Windshield Wiper INOP
 

I had my car off the road for 10 months. Recently I re-registered it and went about driving as usual. The first rain I encountered was met with no movement from my wipers on positions one and two. Yet, the high speed position three worked. The wiper blades would not stop at the bottom of the windshield when I turned them off, they would stop in any position on the windshield. And, the wiper blades don't always work in position 3...only when they want to. I hear the click under the glovebox at the wiper control module. ugh

After much searching. I have yet to find a problem/solution thread.

Sounds like possibly the wiper motor (61-61-8-363-512) going out or the linkage (61-61-1-387-398) seizing up (which was my issue 2-3 years ago). I found a post back then about opening the motor and cleaning/regreasing the contacts inside. The entire assembly is a bitch to get out, think I used the service manual for steps. If you pull the assembly out, remove the motor and try to move the linkage arms. They should move freely and easily. If they don't, time for a used linkage (when I tried to get it, there weren't any available new). If you look at the linkage on RealOEM, you want parts 1 through 6, all connected. If you disconnect the linkage arms from the motor crank arm (part 4), it's a bitch to reconnect.

Great. Thanks Justin. I'll remove the motor and take a gander at the internals. The wiper arms seem to move freely. It's possibly due to the harsh winters of Colorado catching up to them.

Here's the forum post I found when I was having issues: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=704507 It's for E46s, but the motor and linkage are essentially the same (bolts to remove to get to the linkage/motor will be a bit different, and if my memory is correct we don't have that big PITA bolt at the back of the linkage). As for cleaning the motor, that info and 3 pictures are towards the bottom of the first post.

I'm going to pull mine out later today. Thanks for the thread. That helps a lot.