Hi,

After a recent snow storm I had a heavy aheet of ice slide down my windshield. Now I only have one wiper working (drivers side) although the wiper (passengers side) does attempt to move but only moves a slight bit towards the hood on the down swing of the other blade. I have a 1999 Grand Caravan Sport. I do recall having a similar experience a few years ago (another ice incident) but I can't recall what the repair involved. I don't think I need a new motor since the other wiper is working fine.

Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

Tighten the nut that holds the arm to the mechanism? 13mm or 15mm I think?

 

no you wont need a new motor but you may have broke the linkage or stripped the splines on the shaft
hope it just needs a tightening

 

My son tightened the screw and said that the wiper was working now but that he thought the splines might be stripped and something about needing a new cog(?) possibly. If it's stripped, will I need a new arm or is there something elseI can do to repair it inexpensively?

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!!

 

The shaft is a tapered fit, tightening the nut a little more should be sufficient to create wedge.
To prevent futher incident, make sure to remove snow/ice prior to turning on wipers.
Replace wiper arm first with new one. Arm is aluminum and will strip splines before shaft which is steel. Softer metal always sacrifices first.

 

that's part of it's aluminum. if you still have probs with it take the arm of use a small very sharp center punch and a small pecker (hammer) and stake it on the inside in several places. then tighten it good and you should be good.