Wiper sweep October 16, 2010, 06:11:58 PM So I finally got around to replacing my wiper motor but the new one seems to have less sweep than the old. The wipers go up far enough where the drivers side is straight up and it parks just barely on the windshield itself. During wiping, the blades get nowhere near the bottom of the window - it's like 30 to 90 degree wipes.How exactly should the wiper motor actually work? What should be the wipe angles and should it park on the windshield of up against the spray nozzle brackets? Is there some way to get the wiper motor working differently? Other than properly going into park, unlike my old motor, it acts exactly the same. I figured the wiper sweep would improve... Quote Selected
Wiper sweep Reply #1 – November 02, 2010, 10:50:31 PM Okay, so occasionally the wipers sweep all the way down and up but once the car brakes or accelerates again to/from a stop, it doesn't get near the bottom of the windshield again. What controls this? I thought that the sweep should always be the same, at least from what it looked like the motor was doing inside the area under the windshield? I didn't see any type of bushing that would wear out? Quote Selected
Wiper sweep Reply #2 – November 06, 2010, 10:37:36 PM ^The wiper motor just moved its shaft in circle pattern I believe so why the changing sweep pattern? Quote Selected
Wiper sweep Reply #3 – November 08, 2010, 06:14:21 PM K, I just picked up on this thread, sorry for the slow response.Do you have delay wipers?If so, did you replace your wiper motor with one that is set up for delay wipers?Did you have this problem before?If nothing changed except for the motor, the issue is likely with the motor or the wiper arms.It's possible that the wiper arms are off; in other words, you could try removing the arms and moving them over a spline or two. I've had that happen before.Also, it could just be that the motor needs to be used more, and that eventually you'll get the full sweep. I've also had that happen with boneyard wiper motors (never know how long they've been exposed to the elements). Maybe some grease on the main arm will help.To answer your other question, the wiper park mechanism is a known problem with our motors. That may be happening here if it's a used motor.Otherwise, the delay functions and general parking are controlled by the wiper motor governor, an electronic box above the steering column underneath the dash. Quote Selected
Wiper sweep Reply #4 – November 08, 2010, 10:30:50 PM Okay, so I'm missing information in the thread.The old motor did the same thing. It has gotten progressively worse over the last couple years. I figured a new motor would fix the sweep problem but it did not. The motor is an auto-store replacement for the model year - I don't think they had any other options but I also purchased it like a year ago so I can't remember much about it.On the old motor, I moved the arms down a bit due to this but the park tries to lower the wipers quite a bit into the stops/nozzle mount. I moved them back up a couple splines on the new motor as I expected them to work better than the old motor but as this thread states, it does not. The only thing I gained from the swap is that I can put the wipers to park from anywhere in the sweep again - the old motor was original and had to have the wipers near the bottom for them to go into park when turning them off.Here is how I currently have my arms mounted:1) I adjusted the arms down to where "park" just barely touches the stops/nozzle mount2) I moved both wiper blades down one spline furtherThe arms still sweep pretty poorly. The drivers side is almost vertical at the top of its sweep but doesn't quite reach the "curve" that the passenger side wiper makes on the bottom center of the windshield. This sweep is pathetic and my old motor did the same thing. Occasionally the sweep will go full out (to the bottom of the window) and wipe all the way to the bottom of the windshield some 3-10 wipes but then it goes back to narrow. Turning them on full speed will make the drivers side go about halfway down the bottom center curve.I'll try to get some type of video of this when it's raining. The sweep does not seem affected by a slick or dry windshield though. Wiper blades are new Rain-X Latitudes, arms are original (but I have another pair around here somewhere), window is clean but I haven't prepped it with anything like a polish or used a clay bar. Quote Selected
Wiper sweep Reply #5 – November 08, 2010, 10:35:58 PM I wonder if one of your arms is bent and binding up somehow? Quote Selected
Wiper sweep Reply #6 – November 08, 2010, 10:40:34 PM If it happened before the swap then I'd strongly suspect the wiper motor governor. The key is when you say sometimes they'll go full sweep, then not...a bent arm won't do that, but something electronic can.On one of my old cars, the wipers would fully sweep fine but not park correctly all the time. They'd try, oh, they'd try...but a lot of times they just wouldn't. Swapped out the wiper motor, did the same thing. Finally I bit the bullet and got another governor from a boneyard car. That solved the problem.It's not very often that I can say, "Yes, THIS is the problem, HERE is your solution" with these cars. But right now I'm saying governor. Quote Selected
Wiper sweep Reply #7 – November 09, 2010, 03:11:22 PM Quote from: EricCoolCats;340985If it happened before the swap then I'd strongly suspect the wiper motor governor.Where's that at? Wouldn't that just control the intermittent mode? The next step up acts the same and "high" sweeps just slightly further but still not as far as I occasionally get (on all speeds).It's just terrible when in intermittent mode how the wipers sit in their high spot a large majority of the time and block my view. In the higher modes, it's moving more so less noticeable but still stops up higher than it should. I think the wipers used to go all the way down and the drivers side would go up past a full vertical position - this was some 5 years ago though.With the arms off the windshield just slightly (held up with the tab pulled out slightly), the arms move the same. I don't think it's a bent arm, due to this reason alone. Of course, the blades also sit at a weird angle when they're propped up but there seems to be little drag like this. Quote Selected
Wiper sweep Reply #8 – November 09, 2010, 03:30:06 PM QuoteOtherwise, the delay functions and general parking are controlled by the wiper motor governor, an electronic box above the steering column underneath the dash. Quote Selected
Wiper sweep Reply #9 – November 09, 2010, 10:56:12 PM So I can't remember back more than a single post - big deal! :pAnyways, even that statement makes me believe that the problem would lie elsewhere since it happens on continuous low and high speeds also - just not as much with the high since it gets more force. How does the governor work anyways? I saw something on a Mustang forum about someone disconnecting the governor and it made their wipers behave better (but loss of intermittent)?Also, "electronic box above the steering column" is a pretty large, sharp, and dark place. To me that says pull the drivers seat back out and lay down for a short nap. It's so tight and awkward down in there! Quote Selected
Wiper sweep Reply #10 – November 09, 2010, 11:54:02 PM That's what SHE said!Ha!To get to the governor, remove the insulation panel under the column. Remove the column cover (at least the bottom part). If you can, remove the 4 bolts and drop the column. The governor is on a metal bracket panel that is to the left and above the column. It's almost straight up from the fuse panel. There's a wiring harness going to it, and one going away from it. Black box is on top of the panel; that's the governor. And yes, it is a real pain to get to. Quote Selected
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