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2001 Avalon Wiper Linkage Issue
About 2 months ago, my intermittent wiper stopped working and I had to turn off the wipers when they got to the bottom of the windshield as they would stop wherever I turned them off otherwise. Wasn't sure if it was the intermittent module, the wiper switch or the motor so I took it to my local Toyota dealer to have it diagnosed so that I could do the repair myself. They charged me $50 (not too unreasonable) and told me it was a faulty switch. I ordered a new switch thru AutoZone (they don't stock it but you can get it online) and swapped it out. Not nearly as difficult as Toyota would lead you to believe. They wanted $455 to change it out but the switch itself, through Autozone is $125. Well, the switch was NOT the problem as nothing changed with the swap. Took the switch back to AZ and ordered a reman wiper motor for $62.99 (net of core charge). I removed the cowling that covers the motor and linkage (easy to remove-just pop the plastic rivets on either end and push in the 4 clips that hold it to the top of the firewall, take off the wiper arms with a 14mm socket and pull it out. The motor and linkage are easy to remove as well. Unhook the power supply to the motor and there are 4 easy to get to 10mm bolts holding the whole assembly in place.
Here's where is gets a little tricky: since the limit switch was broken on my motor (I verified this by taking out the torx screws that hold the cover to the gears and electronics on the motor and found a loose piece of aluminum contact just lying on top of the plastic gear) I had to re-establish where the stop point was. This is done by plugging in the replacement motor (all by itself) and turning on the wipers. When you turn them off, the motor will continue to run until it gets back to where it parks. Now you have your starting point. I then removed the 3 10mm bolts that hold the motor to the linkage, which was a bad idea. The 13mm nut that holds the articulating linkage arm to the assembly should be removed first. That way you have something firm and solid to hold while you loosen that 13mm net, which is REALLY on there. I actually popped the ball joint out of the nylon bushing trying to hold the linkage in place while attempting to loosen that 13mm nut. What I didn't realize at the time was that I had also repositioned that heavy coil spring on the far right side of the linkage.
So; I knew I had the motor in the start position as I reattached it to the linkage with the 3 10mm bolts. Then I moved the linkage to the start position (with the motor facing away from you and the 13mm nut facing you, you pull the linkage toward the motor until the spline where the wiper arms attach are all the way to the left) but the hole in the articulalating arm that attaches to the motor didn't line up with the motor shaft. So I moved it until it did and tightened the nut. Then put it all back in the car, reattached the wiper arms and turned it on. Everything worked except that the Driver Side wiper didn't wipe as far as it did in the past. It actually fell about 3 or 4 inches short when it was at its apex. When I turned them off, however, they would stop right at the bottom like they are supposed to.
Got to thinking about this for a couple of weeks, actually, and Saturday morning I thought I'd take another look at it since it is really easy to remove and install. I went through all of the motions again; turning off the motor to find the bottom stop point, disconnecting the articulatiing arm by removing the 13mm nut and repositioning the linkage to the far left bottom of the swipe. But the hole in the articulating arm that attaches to the motor was still not lining up. Then, for some reason, I took a pair of pliers and flipped that heavy coil spring I mentioned earlier to its top position. For some reason, this spring is situated such in a mechanical joint that it can make the linkage arm longer or shorter depending upon what position it's in. This is probably so that they can use the same linkage on some other Toyota models. Anyhow, once I flipped the spring to its other position, the hole lined up perfectly with the motor while the linkage was in its far left position. Put it back in the car and it now works just like it is supposed to. I must have flipped that spring joint when I also popped the nylon bushing on my first attempt at it. BTW - if you pop that ball joint out of the nylon bushing, just knock it back in with a hammer. You won't be able to push it back in all the way with your hands.
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