Gummiente

Regular
C5 Ontario You're a Regular You're Celebrated
Sep 6, 2020
105
271
Seeley's Bay, ON
VetteCoins
4,174
Car
1997 C5 Coupe
Province
ON
So I picked up my new to me 97 yesterday. The previous owner did not keep it very clean, so today was spent vacuuming, wiping down and lubing all weatherstripping and a wash session with the garden hose and bucket. After it was chamois dried I fired it up to move it into the sunlight... and the wipers lit themselves up on low speed and would not shut off. Google to the rescue! Found some vids detailing how to clean the "udders", so I did that. The drivers side had crud in all three, but it didn't seem to be enough to cause a blockage. Removed the cover under the rocker panel on the passenger side front wheelwheel, but couldn't get my arm up far enough to feel the udder. So I started the car anyway to try the Hail Mary fingers crossed hope, but the wipers were still doing their own thing. Also had a "LOW WINDSHIELD WASHER FLUID" warning on the dash, which was odd because I had topped it up already.

Tomorrow I'll be pulling the wiper arms to get at the wiper motor, using a couple of handy YouTube how-to videos to guide me. Hopefully it will just be a wet connector type of issue, but are there any other things I should be looking at while I'm in there?
 
Finally got around to tackling the job today. I removed the battery to remove the passenger side drain hose, it was plugged solid. Cleaned and replaced it.

As soon as I started to remove the wiper arms and tray I could see that someone had done this before, as all the push pin connectors were mangled. When the tray was removed I found part of the problem; the protective rubber sheet over the wiper motor was sticking straight up instead of covering the electrical connector, so any water coming off the windshield would flow directly on to it...
IMG_20200922_0932588~3.jpg


Next I poked around in the area under the motor and vacuumed out a lot of gunk. I removed all three udders and was rewarded with a flow of water onto the driveway...
IMG_20200922_0939189~2.jpg


I went for the Hail Mary fix and disconnected the electrical connector without pulling off the wiper arm transmission and motor, then sprayed the connector with WD-40 and plugged it back in. Success! The wipers now work properly.

After reassembly of the tray I noticed a few spots where the seal was not contacting the windshield at all, allowing water to slip underneath instead of flowing across to the drain udders. I did a temporary fix with Gorilla Tape for now...
IMG_20200922_1021590~2.jpg


IMG_20200922_1031515~2.jpg


I've left the wiper arms off for now as they need repainting. Because I did not remove the wiper arm transmission, there's no need to retime the assembly when the wiper arms are replaced.
 
Wiper arms painted and installed today. Had to remove the Gorilla Tape at the bottom of the windshield because the wipers contacted it when returning to the off position, so I'm not sure what to do now to seal the gap. Probably get a new tray and seal, as I discovered one of the clips to the bottom of the windshield is broken.
 
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That is some great work!!! Glad to hear you got the issue solved. I had my cowl tray off a couple times to clean leaves out of the screen.....but never noticed a gap, which makes me want to check my car. Is it possible to be a Hypochondriac about our cars? :Woot:

Nothing wrong with hypochondriasis Riley... It's gets scary though when you're an anal hypochondriac with OCD ....:Arghh:
 
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