Seized rear wiper arm?

[Andres G]

Hello All,

This week I tore into the rear hatch on our 97 LX 450 since last time I drove her I noticed the rear wiper was not working. Checked the fuse was fine and the washer jet was still working...

To my surprise, when I got in there I noticed the little box on the driver side of the hatch were the circuit that drives the motor lives, was disconnected... I asked my wife if she remembered when it stopped working (she drives it) and her reply was "Is there a wiper back there???

I knew the hatch had been repainted by the prior owner since it had some cosmetic damage, so I figured whoever did the paint job just forgot to plug it back in. I was a bit puzzled since I was certain I had seen it working before.

In any case, I re-connected the motor but immediately noticed that it would make a humming noise yet would not actually work or make the wiper turn. I pulled the motor off figuring I'd have to clean and re-assemble, but tried it once again when disconected from the mechanism and it turned perfectly well. Which drove my attention to the wiper arm assembly itself.

Things look like the shaft for the wiper is semi-seized in place. I was able to make it move back and forth but required significant force using a plastic mallet and a wooden paint stir stick (like the ones for mixing paint from Home Depot). I left it overnight soaking in penetrating oil in hopes it would loosen up a bit, but to no avail... I tried it again today and it would still be very reluctant to move.

To me, things are starting to look up like:
A) There is a seized bearing in there
2) The nut was over tightened from the outside by the body shop upon re-assembly
III) I have no idea what is going on...

Does anyone have any experience they can share with me regarding this? How should I go about removing the complete assembly to get it out of the car and in a more manageable environment (my work bench)? Do I just loosen the outer nut and go from there? That thing is ridiculously tight!

I really do not like having a functional part like this go away even if my wife ignores it's existance... Help is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Andres G

 

[landtoy80]

I just replaced my wiper assembly. It was rusted and seized. Had to destroy the assembly to get it off as it was so rusted. The nut was so rusted I had to cut it of with a Dremal cut off tool.
Dont throw it away as the plastic clip thing on the end of the link assy is not included with the rear wiper link assy.
I bought the link assy, 2 nuts that hold the assy to the tailgate and the nut for the wiper arm assy and the cap/washer thingy #85169R. ( i like saying assy as does toyota)

 

[Andres G]

Crystal clear. I will see if i can get PN #85160R - Any suggested sources?

Thanks,
Andres

 

[landtoy80]

There are some vendors in the vendor section that can help. Just click on the vendor tab in the upper left hand corner.

 

[Andres G]

Thanks again!

 

[Andres G]

UPDATE: I left the shaft soaking in penetrating fluid/oil overnight. Instead of just spraying it on and closing the tailgate, I left it open and made sure the complete surface around the shaft was embedded in oil. Did that last night and got back to it tonight...

After a bit of back and forth motion using my hands, the assy started moving more freely, and after a few more minutes of shuffling it, I decided to try the motor on. It tunrs out IT WORKS!

Runs absolutely fine, at the right and expected speed, and makes no strange noises!

Thought I'd share since someone else may be facing the same issue in the future. I saved a cool $50 and improved my self esteem a bit too.

Andres

 

[landtoy80]

UPDATE: I left the shaft soaking in penetrating fluid/oil overnight. Instead of just spraying it on and closing the tailgate, I left it open and made sure the complete surface around the shaft was embedded in oil. Did that last night and got back to it tonight...

After a bit of back and forth motion using my hands, the assy started moving more freely, and after a few more minutes of shuffling it, I decided to try the motor on. It tunrs out IT WORKS!

Runs absolutely fine, at the right and expected speed, and makes no strange noises!

Thought I'd share since someone else may be facing the same issue in the future. I saved a cool $50 and improved my self esteem a bit too.

Andres

I probably had same results when it quit working couple years ago but I just unplugged it and left it which made things real rusty.