I used the search function, but havent found quite the same symptoms that I am having.

I was driving home in the rain yesterday, and I noticed a couple times the wipers paused, then after 2 more passes they stopped at about 1/3 the way up.

I drove for a couple miles, and realized I could hear a humming. So I pulled over, and found that sure enough there was a loud humming coming from the wiper area. I turned the truck off, turned it back on and it was the same problem, but by helping the wiper move a little I was able to get them to go up, but only once.

I havent opened up the cowl yet to look, but it kinda sounds like a binding issue - it sounds like the motor is trying, but I am not sure that there isn't a problem...When I turned them on today, again the motor is humming, you can see the wipers shake a little, but they just dont get started up the windshield without help.

Is there a way these things can get stuck, out of line or something, or am I looking at a motor that is dying?

I hope I was descriptive enough, perhaps someone has an idea before I start taking things apart.

 

Anything is possible, but I'd say the motor is bad.

 

at first it sounded like the switch to me until you mentioned the humming. Unless somethings stuck in there, it sounds like your motors shot.

Take off the wiper arms and make sure theres nothing visibly stopping the blades from going. When you notice there isn't, thats the first step in replacing the motor anyway!

Good luck!

 

mark the down position of the arm on the windshield with some tape. then remove the wiper arms by lifting them into the full upright and bent back position, then slide the catch and lift the foot. if you have to strain or use force your not doing it right. remove the cowl cover. the little black plugs that look like hex bolts are not bolts, but just push on clips. with the cover off, operate the wipers and see if the motor is not turning, or whether the motor is turning but the linkage is broken.

 

A few years ago I had a similar problem on a Ford Ranger, ( I now nasty words here) that was caused by the grease in the gearbox for the wiper arms setting up and not allowing the arms to move. New grease fixed the problem.