When I first got my G, my windshield wipers had a severe stutter during interval mode due to a faulty home position sensor in the wiper motor. For the past few years I simply avoided using interval mode and only used my wipers on one of the two fixed speed settings without issue. Back in March I finally got around to replacing the motor. While I was at it, I also replaced the wiper transmission link arms that are notorious for having the bushings go bad, which can also contribute to stuttering. I really liked the wiper blades that I had on there (Bosch ICON), but they were a few years old at this point so I replaced them with another set of Bosch beam-style (Performance Evo - one tier lower than the ICONs).

After putting it all back together, my home return stutter was fixed, however the blades seemed to "jutter" along the windshield when it was somewhere between lightly and moderately wet. When it was mostly dry or completely soaked, they glided across smoothly. I doubled checked my alignment (not off) and tried coating the windshield with a more permanent Rain-X like product (TRICO I think) but it didn't seem to help. I figured the new wiper blades were just a bit stiff and needed to break in a bit, so I let the problem go on for the rest of the spring.

This lead me to last week. I was on a long highway trip where it was lightly raining for most of the day. After an hour or so, I got sick of the "jutter". I figured that if i played with the speeds enough, maybe I could them to glide properly. After cycling between fast and slow a few times, they suddenly froze halfway across the windshield and wouldn't come back to life. I pulled over and checked my fuses. It turned out the 20A one had blown (maybe due to me cycling through the speeds too quickly?). I replaced the fuse and just dealt with the "juttering" for the rest of my trip.


I'd like to get some suggestions on what could be going wrong here and causing this jutter. I have a few ideas which I'll list below, along with things I've tried already that haven't worked.I can't remember if I tossed my old OEM motor, but if I get some free time I plan to re-install it (if I still have it) and see if that changes anything. Luckily (or unlucky) with the virus situation, I don't have many places to go right now, so this isn't the most urgent of issues. That being said, I'm kind of stumped on this and would love to hear any other ideas of what could be going wrong.

Thanks in advance

 

Maybe there is a residue on the windshield itself causing the wipers to bind?
I helped a friend clean his windshield which hard gnarly hard water on it, we tried using a clay bar kit and that actually helped get some of the krud off.
I use Invisible Glass to clean all my glass/windows.

 

this could be the problem, mine are so scratched up that at night it leaves these crazy streaks from any light. unless its pouring it tends to skip in the middle in a space on the windshield that looks like takes the most abuse from the windshields. I plan to get a new windshield in the future because of the bad visibility at night, but if youre just concerned about the skip try some glass treatments like suggested

 

Thanks guys, I haven't heard of using a clay bar on the windshield but it makes sense. I did save my old motor so I'm going to swap them out, and if I can't isolate the problem to a faulty new motor then I'll pick a clay bar and give that a go.

 

Open the wiper arms out to the service position and run them, see if that judder exists when they aren't riding on the windshield.

I'm almost 100% sure it's the friction from new blades on an old pitted windshield. You can try a product called Pinnacle Glasscoat Window Sealant. It's easy to apply, wipe on, wait for it to haze over, polish off with a couple clean microfiber towels. It does a really good job with pitted windshields, apply it directly to the wiper blade as well.

I prefer to wipe on a layer, wait for it to kick/haze (about 15 minutes), wipe on a SECOND layer, wait for kick, then buff it off with a few microfiber towels. It's good for about two solid months and leaves the windshield super slick.

You can also use P21S windshield wiper fluid booster directly in the reservoir. You add a capful every time you refill the wiper reservoir and it makes the fluid super slick as well.

 

You already replaced motor... and it did same thing?

Mine does a judder about halfway up, and leaves an annoying patch of water right in my line of vision. I replaced blades and the problem stayed. I assumed it was a poorly shaped windshield....

 

to my knowledge the windshields shape is fine, but i see plenty old Gs with streaks. leading me to believe the windshields themselves just scratch bad and get worse overtime. mine had streaks when i bought it, but i think it could be with how often you clean your car, dust causes micro scratches that just get worse if not taken care of

 

My 06X does this same thing with the smear of water right in my field of vision but nothing similar on the passenger side. And it also has persisted through multiple wiper changes. I think it even persisted even through a windshield change. It only does it if I'm driving over about 30mph. Doesn't do it while parked or driving really slowly. So annoying. I polished the windshield once. Don't remember if I clayed it first. Nothing has helped in the 6 years I've owned the vehicle.

 

Sorry for the lack of an update. I thoroughly cleaned and clay bar'ed the windshield, then sealed it as you guys suggested. I also sketched to PIAA silicone wiper blades which seemed to be pretty well reviewed. Some combination of those things seems to have fixed it! Looks like it was dirty/pitted glass that was the culprit after all.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions, they are definitely appreciated.

 

Thank you for the update. My 03 does this as well. Thought the wipers were on their way out.

Going to try this out soon and confirm if it fixes mine as well

 

Sorry to necro an old thread but this was the closest related I could find. If you'd like me start a new one I will.

Wanted to chime in here because my wipers have started to skip but I think it is the same culprit, some sort of residue or gunk on the windshield.

However, before cleaning and using the booster, I have to ask about my squirters.

My wiper fluid squirters (unsure of the actual part name lol) are no longer functioning. They used to spray pretty legit streams, then one or two streams quit coming out. I took a sewing needle and tried to make sure there was nothing clogging the sprayer nozzles, and even sprayed some compressed air in there, however now what comes out is merely a trickle, like right before you're finished going number one and just a few drops kinda plop out.

I am not sure how to go about solving this... do the nozzles come off of the rubber tubing (I can't see how, looks like they're wrapped with black electrical tape or something)? What parts should I be looking for or to replace?

Thank you in advance for you advice.

 

Work your way back down the black tube feeding the nozzles to the first TEE, unplug the tee and then hit the squirters to see how much wiper fluid is coming out.

The only time I see wiper squirters get clogged up is when people either leave the cap off and it gets debris inside, OR the more common culprit which is using WATER instead of WIPER FLUID and they get hard water deposits right at the nozzle tip which clogs them shut. Sometimes water just corrodes out the motor and it stops functioning, you're only supposed to use wiper fluid for a reason.

Check out my post #5 about testing the motors for smooth operation by just opening the wipers to the service position and turning them on.

 

Just an FYI, the rubber tube does pull off where you looked - tht electrical tape is only there to prevent rubbing. They can pretty dried out and stuck there though so it may be hard to pull off.

Tht said, I'd second cleric's advice about tracing it further back first. When I first got my G, i had the same issue. It turned out that the Tee was cracked and the hose was pinched underneath the plastic trim pieces in a few places which resulted in low pressure to the wiper blades. It likely happened during a poor reinstall by whoever the PO had replace the windshield, but fixing those issues helped quite a bit.

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check the ipdm i know on the 06-07 models the actual circuit board inside the ipdm is the inital “power source” if thats the right term to use, i had to replace mine because it got to the point that it shut my fuel pump off mid drive and my wipers wouldnt work in any setting, update i know all years have ipdms but the 06-07 are different than 03-4 ion know which one the 05 has