this has been a huge "what the heck?" kind of thing, that could only happen to me probably.

it snowed here last night, so this morning i'm cleaning snow off my car. naturally i also lifted up the wiper arms to clean the snow out from underneath them so they wont freeze to the glass. (btw, these aren't the kind of arms that you can leave in the lifted up position. they just always spring back into place)

well...after i lifted one of the arms, now it WON'T go back into place. the wiper is now just kind of suspended about an inch above the windshield. i think the problem lies somewhere under the arm, because the arm itself seems fine (and i'm saying that without having closely inspected it for bends or anything. i'm at work and didn't have time to play around with this yet.) i'm wondering if the shaft possibly bent or went out of place under the hood. but damn, i didn't think i pulled THAT hard. i figure you'd have to actually TRY to damage something like that.

i'm hoping maybe some snow got lodged somewhere and is holding the shaft back or something screwy.

the alarming thing is you can slightly rock the shaft/arm assembly back and forth off axis, it's not steadfast. its got about 1/8" play or so. i didnt know if that was normal.

i'll check back on it later, as i am in work. i'll see if my snow theory is correct. but does anyone have an idea what could be wrong?

Ice trapped in the hinging mechanism? A little bit of warm water would tell you pretty quickly.

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Then again, what do I know ... I've only been playin' for 6 months ... !

If it has been a long time since you lifted the wipers off the windsheild it's quite possible they're just bound up a bit,try spraying some WD-40 on all the linkages,that may help.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Hi msvolpe: I asked the mechanic if he could give me a new wiper blade for a Skoda. He thought for a minute and then said; "Yeah, all right. That's a fair swap."

Cheers - C

HAH!!!!!

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Ceri, that was funny.

For people on this side of the ocean it's "wiper blade for yugo" swap.

Yeah: I scratched my head for what would be the despised car brand in North America - and just didn't dare name one for fear of stepping on someone's toes.

Where I live it is fine to jeer at Skodas (which anyway have become quite a respectable marque now) and their owners just have to live with it. They bought the thing, after all...

Anyway. How do you double the value of a Skoda (substitute model of choice)? Fill it up.

Cheers - C

No kidding one of the nicest cars I ever saw was a Skoda Estelle (from their bad old days). It was a black convertable with some really sleek skirts on it.

I'll never forget it.

MsVolpe Its possible that you've unhinged the wiper motor in the bulkhead. With this kind of thing your wasting your time worrying about it till the snows off the car. Get the car well clear of snow and the engine warmed up. Then take a look mate. I've just had a similar scenario with a leaky door seal gushing water over the interior floor. While everythings frozen you have no chance of spotting the problem.

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No no and no

Got a hair dryer or a heat pad (yeah, us old people have heating pads) you can get out to the car with? Unless it's bent out of shape (a mechanic could fix that in a heartbeat as well) you should be able to get the arm in place with some heat. NO hot water!

well, it wasn't snow-related. went out to the car during break, most of the snow has melted. the sun has been out all day. lo and behold the darn thing was still flying in mid-air.

i have no idea how i could have done this, but im starting to think the problem lies with the motor shaft or something in that ballpark. if i push the assembly toward the hood it allows the blade to lie on the glass, but then pushes back to its current state as is right now. very odd. i really dont like how i'm able to wiggle the shaft back and forth.

i bent the arm down a bit, so now the blade is resting properly on the glass, but i'm not content yet. i didnt want to get too involved while i'm at work, so i'm gonna wait till i get home. i'll fire out some windshield fluid and run the wipers a few times to see what happens. guess i'll also see if i can get a better look at the motor shaft.

this is so ridiculous. i hope it at least functions now without error. the car is old, a '93. this must be one of them old age signs.

thanks for all the help so far

A car fix - it thread. I love it! Why don't you get Ceri to make a new one out of wood! A nice laminate job and I'm sure the problem would be fixed and the wipers would probably have a lot nicer tone!!

Seriously, I would have to see the wiper assembly to try and sort this one out. It sounds a bit odd. As if something has come loose underneath.

Good luck!
Gridlok

It's a reasonable request. Wait, I'll fetch my chisels. [FX: bang bang, hammer, saw...] OK, here ya go:



Cheers - C

John.E

Relic http://www.fanpop.com/spots/cartoon-cla ... nks/299391

Pics?

Remember, no pics = no wiper blade

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“All music is folk music, I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.” Louis Armstrong