Stuck-up wipers on a 2001 Saturn L200

Howdy! I have a 2001 Saturn L200, in great condition—other than that the wipers are in the upright position, like goalposts. They work fine, turn on and off perfectly, but they always return to the “up” position on the windshield. As far as I can tell the rest of the electronics (i.e., lights, signals, etc) still work fine. A couple months ago the wiper blades started to slowly inch their way up, stopping at increasingly higher positions until they finally stopped where they’re at now. A mechanic I talked to said that the wiper switch is burnt out and it would require ripping out the dash to replace the wiper motor, while a friend of mine thinks resetting the switch is all that’s needed.

Any ideas?

Not sure how Saturns are in that regard but very often the arm sits on top of a splined shaft.
It could be that the splines have worn out so the arm is allowed to move and it shifted to where it is now.
Look for a cover right where the arm meets the shaft. You can usually pop that cover off the arm, giving you access to a bolt or machine screw. Loosen the bot and pull the arm off. Reposition it and tighten the bolt, replace that cover and you’re done.

The wipers are controlled by the wiper control module which not only controls the wiper speeds, but it also opens a switch in the wiper motor so the wipers park in the proper position. So either the module is failing to open switch in the wiper motor at the proper time, or the park switch in the wiper motor is malfunctioning.

Tester

@tester, if that limit switch was bad, wouldn’t it park itself in a different position every time?

Nope! The parking switch rides on a plastic cam. When the switch is denergized by the module it rides on the cam until it rotates to an opening on the cam where the switch opens and the wipers park. So the plastic cam could be breaking off a little at a time and that’s why the wipers started parking higher and higher on the windshield.

Tester

Ah, gotcha.
I’ve never had to replace a wiper motor. I’ve had them move on me but was able to reposition them.

Sounds like that’s an entire assembly so the OP likely has to replace it, then.

If the switch were bad the wipers would not work. Sounds as if the wiper motor needs replacing. There is an electric board in the motor that went south.

This Saturn doesn’t have a pulse board on the wiper motor. I looked that up.

The wipers are controlled via the wiper module and the park switch in the wiper motor.

Tester