Hello again everyone. This one has me a little stumped and this is after reading other forum posts. I just fixed up the wiper linkage with brand new bushings, and got a brand new motor and wiper arms too. No more stuttering, and it’s very smooth. However; I’ve adjusted it for the past hour or so and every single time regardless of what position it’s in, I can’t get the wiper to park down far enough onto the resting hook at the bottom of the windshield. Another thing I noticed is that the new wiper arm hits the top of the hood slightly. I saw that part of the reason could be the motor, which I don’t think it could be since it’s new and works good. And the reason for not parking could be a dry windshield so I used lots of water, still no fix. And the reason for the wiper arms hitting the hood would be the newer style blades. Which shouldn’t be the case, I’ve had these Bosch Pure Vision wipers on this car for a while and never had that problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Here are some pictures as well. One other thing, more often than not the linkage will not move without me giving it a slight pull on the driver side linkage then it kicks into gear and works. I don’t believe I have anything overly tight as I’ve noticed that the linkage won’t move at all if the adjustment bolts are too snug.

Here is with the hood closed, I can push the wipers down further though.


Brand new transmission bushings, all greased up.

This is where the wipers rest, after I push them down a little to get them where they need to be.

This is where the wipers rest AFTER I put it to park, this is far down as they go without me pushing them down.

 

Any ideas?

 

I think the driver arm looks OK. From my '67 and '72 knowledge, you may have two choices: Pull the left arm off the stud and put it back on in a more clockwise rotation; or, if equipped use the arm adjusting screws about 3-4 inches up the arm from where it attaches to the stud. If your '81 has the screws, I'd adjust the driver side down a bit more. The left arm probably won't have enough adjustment in the screw so would need to be popped off and put on a different spline.

Edit: I just looked at replacement arms and those for '81 don't have the screws. I think removing and putting back on in a different placement may be the only answer if you've used up all of the available slots in the motor/arm connection.

 

I believe you are correct as I couldn’t find the proper way to attach the arms. From my understanding they only fit on one way since it’s “keyed” should I remove the arms, park them to where the “key rectangle” side on the gear is facing up towards the window and reattach? I did grease the splines a little bit if that makes any difference.

 

Update. I took off the arms and fully made sure they were exactly the same as the old ones, they are. They don’t hit the hood anymore after I made sure it was fully seated. However; they still do not fully rest as they should when parked. I suspect it’s the window switch as more often than not it won’t work properly. I did replace it in the past with a new one but it affected by electric lights so I took it out and got rid of it. Should I replace the switch again? I’m out of ideas.
If I pull the arms down they seat fine with no problems, usually when I flick the switch it doesn’t do anything until I very lightly pull up on the driver side transmission linkage. It did the same with the old motor so it can’t be that. Is the wiper switch potentially not sending the right signal to the motor?

 

I do not have the adjustment procedure for the 73 and up arms but prior to 73 one arm was actually set right below the stop and then moved by hand above the stop. Then the second arm was adjusted to rest on the first one. The adjustment procedure is in the AIM for your year.

 

Well RonnieJamesDio................I just had a similar problem with my 78's pax side blade that would not park!!!
When my Vette guy looked at the wiper motor he immediately saw that the 3 prong plug was 180* out!!
He reoriented it and no issues since!!!
Might pay to take a look at yours

JJ78

 

Thank you Mel for the suggestion, I will try it out in the afternoon today and will post my findings here.

 

Thanks for the advice Java! I thought I had put the plug back on properly; but I will definitely flip it around and see if that does anything.

 

I was having issues with my wipers hitting the A post, and it seemed that no amount of adjusting in the wiper well would fix it. I checked to see if anything looked bent, and all looked OK.
I then discovered that when you install the wiper onto the splines the thick spline gets you in the general orientation for the wiper arms, But you can still adjust the arms a spline or two while lined up with the thick spline. Once I adjusted mine I had no further issues.

Have a look at yours and see if that right arm can be adjusted down further at the splines.

 

Update

I have tried all of the suggestions listed above, I have taken the arms off and moved it a spline or two in either direction (just to make sure), the 3 prong plug is definitely on the correct way. And I did try adjusting below the stop; to no avail unfortunately. I do not have an AIM for the ‘81 but I will have to invest in one. They work 80% of the time regardless of the parking position. And even before it was still hitting the A-pillar even before I fixed everything up, so it seems to have been a problem before I even touched it.

 

It's not the way it's mounted on the shaft. You have a linkage adjustment in the center. The adjustment bolts have to be loosened. The lower arm is the set below the wiper stop. The bolts for that arm are tightened. You raise the arm above the stop and lower it back on the windshield. You then place the upper arm so it rests on the lower arm and tighten the bolts. The link below provides an image of the pivot that you adjust. The AIM gives more detail.
https://www.zip-corvette.com/68-82-w...ng-plates.html

 

Yes correct, I replaced these and have been adjusting them that way. I tried putting the arm below the stop and the other arm on top after and no matter what adjustment I do it still will not go below the hood on the passenger side, the driver side always hits the A pillar no matter what. The wipers either cross each other in a bind, I park them right when they are about to hit and even after I make the slightest adjustment to where it’s hardly even knicking the passenger side blade the arms won’t fully seat back in the resting place unless I push them with no resistance on the linkage.

 

Looked again at the blades. They don't look right. They look like modern blades. I got blades at NAPA. Look at this
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/WIP6...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

yes these are modern Bosch Pure Visions, I had them on the vehicle before and never had an issue up until now. That being said; it’s about time to change them anyways so I could give these a shot.

edit: I see that they only fit a 1968-1979, my blades are still 16” so I would assume they fit unless the hole is bigger.