I have a 2006 Mazda 3. The dealership has taken me for a ride in the past, so I don’t trust them. When I start my car, the windshield wipers move up to the center of the windshield and stay there. If I turn the wipers on, they work, but when I shut them off, they stop in the middle of the windshield. Any ideas on what is causing this, and how I can fix it will be greatly appreciated!
If your still under warranty, you’ll need to return to a dealer. I believe the wiper module will need to be replaced. This should be covered by a bumper-to-bumper warranty. If you do not trust this one, go to another. Make a mini-vacation of it if you need to drive far.
Do they stop in the same position every time? If so, I suspect the wipers are out of sync with the factory setting for the parking position. This may be a simple job of resetting the parking position to down.
If they stop in different positions along the glass, then there is a problem with the ‘constant current’ feed to the wiper motor, or an internal problem with the motor gear box. The wiper module hasan electrical connector on it that has a ground, one wire for each speed on the switch, and a constant current wire. The intermittent wiper function actually uses the low speed setting and doesn’t require a separate wire. The constant current wire is the wire resposible to return the wipers to the parked position. If the current to any of the switched wires is turned off, there are contacts on the gear that send current from the constant current wire to the motor, and disconnect when the wipers are parked.
The ball joint on the end of the gear may have slipped out of sync, and this would cause your problem. Also if the contacts on the gear are damaged, the constant current wire is bad, or a connector problem preventing the current from getting around like it should. Most likely, a new wiper module altogether will fx this.