Lifting the Wiper Arm

[masquerader01]

Hi -

I'm a new GP owner. It snowed today and when it does I usually like to lift the wiper blades off of the windshield and leave them there until the snow is over. It seems though that they do not lift more than about half and inch before the arm starts hitting the back of the hood of the car. Which also makes me wonder how the heck you are supposed to change the blades...

I tried turning them on and then turning the car off while they were up...doesn't work. Then tried it with the door open...that does not work either.

The owners manual is not very helpful.

Any tips?

[BNaylor]

Welcome to AF and congratulations.

Inherent in the design so you'll have to live with it. You should be able to replace the wiper blades by leaving the wipers on and then turning ignition switch to off at a position where they clear the hood or at an approximate 45 degree angle.

[masquerader01]

I've tried that and no matter what I do they always park themselves...

I also noticed on the passenger side where the arm has more clearance, it still does not go up all the way...it seems like on the joint where it pivots the top end overlaps the bottom end. There is a big spring conecting them...does that need to be pulled apart somehow?

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by masquerader01

I've tried that and no matter what I do they always park themselves...

Thats unusual. Maybe GM changed the way the wipers park with ignition to OFF versus the '97-'03 models.

Originally Posted by masquerader01

I also noticed on the passenger side where the arm has more clearance, it still does not go up all the way...it seems like on the joint where it pivots the top end overlaps the bottom end. There is a big spring conecting them...does that need to be pulled apart somehow?

I think you are beating a dead horse on this one. They are not designed to flip up. Granted some GM cars have the feature you are looking for but not this one.