All,

Need another help/suggestion from you guys.
I used my wipers today after long time and they were behaving weirdly. So, i turn off the car get down and notice that there is some 'play' in wipers with car turned off.

(Play is a word used in Indian English to define movement that should not be there. For example, movement that would be present when one of the 2 gears has bigger teeth. Here smaller gear would make some movement without need of bigger gear to move.. )

Ok, coming back to wipers, car is turned off, i can move them a bit.. 3-5 centimeters. I checked on another car, and wipers were not moving.

Is this the real problem? What could be its solution?

Cheers

 

You know, there are a lot of posts on here involving some plastic pieces under the cowl cover that get worn out. (I'll let you find those for homework) However, I just replaced all of that stuff a couple weeks ago and I'm a little surprised by the amount of play still present. There is a little bit of movement when they are off and, in particular, I notice that when the wipers are on high and I'm on the highway they go an inch or so further than when I'm sitting still. At least they aren't whacking the A-pillar anymore but I wonder if others have noticed a little bit of play. I guess it's alright if it's normal but I expect my Acura to have a bit more precision than my Chevy.

 

its plastic, what do you expect--precision crafting lol

make sure the arms are secured tight- no gear damage etc

tip: I went with 1 inch shorter blade on P side, and the whump at end of down stroke when in use is gone

 

There are two tie rods that move the motion of the wiper motor to the two blades.
One end of one of the tie rods takes the brunt of the energy, and it might be on it's way out.
I replaced the tie rods, but if doing it again, I might try to replace the plastic pressed-on fitting only.

Google: acura tl banging clattering wiper

 

The last 2 times it rained for me.
The first time the passenger side wiper was botoming out on the cowl.
Then totally forgot about.
The next time it rained the passenger side stoped out 4-5 inches short on the down stroke.
I got out the car in the rain with the wipers off and I could freely move the arms where ever I wanted.
Now that it's not raining and I'm seeing this thread maybe I should check on it.
Worst time to check it when it fails would be in the rain.

 

With these symptoms of it going a different distance each time I can guarantee it's the plastic fittings (probably just one) at the end of those rods. When you take the cowl cover off you'll see exactly which part is bad. It'll be really obvious.

Also I don't believe those plastic pieces come separate, but the rods themselves are not expensive and you probably only need the top one.

 

thanks everyone for responses.

I guess i figured out how it got messed up. I replaced the driver side arm recently, and while screwing it up, i screwed it up
I mean I did not hold the arm while tightening the bolt. *feeling stupid* I read somewhere on this site that if you tighten it without supporting the arm, it may mess up something.. now I have to figure out what that something is.

 

I doubt you actually screwed anything up. The secret seems to be that the arm grips the post when it is in the down (touching the windshield) position and it seems to release when it it at the 90-degree position. So it seems that you have to put it on the post in the 90-degree position, screw it on, and then straighten the arm out (or maybe straighten it and then screw it on - not sure that order matters). At least this is what it seemed like to me when I was working on it. It seemed to be an unnecessary pita because when the arm is at the 90-degree angle you don't know how the adjustment will be once it's down. Maybe others have a better strategy because it took me a while to get it tightened down such that it was aligned correctly.