Maybe there is something wrong with your wiper motors.

 

I was also curious if it might be the wiper motor. I did a search and didn't find much so I was hoping someone that has had a similar problem would chime in.

Does it still make the noise when you're spraying the windshield with a hose and thereby ensuring ample water? Good wipers on glass/silicone can hop and shudder and make that squeak/scrape noise sometimes when there's not enough water to lubricate the contact surfaces.

It still does it on the intermittent setting even with an ample water supply but it's not as bad as without. Once I go past intermittent and get to the normal wiper speed in a steady rain the problem almost goes away. It just seems weird that it would start doing this when it was fine just a month ago. Even in a light mist I could use the lowest intermittent setting and it was perfectly smooth. I might try re-applying the RainX to see if that helps "lubricate" things...

 

Does it still make the noise when you're spraying the windshield with a hose and thereby ensuring ample water? Good wipers on glass/silicone can hop and shudder and make that squeak/scrape noise sometimes when there's not enough water to lubricate the contact surfaces.

 

In my experience, the skipping is typically caused by one of the following issues:

1. Insufficient moisture on the windshield. The blades stick and chatter.

2. New blades will sometimes leave a few small patches of rubber or residue on your windshield. This will create a "sticky" point on the windshield and they will begin to skip. The skipping motion causes more material to transfer to the window and increases the chatter. This is usually solved by a good cleaning.

3. Dried out rubber blades will chatter. I have needed to replace new blades within a few months on a few occasions. Depends how long they sat on the shelf.

4. Driving into a strong headwind causes my wipers to chatter while coming back down (into the wind).

The motor may be wearing out, but electric motors tend to completely fail. I would suspect low voltage at the motor more then a problematic window motor.

 

In my experience, the skipping is typically caused by one of the following issues:

...
The motor may be wearing out, but electric motors tend to completely fail. I would suspect low voltage at the motor more then a problematic window motor.

I had the same experience as the first post and switched to Toyota (rebranded) wiper fluid in my reservoir. After the switch, the problem has been minimized but still surfaces (pun intended :hi occasionally. Nevertheless, I would like to verify or rule out voltage drop in the wiper motor circuit as you suggest. I am handy with a continuity tester and DVOM (but not much else) and unsure where to touch the leads and what values to watch. Kindly point in the right general direction. Many thanks!

 

Update: The RainX was causing the issue. I quit using it and after a few more months I have no issues with the wiper blades. My best guess is that the RainX was wearing off unevenly causing the wiper blades to glide along smoothly and then skip once they hit a "dry patch". All is well now.

 

dont put rainx products on your windshield unless your using there wipers because it messes with every other brands wipers. i used there window cleaner and it caused this exact same problem with brand new wipers. as soon as i cleaned the windshield with something else it was back to perfect. their washer fluid caused the same problem. so now i only use rainx on all the other windows atleast until i finish what i already have. probably wont buy the stuff again although i do like the water beading effect it has for all my other windows

 

I know this is a old thread. But I'm having this issue. I have rainx wiper fluid. I noticed today that they started hopping over my windshield after i had them on for about 10 min. I just replaced the motor with one from a 97 (mine is a 96) from pick n pull. That one only had 140K. I started to wonder if there is a switch or something that is heating up as the wipers stay on for 10 min or so. I don't know. My blades are only about a year old so I don't think they could be at fault. I don't know. I greased the linkage and the motor when I installed the new one (my old motor was really slowing down and starting to die) And I was like yay it doesn't hobble around my windshield and now it is. I wanted to know if any other part could be to blame before I go to pick n pull tomorrow and replace the motor again. As if the motor was bad I would think that it would be slow from the get go not after 10-15 min of usage....

 

I started to wonder if there is a switch or something that is heating up as the wipers stay on for 10 min or so. I don't know.

I think there might be a relay? That might be worth changing out.

 

Do you know where? I can't find a diagram anywhere...

 

I took a look at the factory repair manual. The "relay" if you want is built into the wiper switch, so it might be that your switch assembly is failing.

