Help... Wiper sweep adjustment on a 1997 E350?

[Bikersmurf]

Is there a way to adjust the sweep range of E350 wipers?

The wiper arm usually stops 3-4" from the side of the window, and at the other end of the sweep 3" from the bottom. At other times, 1" from the side and 1" from the bottom.
What gives?

It almost seems like the adjustment has come loose and it is shifting back and forth... Or the linkages are sloppy, and things swing further under certain conditions.

 

[tgreening]

Is there a way to adjust the sweep range of E350 wipers?

The wiper arm usually stops 3-4" from the side of the window, and at the other end of the sweep 3" from the bottom. At other times, 1" from the side and 1" from the bottom.
What gives?

It almost seems like the adjustment has come loose and it is shifting back and forth... Or the linkages are sloppy, and things swing further under certain conditions.

Sounds like wore out sloppy / defective linkage to me. If it was just an adjustment issue it would be consistently out of whack. My story...

 

[dcguillory]

Remove the wiper arm and look at the teeth on the gear and the inside of the wiper arm. Sounds like they are stripped

 

[Bikersmurf]

Is there any way to easily check the linkages of the wipers.

I'll pop the arm off and have a look at the teeth. Thanks.

This is the down side of a 17 year old ambulance with 15,000+ hours on the clock in a wet part of the world.

 

[Mwilliamshs]

The sweep range is a function of the contactor of the motor. It's inside the transmission. If it's in poor shape not the linkage, its bushings, the shafts, their splines, the arms, nor their splines will make any difference for the better. Two schools of thought: replace the small, cheap and difficult stuff in increasing order till the system works or replace the big, expensive and easy stuff in decreasing order. Van miles? Were it mine I would first observe the motion of the parts relative to one another. What moves least is likely worn most. The most difficult bits to view are the transmission but barring some atypical wear elsewhere it'd be my prime suspect.

EDIT: what I'd called the transmission is known as the motor now as it includes the gearbox as an assembly and what I called linkage is actually the transmission these days. The motor and gearbox (includes contactor) is $37 @ Rock Auto and if anything else is worn, that wear started with the motor's movements so it's likely no better than any other bits by now. The bushings and arms are Help aisle stuff at the parts store.

 

[Bikersmurf]

Van miles... About 250,000 miles.

$37@ Rock Auto likely means $150+ here. Good chance the motor, bushings, and linkages are all tired (wish I had service records to know what has already been replaced).

I know with 75+ Landcruiser motors, there's a plate that comes loose messing up the park position... Hoping it was something similar.

 

[Mwilliamshs]

Well for $113 (150-37) I'd take it apart and see what's wrong for myself.

 

[Bikersmurf]

Popped the wiper arms off. 'Gear' looks brand new.

That said, the arms move back and forth 2-3" while wipers are parked. I need to explore further, but the linkages seem to have tons of slop, and the bushings a moderate amount of play.