We had rain about a week or two ago here in SoCal. My wipers don't work, so I had to spray Rainx. That's beside the point, the wipers don't work
If the wipers are resting around the center area of the windshield, they'll work fine. But once they reach the windshield area near the dash, they refuse to move. I can hear what I imagine is the wiper motor.
If I hop out and place the wipers back on the middle of the windshield, they'll wipe again. But only to fail once they make it back down and will not wipe. All intermittent speeds some to work until they travel too near the dash area
Sometimes when I'm driving, and if I left the wipers on the center of the windshield, when I drive over bumps and potholes, the slowly creep down the windshield and will not wipe
I hope this makes sense, the wipers work and will wipe a few times until the reach to far down and cannot rise again
Once you fold your windshield frame forward, you will be able to see the wiper motor and the linkage.
Another problem that sometimes arises on these old heaps is the plastic bushings wear out. If you disconnect the nut that holds the linkage to the motor, you can turn the motor on to see if it spins continually. With the wiper motor turned off, you can manipulate the linkage to see if it sticks anywhere.
It's possible that the old wiper motor doesn't have enough oomph to overcome any (even slight) binding.
If the parts are available, I would replace the motor and the linkage completely just so that the system will work for another 30 trouble free years.
When our Jeeps were new, this was a relatively easy proposition.
Now that they have been subject to the ravages of time, it's not so simple a matter.
In the past 21 to 30 years that our Jeeps have been on the road, weather has made an impact on what we do. How many of our beloved heaps are rust free?
This is particularly noticeable on our windshield hinges.
First, begin by spraying PB Blaster on the windshield hinges. If your Jeep has the little holes for oil access, that's a mixed blessing. While the holes allow the person servicing the Jeep to shoot a few drops of oil in at each oil change, they also allow water to get in on the hinge pins. Soak the windshield hinges daily for at least a week.
On the day that you are ready to do the job, have all your tools handy.
You will need at least a torx bit to fit the bolts that hold the struts between the roll bar to the windshield frame. Having the proper sized torx bits is absolutely essential to a successful repair. Once you think you have the correct size in hand, try the very next larger size. Using too small of a torx bit will only strip out the teeth in the head of your bolt and make the job way more difficult.
Another necessary tool for working on a Wrangler besides a complete set of QUALITY torx bits is an impact screw driver. You can get an OK impact driver at Harbor Freight for $9.00.
If you have a propane torch, that will be a big help. An oxy/acetylene torch will work better but will probably burn the paint. It seems that the factory put locktite on many of the torx screws, and that makes them real difficult to break loose. Once the screws (bolts) are broken loose, they generally are easy to remove.
Fit the torx bit into the impact screwdriver and insert the tip into the strut bar bolt head. Whack the impact screwdriver with a hammer. Make sure that the impact screwdriver is twisted into the "undo" position. Remove all 4 (6?) bolts. Then remove the large torx bolt in the windshield frame to dash brackets. Your Jeep may have aftermarket thumb screws here if you or the previous owner saw fit to replace the factory bolts.
With the above mentioned bolts removed, your windshield frame should fold forward to expose the wiper motor and give access to the linkage. Operative word here is "should". Most YJ windshield hinges are frozen with rust. This is why you soaked the hinges with PB Blaster or similar. Usually a person can free the hinges by moving the windshield frame back and forth a bit and spraying the PB Blaster around the hinge pins. In particularly difficult situations, the propane torch will help. Heat each hinge and work the W/S frame back and forth and then heat the other hinge and keep working the W/S frame. It took me most of an afternoon to get mine loose enough to fold the hinges forward. I actually broke one hinge. Fortunate for me I have a welder and was able to repair the broken hinge. The heat from welding helped free the frozen hinge pin.
If you were able to locate and purchase a wiper motor and linkage, the rest of the job will be easy. The plug for the wiper motor is just the right size to pull up through the little hole in the cowl/dash panel. There is only a tiny bit of extra wire under the dash to allow the plug to be pulled up high enough for easy access, so I used needle nosed pliers to hold it while I unplugged the motor from the harness.
If your cowl seal is leaking or deteriorated, now is the perfect time to replace it. Search this forum for threads on which one to buy and how to pull the W/S frame back to compress the new seal.
The wiper motor is available at many vendors. Locating the linkage is another matter. If you can locate a complete new linkage kit, I suggest you make that purchase. I don't think that individual parts are available.
There is a kit that moves the wipers down on the windshield so that they park closer to level with the cowl. Not cheap but worth considering.
Once you have the windshield frame folded forward, discovering the fault and repairing it is simply doing the necessary investigation and having access to the necessary repair parts.
I was able to fold my windshield down using Hazy's approach but when it came time to replace the frame there were a few bolts that would not budge no matter what. I heated the bolts with a torch, let them cool and they came right out.
If you have a lot of trouble before you break the torx bit (I broke 2) try the heating trick.
Sorry, late on my reply Hazy. I think the coverage is about the same with the wipers, but they lay flat when they are off. I could be wrong, but i am happy with the upgrade.
Well at least yours work. Mine don't at all not even the sprayers. I think it's a electrical issue. Is there are easy way to check to made sure it's getting power?
Under the dash sorta behind the tach, there is an electrical connection that runs up to the little plug that connects to the wiper motor. If you have intermittent wipers the plug will connect into a black box about the size of a pack of cigarettes and then onto the wiper motor.
Use your test light to check for power in and out.
If you have power out of the box (or just out of the plug without intermittent wipers) then it's time to fold the windshield forward. See the above post for basic instructions.
They were working flawlessly, the wipers. Yesterday night, once it began to rain I was to eager to test out the now working wipers. And then a few movements, the wipers again refuse to move. I hear the wiper motor working. I can hop out of the jeep and push them and they'll work fine
The problem is most likely Murphy or Gremlins. They both inhabit older vehicles and Jeeps in particular.
Good Luck, L.M.
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