I recently broke my windshield wipers in the snow. The motor still works, but the arm that extends from the motor to drive the windshield wipers is disconnected from the assembly that sits in the middle of the car, right underneath where the passenger's side wiper connects.
I pulled off the cowl, and was able to fit the arm back onto the assembly. However, when I reattach the wipers and try them out, the arm falls off pretty quickly (the wipers go up, but the the arm falls off right away on the return). Since it's hard to see, I can't tell if maybe some sort of clamp is needed to hold the arm in place, but either something is broken or I'm doing something wrong.
Does anyone have experience with this type of problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Sounds like you need to get a new wiper arm Linkage. I had the same problem when I had my 91 SE. There is a plastic knuckle that gets worn out and then needs to be replaced. Best bet is to go to your local dealer, or give Courtesy Nissan a call and they can ship you one.
Thanks for the help. Before I order the part, I just want to make sure that this is indeed the problem. I noticed that the arm that connects to the motor has a little bit of play, meaning I can rotate it a bit in my fingers when it's not attached to the assembly. Anyone know if that's normal? If so, then I guess it's definitely the linkage.
Thanks again...
-Rich
ir> Yes, Clark is right. So stupid, they don't sell the plastic knuckle by
Most likely its the linkage. Both ends of the linkage have the plastic knuckles, so they are probably both worn out. The new linkage assembly will solve that issue.
Yes, Clark is right. So stupid, they don't sell the plastic knuckle by itself. I guess they can charge you more with the whole linkage. I got mine from Garrands Nissan in N.Y. They give 25% off from internet sales. Ask for Dave. It was less than $10.
Oh boy, still having problems with this one... Please help!
So, I ordered the part (wiper arm linkage) from Garrands Nissan; they were very helpful. I was able to get it installed, but I had to remove the windshield wiper motor to get the old linkage off of the motor. In the process of doing that, I removed the slotted latch (? the piece that connects the linkage to the motor) from the motor so I could get the motor out of the way and work more easily with the existing linkage. I most likely did not need to remove the latch, but at that point I didn't realize that step was probably unnecessary.
Once everything was taken apart it was easy to connect the linkage to the latch. I reattached the latch to the motor and screwed the motor back into place. Getting the other end of the linkage securely connected was a bit difficult, until I figured out you could slide the linkage all the way towards the driver's side and then from there it was easy to use a pair of plyers to apply pressure to the top of the linkage until it popped into place. At this point I thought I was just about done, but of course there was a problem.
I reattached the wipers and gave it a shot. But instead of moving UP the windshield, they went DOWN! Ouch! So, I figured that maybe I started the wipers in the wrong position, so I unscrewed the motor and tried to slide the wiper arms back to the passenger's side position. That didn't work, the screws that drive the wipers were still turning in the wrong direction.
By then it had gotten pretty late so I had to give up for the night. Before I did I reattached the wipers in the UP position, just to watch them work backwards. At least I got a good laugh out of it.
So, sorry for the long write up (hopefully it will help someone else out), but what do I need to do to get the wipers going in the right direction again? My gut feeling is that I need to unscrew the motor and remove the latch, rotate the latch 180 degrees and then reattach it to the motor WITHOUT winding the motor at all in the process. Does that sound correct? Is there an easier way? Please help, it's supposed to rain and snow tomorrow... =]
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