Rear Wiper Arm Issue - 2006 GMC Envoy

[GMTruckGuy74]

Hi all.

The past two months I've been having an issue with the rear wiper arm of my 2006 GMC Envoy. When it swipes, the arm will push out but not retract/spring back, so the first swipe it clears the rear hatch window but on the return swing it sticks out and looses contact with the glass. It then does not seat right into the wiper arm holder on the gate.

Is this a known problem?

[David]

Have a 2008 trailblazer which based on my research uses the same unit. Have not had this problem and I do not find a listing of known problems but I do find others that have had the unit wear out with some getting swipes in one direction only and other not at all.

Being that they use multiple suppliers for the same part, I wonder if one built it cheaper than another and as such you have units that all passed initial inspection and testing but over the long haul one last longer than another. I bet you can find a reasonable priced unit on one of the GM parts web sites and replace it yourself back to like new.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Thanks for the response, dfelt. It only started this past late January once the weekly snow storms started. Initially I thought maybe something happened with the spring inside; I'll gently push the arm back into the holder when it's off so the next time I use it I get one good swipe. It cleans the driver's side half of the rear window but leaves a big mess on the passenger side

[GMTruckGuy74]

Problem solved. A poster on another GM Truck forum suggested that I clean out the bending part of the wiper arm and spray it with a lubricant. I cleaned it and used my can of compressed air (keyboard cleaner) to dry it out. Then I sprayed it with my can of Liquid Wrench and that did the trick! The wiper arm now moves freely and wipes the entire window again. Simple fix to a simple issue

Edited March 30, 2014 by GMTruckGuy74