Windsheild Washers, the back Wiper, and More :(

[Prince_Polaris]

Okay, so in my earlier thread where I got myself a 2003 expedition and nitpicked a lot of minor problems, I am now zeroing in on the only problem left, and also the biggest one: The rear wiper, and the windsheild washers.

In this thread, y'all might remember me having some weird problems with those, and yes, I did have the "Rear glass shaft is messed up and needs too much force to turn, therefore killing the battery" problem. However, that's fixed, and a new one has shown up.

So far, these are the problems:

-The windsheild washer system gives me a "Low fluid level" alert every time I start the car, no matter how much is in the tank. I fiddled with the two plugs coming out of it, and I couldn't seem to see any problems there...

-The washers do work, and right now they still work (even the rear one), but sometimes (haven't seen it happen in a few days) they will sputter a bit, stop working briefly, then it's back to normal.

-Today, my rear wiper stopped working. The arm itself and the rear glass are fine, I can move it with my fingers if I grab the small metal pin. I turned it on this morning, and it shuddered, and got stuck in the center of the window. I got out to check, thinking the rear glass was the problem, and when I got around to the rear of the car, it had returned to neutral. I haven't been able to get it to move again after that.

-When I try to turn on the rear wipers, I hear a quiet mechanical 'Click' from the rear of the car, and all I can determine is that it might be coming from the drivers side. It's not intermittent either, I can turn the rear wiper on and off as many times as I want and I'll hear the little click every time.


On this forum post from 2014, someone mentioned a very similar problem, but not much of a solution. it suggests that the washers and the rear wiper are all on the same circuit- do I maybe have a blown or loose fuse, you think? I sure hope I don't need to go mess with wiring, but if that's what I gotta do then I'll give it a shot, I'm not gonna learn how to take care of my own car by being scared I'll break everything!



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Extra problems:

-People who get in the back of the car seem to have trouble opening the doors, are the door locks on the back doors messed up or are we just doing it wrong? Child locks are off...

-This might be related, today my "door ajar" beep was going off over and over, but after making sure all the doors were firmly closed it only went off one more time as I left the parking lot and it hasn't went off since. So weird...

 

[lvcjt702]

Start here. http://www.expeditionforum.com/index.php?posts/305656
That should help you trouble shoot and possibly diagnose any issues other than just the wiper sticking.

Not sure about the fluid level other than a bad sensor which can be as easy as a little white vinegar soak.

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[Prince_Polaris]

Start here. http://www.expeditionforum.com/index.php?posts/305656
That should help you trouble shoot and possibly diagnose any issues other than just the wiper sticking.

Not sure about the fluid level other than a bad sensor which can be as easy as a little white vinegar soak.

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Those two videos are about the wiper shaft in the rear glass, which I've said is not the problem, it's not siezed, or corroded, or even a little bit stiff, it's something between the switch, the motor, and the washer pumps are in on it. Just to be 300% sure, tomorrow morning perhaps I'll go outside, open the back glass, turn on the rear wiper and see if the motor turns or not.

 

[lvcjt702]

Sounds like your on the right track then. Good luck!

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[Prince_Polaris]

Okay, so today I took apart the back door! Well, the trim at least, it's kind of fun! What is NOT fun is the ******* fuse box placement, I managed to lose two fuses down in there, but, well, I managed to check fuse 1 and fuse 38 which are supposed to deal with the back wiper and since those are the ones I lost, they've been grudgingly replaced. Also, is it normal for fuse... 101, I think it was? to not have the plastic cover that all of the other pink boxy ones have?


Anyway, back door. So, I narrowed the clicking noise down to the motor itself, and once I took all the trim off (my back door isn't rusty at all, heh, unlike our poor 7 chrysler minivan) I narrowed it down even further to a small box hidden behind the wiper motor... every time it tries to cycle the motor, there's a click that comes from the box, unplugging the gray plug makes it stop, and after reseating it a few times nothing's changed.

Is the box some sort of control module for the back wiper, or something? Does it gotta be replaced again? Also, no, messing with the fuses didn't fix the dumb "low washer fluid" alert.

 

[lvcjt702]

The clicking is most likely the motor. From your pics I would say that plug is connected directly to the wiper motor. The dealership most likely cleaned the wiper assembly and sent you on your way.

Heres what I would do.

At the bottom of page 4069, in the manual I posted in your other thread is "Pinpoint Test G" (pic below). Thats where I'd start my trouble shooting.

After staring at that for a minute, I'd break out my Googler and do a search on replacing the motor. Click on videos, and ta-da.

Then I'd utilize my previously inserted search parameters (on the Googler) to come up with a price for replacement. https://www.walmart.com/ip/NEW-REAR...3853&wl11=online&wl12=167975529&wl13=&veh=sem
I'd never actualy use this link but the 1st two were eBay[emoji53].

After weighing the whole time/money thing I'd take my ass to the store and just replace the whole assembly.

Welcome to the "New PreOwned Car" world!

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[Prince_Polaris]

The clicking is most likely the motor. From your pics I would say that plug is connected directly to the wiper motor. The dealership most likely cleaned the wiper assembly and sent you on your way.

Heres what I would do.

At the bottom of page 4069, in the manual I posted in your other thread is "Pinpoint Test G" (pic below). Thats where I'd start my trouble shooting.

After staring at that for a minute, I'd break out my Googler and do a search on replacing the motor. Click on videos, and ta-da.

-snip-

Then I'd utilize my previously inserted search parameters (on the Googler) to come up with a price for replacement.

-snip-

I'd never actualy use this link but the 1st two were eBay[emoji53].

After weighing the whole time/money thing I'd take my ass to the store and just replace the whole assembly.

Welcome to the "New PreOwned Car" world!

