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If your rear wiper didn't work, what would you check first and how would you know what was bad?

The rear wiper on my Forester doesn't work, and I want it to.

It's not the fuse, and I don't know what it would be. Could the stalk be bad? What about the motor? I have no idea what would cause it.

Ideas?

Thanks!

Mine was the motor, it made a ginding noise though, although yours could just be majorly FUBAR'd.

The stalk WILL be cheaper than the motor, I don't know how to diagnose that.

I have pics from when I changed the motor out on my wagon, I don't think it'll be much more difficult on a Forester, if the need arises.

You could always check out the wiper motor and the wiring back there in the hatch, it if is already dead the prior owner could have unplugged it (wild guess). It's fun to open that stuff up anyway.

BAC5.2 wrote:my Forester

Check the relay... then try disassembling the motor and cleaning it out. A lot of times the motors just get full of crud and quit... or start making "ginding" noises. =)

BAC5.2-
you should put the "Forester" Thread in your sig, so people don't get alarmed

I'd work my way from the motor back, because its more likely that is it (motor wears faster than a stalk). Did you check to see that there was voltage at the fuse also?

I would also check for voltage at the motor... That would quickly eliminate the stalk as the problem.

haha, if the new motor fits, why try to fix the old one?

yeah I have bad luck with dissasembling stuff that is supposed to go back together

the voltage/relay ideas seem to be the best to start Phil, they would at least tell you which end of the car it's on, I wish I were as smart as Vikash, Mark, and MikeC

I'm not smart, I'm just overly witty

Believe me, I've spent hours walking 100's of feet of cable trying to find a problem, only to discover there was an easy place to check for a problem. I'm not smart either, I just learn from painful experiences

I figure its easier to check whether the stalk works than the motor in this case, as testing the motor would require running 12V to it.

I'm not smart. I just fake it.

The motors are actually pretty easy to take apart and put back together.

Mark - I doubt it's the fuse. The fuse is shared with the winshield wipers, and those work.

I have a spare stalk that the guy gave me when I bought the car. I'd like to see those pictures Sam.

Vikash? Not smart? That's unpossible! Your job title is a skill you were never aware you had!

Cuz I faked it!

I'll try to find those pictures, you'll need a pretty big metric socket for removing the assembly from the glass, it's held on by this 22-25 mm bolt (need calipers).

You'll be using lots of P-blaster depending on how much salt and corosive stuff the car's seen.

I'll try to get those pictures for you within the next day.