Rear Wiper Unit Pooched

[bouleric]

Hey all, Thought I'd give a heads up that my rear wiper unit failed yesterday. Driving along, hit the wiper, it stopped half way or so. Thought nothing of it until my wife asked where the burning smell was coming from. Smelled just like truck/bus brakes and I told her I thought that was the source. When I dropped her off, I went to the back, put my hand over the motor cover, and WOW! It was burning up, so I popped the cover and unplugged the motor to prevent a fire. The split loom and electrical tape were even beginning to melt where they make contact with the motor body. Removed the assembly last night, and found that the wiper shaft is all but completely siezed (doesn't appear to be fixable), so the poor little motor was just working it's heart out, trying to get itself back to it's "resting" position. The shaft was quite corroded (lots of crap trapped under that little rubber cover), so don't be afraid to take it apart and clean it. FYI, the thin black nut which holds the wiper shaft and window handle to the window is a reverse thread. So are the external black 'buttons' that mount the entire assembly to the glass of the car, should yours need removal/painting due to peeling and general ugliness like mine do.The bad news - dealer wants $211.70 CDN for the assembly, before tax. But fortunately (?) found one for about half price at a locat auto wrecker. I'll go inspect it this afternoon, and hopefully I'll have a suitable replacement to button it up this evening.FYI, while in there, also noticed one helluva patch of rust starting just underneath, and creeping past the weather strip for the back window along the bottom sill. Colour me unimpressed... More work, but shouldn't be too bad to fix. Check yours!Cheers, Marc

[scherry2]

another person on this site had the same problem it seems the output shaft on his was all seized up from road salt."I replaced it with a new one and found the shaft on the old one to be the victim of road salt. The shaft was rusted and froze so tight I could hardly turn it with Vise Grips."

[ToolGuy]

The hatch rust under the weather stripping is a known issue but does not effect all 2003's. My car is OK...

[Vibe_dude]

i think i was about to have the same prob with my 2003...it was sqeekin so bad it was driving me nuts.......so i just clean it out what i could see....then sprayed a lot of penetrating oil to lube it up.......works and sounds great now........but it is something to keep after.

[zionzr2]

I thought there was a TSB or something out for the hatch weather stripping and rust....

[ToolGuy]

Yes there is, just got it and I have it in front of me! 2003-2006's...Need a copy?

[Vibe_dude]

we could all use a copy...........put it up so we can see it....plz.thanks.

[jasonvibe]

where is this potential rust? Where the molding of the hatch that meets the body? Or the glass meets the hatch? There is no or limited clear coat on the hatch area....thus rust potential. Please clarify.

[melders]

yes i would like a copy...please...where did you find the tsb? do you know where i can find one for the roof seal leak or something???

[ColonelPanic]

Here is a thread on it, a couple pics from some of our old Vibes... http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=10384It looked to me like water collected and stuck around under the weather strip and in conjunction with some shoddy paint work on NUMMI's part, viola. That Vibe sure liked to hold water, a day after washing the poor thing, I'd still see water running out from some crevice somewhere.

[jasonvibe]

that's a pic of the door sill...as it is called. Not the hatch. Guess there's more than one place to watch for.

[ColonelPanic]

My pic was the hatch as I stated in the post... And I believe Mr. Rich's post was of the hatch too, that didn't look like the door sill to me. Sorry, just trying to help.