Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Broken windshield wiper drive

We had our first snow event this weekend. My son called to say that something broke in the mechanical drive mechanism for the windshield wiper when his wiper stalled on a frozen section. He hears the drive clanking, but the wipers don't move. It's a 99 Contour. The repair CD is no help. Has anyone else had this problem? What breaks? What's to fix? My problem is that the car isn't where I am.Thanks again.

It's a one piece fix. Most parts stores stock the motor and gearbox. While in there, grease us the arm sockets with light grease. A snap to do. Hardest part is R/R the cowl covers.

Thanks for the info.

This sounds like what happened to me a while back. There's a socket that pops on from the bottom and the ball joint that it pops into is rubber. Seems like it dried up and just gets loose and pops out. Only way to fix it was to replace the entire mechanism. I did get away with just tying the thing together with some electrial wire, and it was still working fine when I got the replacement part in the mail. Toughest part is getting the wiper arms off.

Of course when mine failed, it was in a driving rainstorm at night and I was on the highway. Couldn't see after about 5 seconds, but was able to slow down enough and make it off an exit that I was near. Went slow and took the local roads home, the rain also slacked off after a while.

Respawning this thread as this just happened to me. I tried to pop the lever thingy back onto the ball socket but it just pops right back off when I turn the wipers on. I think I need a replacement as well but I'm not even sure what it's called. "Wiper arm pivot assembly" or something? I looked that up but it's more then the motor itself, ($118) off some obscure parts site. I'm not sure what to even search for to compare prices. "Windshield wiper drive" doesnt return any results either.

Thanks for any assistance.

Contact Bill Jenkins or go to www.teamfordparts.com. Plug in your year and model, go to Windshield, Wiper and washier components, Motor and see the illustrations for what you need.

Bill Jenkins contact info in Duratec Maintenance FAQ
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=v6maint&Number=958650&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=31&fpart=1

Thanks for the reply. $97 still seems a little pricey for this part. I'll have to contact Mr. Jenkins. In the meantime, I'll probably mend it with wire as stated previously.

I practically stole mine from AutoZone for $30.

"I know a guy"

Not bad. Do you have a part number or name?

Thanks.