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Oh lord, 100 bucks for a motor, that's quite a lot... I had an idea though, last night

When we bought the car, it came with a 60 day warranty, and since they're the ones who got this motor put in... (the old one burned out)... I called in, since grandma thought it was a good idea, and I asked them if they could fix it under warranty, because while I could fix it myself, I uh... well, if I can have them pay for a motor I'd much rather do that than pay for it myself.

For the pinpoint test, I think I might actually be able to do that. Would one of these work? I have one here somewhere in my room, I think...

 

[lvcjt702]

That multimeter will work just fine.

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[1955moose]

Problem is if you tell them you diagnosed problem, and tore into door, they'll probably deny your warranty. Best bet put door back together, go to them with problem, let their mechanic diagnose and fix it under their warranty. Shops won't touch anything that customer tried to fix themselves, it voids warranty. If they ask play dumb, act like a customer.

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[Plati]

Warranty??? ... on a used old 2003 vehicle from a used car dealer? I bought a used 2014 EL w/34K from VISION Rochester in 2015. The warranty was the FORD warranty. Found it had no intermittent wiper function and FORD declined to fix it claiming the windshield had been replaced. VISION (scummy dealership) denied any responsibility. I had to pay $320 to fix. FORD warranty not impressing me, especially with that paint bubbling issue (which I also have).

 

[1955moose]

Prince had the dealer he bought his SUV from fix the rear wiper motor before he took delivery, so yes apparently their giving him 60 days. Might as well take advantage, he paid top dollar for this vehicle, I wouldn't monkey with anything their going to cover.

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[Prince_Polaris]

Problem is if you tell them you diagnosed problem, and tore into door, they'll probably deny your warranty. Best bet put door back together, go to them with problem, let their mechanic diagnose and fix it under their warranty. Shops won't touch anything that customer tried to fix themselves, it voids warranty. If they ask play dumb, act like a customer.

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Oooohh... good idea, tomorrow I take it in for them to hopefully fix the "LOW WIPER FLUID" that harasses me every time I start it (cause why not?) and then on monday the back wiper motor's gonna be fixed. Once those two are fixed, I'm all good

Warranty??? ... on a used old 2003 vehicle from a used car dealer? I bought a used 2014 EL w/34K from VISION Rochester in 2015. The warranty was the FORD warranty. Found it had no intermittent wiper function and FORD declined to fix it claiming the windshield had been replaced. VISION (scummy dealership) denied any responsibility. I had to pay $320 to fix. FORD warranty not impressing me, especially with that paint bubbling issue (which I also have).

Well, it's only a 60 day warranty, and the rear wiper motor has been a bit of a problem both before and after I got the car, so I figure that's why they're helping me with it, I'll probably deal with everything that comes after the warranty on my own.


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Small question, is it normal for the rear wheels to seem slightly tilted inwards to the naked eye, or am I just overthinking stuff again? Also, is it normal for there to be come... clunkey noises from the rear when I'm moving around in parking lots or the driveway, it's probably the transmission and everything doing its job, and after all, it's maryland inspected so if there were big problems they'd be fixed, but, well... me and my worrying

I mean, I learned to drive on a minivan, my explorer isn't even close to the expy, and my family's never owned a large SUV like this, so all of that could be completely normal and I just have no idea.

Here, have a picture of it so you guys can see what I mean with the rear wheels... if something does seem fishy, I was gonna ask the shop who's gonna work on the back wiper to also take a look under there since they'd probably be able to see if something was wrong, and being mechanics they'd probably notice any obvious problems that I don't know enough to detect...

 

[Prince_Polaris]

Prince had the dealer he bought his SUV from fix the rear wiper motor before he took delivery, so yes apparently their giving him 60 days. Might as well take advantage, he paid top dollar for this vehicle, I wouldn't monkey with anything their going to cover.

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Oof, you said it before I could! Also, I had a random thought, is it standard practice to sell used cars with brand new tires or nah? I say this because the expy has four brand new tires on it, which might be related to the price...

 

[Prince_Polaris]

Update: Not only was the dealer unable to fix the windsheild washer low fluid error, now they don't work at all! lol

So, on monday, I'm having the Rear wiper and the washers fixed, and hopefully they know where to find that elusive door code! I'm also thinking of asking them to perhaps take a glance at the rear wheels and fill my AC up, but if all it needs is some more coolent added, I can probably do that easily on my own, hmm...

(I say this because there's still hissing from the rear when ac is on)

 

[Prince_Polaris]

She's fixed! No more washer level sensor and the rear wiper works now! I have zero problems with this car, aside from the mirror switch being weird!

 

[1955moose]

As far as the rear wheel camber adjustments being off, bring it to a Midas repair shop, they do a free alignment check. If not them, find someone that checks alignment. If in fact the rear is bent and not adjustable, it goes back to the dealer you bought it from. Problem is they may say you did the damage! As far as your wonky mirror switch, spray some of your computer contact cleaner in there. For home electronics I like using deoxit spray, expensive but works great.

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[Prince_Polaris]

As far as the rear wheel camber adjustments being off, bring it to a Midas repair shop, they do a free alignment check. If not them, find someone that checks alignment. If in fact the rear is bent and not adjustable, it goes back to the dealer you bought it from. Problem is they may say you did the damage! As far as your wonky mirror switch, spray some of your computer contact cleaner in there. For home electronics I like using deoxit spray, expensive but works great.

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How can I take apart the mirror switch? it looks like just a single unit, and I feel like I'd break it trying to take it apart....

In terms of the wheels, they seem okay, but while my front AC is nice and cold, my rear AC seems to be.... not cold, though I don't know if something is wrong or if it just can't keep up with the 90+ degree weather we're having >_<