Rear wiper only wipes bottom half of window!

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2002 Focus hatchback, rear wiper only wipes the bottom half of the window.

The bottom half of the wiper contacts the glass, while the top half of the wiper blade is in the air!

What is wrong? Can I just bend the wiper arm to make it fully contact the window? Or is the problem with the blade itself? Although I have tried several blades, and they seem to all do this! The correct size is 15 inch, and I've used Goodyear, Windex, and Super Tech (both the old Anco and the newer Chinese Rally).

Anyone else have an issue like this on a Focus hatch or any other car?
 
Typically on my cars poor rear wiper performance is caused by the hinge binding, usually due to rust - the spring is not strong enough to pull the wiper blade tight against the glass. They are usually designed with poor mechanical advantage - if the shaft coming off the motor protruded another couple of inches, with the arm mounted at the end of the longer shaft, the spring would have a much easier time pulling the arm inward (toward the glass).
 
Just happened on my son's Buick Rendezvous. The spring for the arm was pretty rusted and locked in place. It would only hit the bottom of the rear window, and was raised off the rest of it.

I removed the arm, applied PB Blaster on the spring, and worked the spring until it moved easily and with no binding. Works as designed now.
 
Honda Civic '05 would smear 4 inch in the driveview area after window was replaced. Thought it was a defective windshield, Acura dealer install Acura wiper blades, problem solved!
 
I had problems having wiper blades not getting a full wipe length, but mostly the rubber on the end for a few inches coming detached & flopping around on my Hyundai SUV.
Then just before last winter I ordered a couple genuine Hyundai wiper blades for the rear. I'm still on the first one I installed just at the start of winter. So far last longer than the others I tried and still getting a full length clean wipe. Now summer and its still doing good.
 
I had the same problem when I replaced the rear wiper on my Spark. The wiper manufacturer listed it as compatible with my car. Apparently they only check the connector type for compatibility. The rear window is very curved and the connector/hinge didn't have enough range of motion to follow the curve. Didn't some googling and found a lot of other people had that problem with several brands, and found a specific model number that was known to work. Ordered it, installed it, it works.

EDIT: This is the one I used: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COE3Z8E/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
Last edited:
UPDATE: I got a new wiper arm and it still does the same thing!

I used a brand new OEM rear wiper arm and it STILL only wipes the bottom half
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I'm still using the same Goodyear standard wiper blade (NOT the Assurance beam-style wiper). I don't think the blade is causing the trouble because the smae thing happens with different blades as indicated in my OP.
 
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
UPDATE: I got a new wiper arm and it still does the same thing!

Exactly WHICH PART are you talking about?

Please see the image below. Using THAT IMAGE'S TERMINOLOGY, please clarify which parts you have replaced. (Yes, "rubber" is misspelled.)

015%20Windshield%20wiper.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
UPDATE: I got a new wiper arm and it still does the same thing!

Exactly WHICH PART are you talking about?

Please see the image below. Using THAT IMAGE'S TERMINOLOGY, please clarify which parts you have replaced. (Yes, "rubber" is misspelled.)

015%20Windshield%20wiper.jpg



the arm. as indicated on THAT IMAGE's TERMINOLOGY
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
the arm. as indicated on THAT IMAGE's TERMINOLOGY
smile.gif


Good. NOW THAT WE HAVE THAT STRAIGHT...

1) When you lift the arm away from the glass, does it swing freely and smoothly through its entire arc, from glass to full extension away from glass?

2) Does the blade's articulation swing freely and smoothly through its entire range of travel?

3) Does the blade flex freely and smoothly at all its joints? Work each one of them individually, by hand.

4) Is the rubber binding at any of the clips that secure it to the blade? Or does the rubber slide freely through all the clips when the blade's joints are flexed?

5) Does the shaft appear to be on an strange angle?
 
My saturn wagon did this. The way the thing arced through its travel the spring was stretched more at rest than at mid-arc. They should have rigged it to rest at mid-arc!
smile.gif
 
I would take the arm off and mark the fluted shaft in line with the arm and turn the wiper on. And see how far it rotates. Maybe the motor is shot.
 
UPDATE

I replaced the wiper blade with a Trico Flex, which is a beam type. It works perfect now. This back window seems to prefer beam wipers, even though they weren't that popular at all when the car was new!

The previous blades were the standard frame style.

Also, the Trico Neoform doesn't work on this car at all. The 15-inch Neoform doesn't have an adapter for the regular J-hook arms. Trico wants you to use a 14-inch Neoform, but why the [censored] would anyone use a smaller wiper, especially if they're paying a premium price for the Neoform? Too bad, since it otherwise feels like a very high quality wiper.

But the Trico Flex fits perfect.
 
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