Windshield wiper issue

[wrxBRAD]

A little while ago I was traveling on the highway w/ my wipers on the fastest setting they would go and they started to actually go off my windshield and get stuck. This happened repeatedly along my trip and the drivers side one finally just bent. I replaced the wipers and thought everything was fine till a couple miles down the road they started doing it again. Once i got home i took the drivers side wiper arm off and noticed the teeth seemed to be ground down some so i ordered a new one. I put that on along w/ new blades and made sure they were set as far down as they could go. I turned them on high and had my friend spray my windshield w/ a hose and the drivers side wiper had a good inch/inch and a half to the edge of my windshield so i figured everything was fine.

Once i get around 30 mph+ even on the slowest wiper setting they go from having that inch/inch and a half to slamming hard against the edge of the windshield. Then today on the highway on the middle setting they got stuck again. I'm not really sure what else i should do but i can assure you its a huge pain in the ass only being able to use the lowest wiper setting and still then fearing that they're going to get stuck. On top of that we have a tropical storm over us right now so its even worse. Has anyone had this happen or can anyone please give me advice on what to do? Thanks in advance guys!

[EvoEatr]

Is there a bunch of miles on this vehicle? I have seen this problem before with higher mileage vehicles where the linkage for the wiper arms wears over time/mileage, which to properly fix requires replacement....

[wrxBRAD]

just past 86,000 on it so not too bad; its a 2003 wrx

[EvoEatr]

hmmm..well i hate to take a shot from the hip..but from the information you've provided it sounds like the linkage? Do you wipe a lot of like snow/ice or anything heavy off the windshield often? You mentioned the teeth where ground down some on the wiper arms? How did the "gear" teeth look where the arm attaches? With the wipers off and them at the rest position can you move the wiper arm excessively? Like trying to move it up and down the windshiled ( the motion of the wipers )..

[wrxBRAD]

No, we dont get much snow/ice here (charlotte,nc) but I am the second owner of the car and the previous owner live in boone, nc so in the mountains. However, i bought the car w/ 37,000 miles on it. The teeth on the gear were perfectly fine, just the arms teeth were worn down. There is some play in the wipers with them turned off tho. I can move them anywhere from about 1-2 inches.

[boosted scoob]

I have this exact same problem as you. One of my wipers has about 2in of play in it and wipes off the windshield leaving scuffs on the pillar paint. It was very annoying so I decided to open up the cowling to check out the movable parts. Seems as though there is a plastic retainer which is part of the motor assy. that has cracked. As far as I have checked, Subaru does not sell this plastic piece separate. You have to buy the whole motor assty . Thus I have not fixed it yet and just use a lot of rainX.