Windshield wipers "parking" in straight up and down position.

[Giraffe]

I was driving a week or so ago when I heard a sort of clank from the wipers. When I shut them off, they moved to a straight up and down position and then "parked". There is a troubleshooting tree in my EVTM (that I haven't gone through just yet) for "wipers won't park", but that's not exactly the problem I'm having. The wipers act normally when operating, but will automatically go to the far left when I shut them off. They're "parking", just on the wrong side of town.

I've read some posts about the "parking cam" and was wondering if my motor has just had it.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Typically when the wipers start parking upright the motor is failing. The other thing to check is the wind latch, IIRC.

[gadget73]

its usually the cam inside the wiper motor gearbox, but you can't replace that individually anymore. The fix is basically to replace the motor.

[Giraffe]

So the wipers officially failed today. Turn them on and they don't move past the halfway point of normal travel. Oddly enough, they're still difficult to move by hand. You can definitely hear the motor running just fine when they're on, though.

Anyone have any experience with the Motorcraft reman single plug motor with the wiring kit? Looking at the picture it seems that the plate it's mounted on looks different than what's on our cars. I assume the plate is removable?

Link.

Applicability per Rock Auto:
FORD COUNTRY SQUIRE 1987-1991
FORD LTD CROWN VICTORIA 1987-1991
FORD TAURUS 1987-1995
LINCOLN CONTINENTAL 1988-1994
LINCOLN TOWN CAR 1987-1989
MERCURY COLONY PARK 1987-1991
MERCURY GRAND MARQUIS 1987-1991
MERCURY SABLE 1987-1995

[Giraffe]

I went ahead and ordered it. We'll see how it goes. I've heard this is not a pleasant job.

[87gtVIC]

I have one on my Vic. Been there as long as I owned it. Cannot comment on the mounting of it.

[gadget73]

I don't recall the mounting being any different.

If the motor runs but the wipers do not, see if the clip fell off before you get too carried away with replacing parts. The clips are a thin spring steel and they do rust.

[Giraffe]

I don't recall the mounting being any different.

If the motor runs but the wipers do not, see if the clip fell off before you get too carried away with replacing parts. The clips are a thin spring steel and they do rust.

The wipers do move, but only about halfway up the windshield.

[gadget73]

Plastic gears inside the motor probably failed then. I had one of those clips fail once and the wipers just stopped. Pretty easy to work out though, I could just move them wherever and the motor did nothing but whirr.

[Elias]

The wipers do move, but only about halfway up the windshield.

I had to replace mine about a month ago mine would only work on high speed and would not park down. I went to sly and he helped me wire it up then i got home I installed it. It wasn’t that bad. I ordered the one that came with the new harness and wire instructions.

[Giraffe]

I had to replace mine about a month ago mine would only work on high speed and would not park down. I went to sly and he helped me wire it up then i got home I installed it. It wasn’t that bad. I ordered the one that came with the new harness and wire instructions.

If you ordered the Motorcraft one, then we probably got the same part. That's good to know. I can do the wiring no problem. Hopefully I can get it done next week.

[Elias]

If you ordered the Motorcraft one, then we probably got the same part. That's good to know. I can do the wiring no problem. Hopefully I can get it done next week.

Yeah i think its the same one. Not sure what it’s called but u have to swap that lever attached to the motor where my finger is and the motor bracket . Unscrew and a few taps with a hammer and it came off.

[Giraffe]

Yep. Same one. Good to know. Thanks!

[Giraffe]

Motor arrived today. I decided to try to install it and it went much more smoothly than I expected.

Old motor came out easy enough. Of course the clip on my rust-free Southern car was not rusted at all. The box got cleaned out.







Swapped all the parts and installed. You could turn the old motor by hand. The new motor wouldn't turn at all and was actually sitting in the full travel position.





Time for wiring. The kit in the box was for the wrong car, so none of the wire colors matched up. Out comes the EVTM.







Thankfully, the wire number callouts were the same. In the end, (58) yellow went to white, (56) red went to dark blue/orange, (61) black went to yellow/red, (57) blue went to black, (63) orange went to red, (65) white went to dark green, and (28) green went to black/pink.





Spliced. I used the heat shrink in its unshrunk state as insulator so I could test that everything work. Everything worked as designed including the spray. Wipers are now parked.



Heat shrunk. The wires wouldn't all fit inside the factory loom, so I ended up doing the ghetto wrap. The heat shrink had this nifty adhesive inside that helps seal them off once they're shrunk. I soldered them before shrinking to avoid oxidation, but I'm not showing you my ugly solder job.



All done. Worked fantastic.