I have the same issue, so I took a chance and bought and replaced the shorter of the two links as decribed in the previous posts. The one I replaced did not appear to be too bad but I installed the new one since I had it apart. I also checked the other link and it appeared to be OK. Put everything back together, installed the assembly and aligned the wipers.

Unfortunately, no joy! Still doing the same thing in intermittent mode. I might try replacing the other link but I'm not sure that will fix it. Still the links are a lot cheaper than replacing the motor assembly so it should be worth a shot.

Stay tuned.

5/17/09 - UPDATE:

Well I ordered the second link and put it in. Still no joy, still get the stuttering on the way up and down in single wipe and intermittent mode. One thing I forgot to mention with the original problem was that the degree of stuttering is very temperature dependent. Somewhere in the 50 to 65 deg F range the stuttering subsides. Below 50 it is there all the time, above 65 it almost never happens.

I also ordered new blades so that's the next step. The ones on there now are just over a year old but the actual wiping performance is still good. I've used RainX in the past but wasn't really impressed maybe I'll try that if the replacement blades don't solve the problem.

6/5/09 - UPDATE:

I put new wiper blades on and for a bit I thought that did it. However now that the temperature has dropped down to below 60F around here the problem is still there. Its not as bad as it was, but its back. The odd thing is that it only stutters on the way down and always in the same spot about 1/3 of the way up on the windshield. Since its happening on the way down it's almost like its stopping too early, detecting that it hasn't reached the park position and then continuing on. It doesn't misbehave on the way up like it did before at all, so far. It also doesn't do it on every pass. It will do it say 8 times and then be fine for several wipes and then go into a another period of stuttering. But there is no consistent pattern.

Thre may be some sort of internal position sensor or switch in the motor assembly that is acting up. Taking the next step to replacing that is probably the only way to find out.

11/2/10 - UPDATE

My bad for not posting this earlier but I finally solved my problem by installing a rebuilt wiper motor that ran me about $75.00. Turned out that the internal position sensor for the park position must have been faulty and now everything works like a champ.

 

Another cause of this could be hard, worn out blades. Probably not your issue, but check them anyway.

 

i've had this problem and my simplest resolution so far as been to use rain-x and keep the blades clean. this has been working for the most part. no more "shuttering" before going into the down position.

 

A special thanks to all of the posters in the thread, ESPECIALLY to TollBoothWilley for those awesome photos.

Good news: After dealing with months of the wipers SLAMMING the cowl at all speeds of use (and not aligning correctly for shut-off), I finally took the plunge and attempted the repair on my own using parts purchased through the dealer (total: $40).

So far so good with the wipers, they run like new! I had forgotten how graceful it actually looks when they WORK.

But still I have one problem: I had a lot of trouble reassembling the two pieces of the cowl together. I simply could not get the pieces to realign with each other, even though I had all of the bolts properly in place. I've attached a photo of the slight separation from the windshield where the break now occurs. Will this lead to serious problems if water gets down past the windshield? Any ideas on how to get those pieces properly in place?



You can see the separation in these photos.

 

Glad you got it working.

It sounds like you might have put the assembly links in the reverse positions...

 

I finally fixed my wipers by following postings here, specially thanks to Tollboothwilley for his wonderful pictures and instructions
FYI, when I took off the links from assembly, I don't see anything wrong with links other than there was hardly any grease left in the round pockets of the links. Since I already bought a pair so I replaced both (didn't know which one caused problems). I suspect is if they are cleaned and re-greased fully and put back, they should work well as well. Another tip, disconnecting the power cord and taking assembly completely off car is much easier to replace the links. Hope this fix will last longer, but How much longer I'll give this 2003? never mind.

 

Too bad, the very next day, the wipers I thought I fixed starts slamming again before they rest in intermittent mode. don't know what to do now

 

Special thanks to this thread for the help! I called the dealership and they wanted to charge $317.26 for the entire assembly. The guy was rude and tried to tell me there's nothing else you can replace in the windshield wipers assembly. I tried telling him exactly what I wanted but he wouldn't listen.

I hung up in frustration, called back a few minutes later, and asked for his e-mail address. I sent him a link to this thread.

He got me the parts for $28 :-D

 

Big thanks to TollBoothWilly for the photos. GREAT help!!

I got my replacement parts via FedEx today, only to find that instead of sending both arms (one long, one short), they sent TWO long ones!

The packing slip had 2 different parts (which was correct), but alas, someone messed up.

Anyhoo, here's the lowdown on the parts needed:

(Long one): INF 28842-AL500 $12.04

(Short one): INF 28841-AL500 $11.44

I ordered them from www.infinitypartsusa.com - which turns out to be Infinity of Scotsdale, AZ.

Total cost, incl. S&H, was $36.42


BTW - I did the repair (even though it was just the long arm), and it was relatively easy. The toughest part was putting that dang cowl back on!!

So I'll get to do it all over again once the small arm arrives - especially since it was the bigger culprit. It was totally worn out!

 

I have both linkages for sale: $20.00 shipped

Contact me via pm

 

Great thread!!!!

 

Good write up, thanks!

 

cool, I never knew this issue existed. Now I know and know the fix for it

 

I had the same problem with the wipers slapping. All I did was replace the wiper moter and that solved the problem. I think its a common problems with cars that get alot of snow, and just an fyi 03-04 wiper motors are different from 05-06. My car is an 04 and tried to put a motor on from an 05 and the plug in connection was the same but internally different, but changing the motor work and its been two years now with no problems. I got the wiper motor used so just make sure the car you get it from is not from up north or you will most likely have the same problem again.

 

I did this fix tonight and it went really smooth. hardest part was taking off the little black covers on the cowling. Thanks for the great tutorial. The slapping was super annoying.