Wipers interlocked tonight!

byeboy · Post by **byeboy** » 28 Sep 2012, 19:28

It was a Dark and Stormy Night....Honest! Pulled out of the supermarket in a driving rain, and my wipers on my 97 850 "interlocked"...the passenger wiper blade had inserted itself right under the rubber on the driver's blade, and were locked up like two dogs..It was pouring out and night time, so I needed to at least see well enough to pull over...I made it to a red light, jumped out and manually forced them apart..they swung one time, then did it again...I pulled into a Taco Bell lot and fiddled with them, eventually having to remove the driver's blade as the only way to separate them....the the passenger went to rest position and stays there, and now the driver;' seems like the arm is twisted, but it kinda works. I made it the 20 miles home by only engaging it once in a while...luckily very little traffic...I'll look tomorrow, but 100% chance of rain.
The fact the driver's works when I hit the switch at least tells me the motor is OK, but why did the linkage go nutzo, and what's the probable cure? (of course this is Friday night, so any parts solution is a couple rainy days out.

Any chance just a clip came off?..and that I twist the Driver's arm back into alignment? (well, I can hope, can't I?)

...and I had my camera in the car, but neglected to take a picture of the tangle...

Post by **JDS60R** » 28 Sep 2012, 19:35

Sounds like the bolt at the bottom of the passenger arm is loose.

Place them both at rest position and re tighten the nut, under the plastic cover at the bottom of the wiper arm . If you remove the bottom cover you should be able to see the shaft turning. Mark the shaft with some white out or similar and see if they are running in synch. If so, its just a loose wiper arm. If not, check the linkage.

byeboy · Post by **byeboy** » 29 Sep 2012, 06:22

Well, JDS60R was correct! The nut on the passenger arm was very loose. (13 mm.) simply tightened, because the arms were "parked" correctly...then over to the twisted driver's arm. I adjusted a small adjustable wrench to slip snugly over the thin portion of the arm, and gently twisted it back (maybe 10 degrees) to where it looked right....now down to the parts store to buy some new blades...when they interlocked, the driver's blade got bent.

Are Bosch blades any count? They are on a 2 for 1 sale at O'Reilly's.

Post by **cn90** » 29 Sep 2012, 08:35

Believe it or not, Walmart now carries Bosch wiper blades at $7/each.
Of course they are now made in China under Bosch control, so the quality is very good.

Post by **jimmy57** » 29 Sep 2012, 11:09

now made in China under Bosch control under Chinese control under Wal-Mart control.............

jeff618 · Post by **jeff618** » 26 Dec 2012, 07:09

Note the walmart bosch are not icons which is what they've promoted online heavily and are the ones most people talk about. They're a new midline that are very different from the icons. That said, I'm still a trico neoform guy. Get them online from wipers123 - good price and they have excellent customer service including quarterly inspection reminders.

Post by **cn90** » 26 Dec 2012, 08:52

This thread is 3 months old but I forgot to mention that when tightening the nut (on the wiper arm):
- Adjust the wiper arm in such a way it does NOT collide with the hood metal (watch and you will see!).
- Apply a bit of Loctite to prevent the nut working loose (common problem in any cars).