Daughters car has problem with wipers 'parking' straight up instead of down (happened after an ice storm, I am assuming she tried to use the wipers before freeing them up). Otherwise they work correctly. I removed the wiper motor assembly and popped off the linkage. I removed the crank arm thing from the motor shaft, and it appears to be made up of a couple sliding plates with a mounting shaft with 2 balls on it for the linkage to snap onto. I noticed that there is a small pivoting arm on the underside (opposite the linkage mounting shaft) about an inch long, with a spring clip on it, and the tip of that is broken off. I found the broken piece laying inside the cowl area. It seems that this thing is supposed to hit a raised tab on the motor bracket, so I assume this is related to the wipers parking properly. Since the small arm that is broken is not removable (press fit), does anyone know if the entire 'crank arm assembly' thing is available from the dealer?
I went to the local junkyard and just got a replacement unit there...cost $5 out the door, much cheaper than trying to buy N.O.S. Next time be sure she knows to free up the wipers or she'll have to pay to have a professional do it next time!
Check rockauto.com. I believe they have it although it's pricey.
2.2 97 Cavalier......the "Crapalier"
Thanks for the advice, ended up getting a new replacement crank assembly for $56.. Local junkyards around here are ridiculous, wanted $75 for the whole motor assembly which I do not need.... Found out the cause was that the wipers were not parked properly during a storm (stopped someplace in the middle when the car was turned off).. they then froze to the windsheld, and then when the car was next started, they could not move and the crank assembly broke. Lesson I guess is to always turn wipers off so they park, before turning car off...
Also, in case anyone could benefit, I found a fairly easy way to remove the wiper arms without a special tool. I placed a flat-head screwdriver with a square shaft under the arm where it is pressed onto the shaft, and tapped it a bit to get the blade under as far as it would go.. then I placed a small open end wrench on the screwdriver shaft and turned it (to twist the flat end of the screwdriver with a good amount of torque).. the wiper arm popped right off....