rear wiper woes

I just replaced all the wipers on my 98 Explorer Sport. New fronts are
fine. The old rear wiper missed most of the center of its sweep,
cleaning only a small area near the wiper tips. The new one is doing
exactly the same thing. I've never had this problem on any of my other
vehicles with rear wipers. This is the only one on which the wiper arm
stores off the glass in the off position (so you can lift the rear
glass)
Any tips on how to bend/tweak it back to functioning?
Thanks!
Red

Did you replace the rubber or the whole wiper arm? If you replaced the whole
thing, rather than try to tweak it, I would take it back to the store and maybe
try a different brand. If you just replaced the rubber, maybe the arm needs
replacing too.

Never let those quick oil change people touch your wipers. Part of their job is
to bend your wiper blades so you will need new ones.
Mark McCoy
www.mccoysmarket.com

I changed the whole arm, not just the rubber.

I do all the routine maintenance and repairs myself, except exhaust
work ( I hate doing that!) I NEVER let low-wage chain store monkeys
near my vehicles.
I'll check the hinge action tonight. Thanks for the tip!

Red

These model years are famous for this problem. Keeping the pivot free
is one thing to do. Other than that, very careful bending of the arm
is needed. The basic problem is that the arm does not have enough
spring pressure to make the blade conform to the curved glass. I had
only limited success making it work better on my '99. I think all the
models from '95 through '01 were like this.

On 3 Jan 2005 12:11:21 -0800, "Red" > wrote:

>I changed the whole arm, not just the rubber.
>
>I do all the routine maintenance and repairs myself, except exhaust
>work ( I hate doing that!) I NEVER let low-wage chain store monkeys
>near my vehicles.
>I'll check the hinge action tonight. Thanks for the tip!
>
>Red

My '96 occasionally has that problem, too. The last time it happened, I
removed the wiper blade, turned it upside down, and snapped it back into the
arm. That did the trick.

Kevin


"Big Shoe" > wrote in message
...
> These model years are famous for this problem. Keeping the pivot free
> is one thing to do. Other than that, very careful bending of the arm
> is needed. The basic problem is that the arm does not have enough
> spring pressure to make the blade conform to the curved glass. I had
> only limited success making it work better on my '99. I think all the
> models from '95 through '01 were like this.
>
> On 3 Jan 2005 12:11:21 -0800, "Red" > wrote:
>
>>I changed the whole arm, not just the rubber.
>>
>>I do all the routine maintenance and repairs myself, except exhaust
>>work ( I hate doing that!) I NEVER let low-wage chain store monkeys
>>near my vehicles.
>>I'll check the hinge action tonight. Thanks for the tip!
>>
>>Red
>

Ok I followed Clark's advice and used penetrating oil followed by some
lubricating spray and now it clears about half the wiper's path. Both
ends of the sweep are cleaned, the patch in the center still isn't
touched. Looks like I'm on the right path, just not at the finish line
yet.

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions!

Red

Oops! Originally posted this back to just Red. For the rest of you...

I had the same problem on my '96. Dealer replaced the arm twice under
warranty. I finally switched from the OE blade to an Anco blade (the whole
thing, both the metal blade/holder and the rubber wiper insert). The Anco
blade seems to do a better job of keeping more even pressure along the whole
length of the wiper. But IMHO the most important thing is to keep the pivot
point in the wiper arm loosened up. I think the metal the arm is made
of tends to corrode down in the pivot point area, preventing the arm from
flexing like it should while sweeping the window. I just make sure to lube
the pivot whenever I change the wiper insert (at least annually), working
the pivot point back and forth until it's good and loose again. I also use
something called STP Vision Blade on the rear window (actually, on all the
windows). It's a Rain-X type of glass treatment, only with a different
chemical composition (fluorocarbon vs. silicone?) and seems to work better
and last a lot longer than Rain-X, usually 6 months or more. I bought as
much of it as I could find at the area salvage stores (Big Lots, Odd Lots)
but I haven't seen any for the last year or two. The local Ziebart dealer
also applies it under the name "Aqua-Pel", and it's made by PPG (the "glass"
people, http://www.ppg.com/gls_aquapel/default.htm). I don't know if it's
even sold retail, but you might be able to get some from an auto glass
company - that's where I'll be checking when I run out. Using this triple
play combination has pretty much solved my rear wiper problems - my wiper
arm is going on 7 years old now and still works like a champ.

Steve
'96 XLT


"Red" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> I just replaced all the wipers on my 98 Explorer Sport. New fronts are
> fine. The old rear wiper missed most of the center of its sweep,
> cleaning only a small area near the wiper tips. The new one is doing
> exactly the same thing. I've never had this problem on any of my other
> vehicles with rear wipers. This is the only one on which the wiper arm
> stores off the glass in the off position (so you can lift the rear
> glass)
> Any tips on how to bend/tweak it back to functioning?
> Thanks!
> Red
>