembly from some one was parting out their car. I hope to have the part I need there and resell whatever is salvagable on e-bay. I paid $48 including shipping for the whole assembly. I know that I was being hasty by not opening it up first but I don't have much time to wait to open it up and diagnose and then wait for the part to reassemble.