There is a troubleshooting diagram for testing the wiper switch, but I doubt it's entirely useful to you since your errors are intermittent.

Only the wagon has a separate relay, and that is only for the rear wiper.

 

Remove the motor and make sure the spindles that move the arms are free. I have had them seize up on cars that were unused for long periods of time.

-SP

 

Can't be that. I greased all the joints and arms on the linkage and on the motor...

 

Thats not what I wrote. BUT with the motor removed can you move the linkage by hand EASILY to move the wiper arms?

-SP

 

I went and got new wiper blades. Then I made sure that the linkage is free. I had a replacement wiper motor from pick n pull. Yet it was still skipping. I was able to get it to stop with rainx wiper fluid but it wouldn't last long. I ended up buying a manufactured motor. Still no luck. I thought that maybe it's the rainx. So I washed it all off and even windexed my windshield and it still is chattering like crazy. I took a video to show how bad it is. Could the linkage be bad? That's the only think I can think of. And the only thing that I haven't replaced.. It's driving me nuts and I'm worried that with that severe of skipping it might damage my new motor...

 

Have you ever removed the wiper arms? To me it looks like it's off by a spline and hitting the black plastic guard or whatever it's called.

 

Well. I will take a look at them later. But if I pull the blade arms up and turn them on. The blades don't chatter at all.

 

Let's split this question for each arm separately.

1. Does driver's side skip wiping up only? Down only? Or in both directions?

2. Does passenger side skip wiping up only? Down only? Or in both directions?

 

Both to a extent. But it only makes noise when both are on the windshield. Doesn't matter which side. My friends dad recommended the springs on the wiper arms themselves. Which makes sense. If they aren't strong enough to hold the wipers on the windshield they might skip and chatter. So I mean. I'm going to try and get some springs and see if it works. If not. Then I'll need to look into other options. But to reply to the last post. It can't be the blades themselves. I just replaced then like just did it a few months ago. As for the windshield idea. When I got the car a year ago the owner had just replaced the windshield. So that can't be it either. Also for the spot on the windshield. There's no way a spot could be on there for almost a year..

 

It honestly just sounds like you need new wiper blades. I doubt the motor or any linkages are worn or damaged. Could also just be a really dirty/sticky spot on the windshield.

 

I buy wiper blades every few months(depending on the weather). I've never bought a set that lasted very long. I also have a new windshield and it does that. And I'm just kinda thinking out loud throwing ideas out there.

 

Well I live in Washington. Normally the wiper blades last about a year or 2 depending on the weather. I took the arms in and I looked at them and the springs don't seem at all weak. So I ruled out that. What I might be wondering is maybe it's the construction of the blades themselves. These are the spineless rubber blades. They are supposed to last longer. But maybe they are not as strong as the old fashion ones. I don't know. But I took off the cover and inspected the wiper arm transmission and it all seems to be working just fine. So I don't know. It's sunny here in Washington right now. So I won't really be able to test my wipers for a bit. I put some WD40 on the arms spring. But other then that I'm fresh out of ideas.

 

Ran across this on youtube. Not sure about bending the wiper arm though.

 

So. I'm preparing to eat my words. So I went to pick n pull to grab some new wiper arms. Put them on and it was still chattering. Mostly on the passenger side. After a bit I started to wonder if it had anything to do with the wiper blade technology. I purchased some spineless rubber blades from boche. As I watched the passenger blade wiper across the windshield. I noticed that the blade wasn't getting good coverage. So I went down to Wal-Mart and got some good year hybrid blades. Got home and put those on. I also compared my wiper blade arms from pick n pull to my old ones. I found out my old ones were not toyota oem. And the ends were much more curved then the ones I got from pick n pull. So I think it was a combo of the wrong wiper arms and the spineless wiper blades. So problem solved

 

Yes, mind started working very slow, when I turned them on now they just stop in the middle of the windshield, and take minutes or hours to get back down.