Have a 2002 XLT and the rear wiper action has been slowly deteriorating. It now takes about 30 seconds for it to cycle once.

Anybody else have this issue? What was the fix?

 

My wife's 2002 XLT had the same problem. But it also had problems with the timing chain tensioners that were going bad and causing extra wear in the engine. This was determined through used oil analysis. The rear wiper motor looked easy enough to repair. I checked out Rockauto.com and reman rear wiper units were around $68 I believe. New ones were a lot more expensive. However it looked like it was easy to get to the rear wiper motor. We ended up trading in her 2002 V-6 Explorer for a 2005 Eddie Bauer V-8 Explorer at the Ford Family Pricing Plan rather that pay the $2000++ timing chain tensioner repair cost with the same parts that failed in the first place and will most likely fail again. Another poor design that Ford will not own up to because it will cost them a fortune to fix. Anybody that has a 4.0L V-6 has a potential expensive problem if they don't monitor the internal engine condition. My metal wear was way elevated and the fact that plastic particles from the tensioner were floating around in the oil and could plug oil passages or worse jam and plug the oil pump was not comforting.

Good luck with your Explorer. Again the rear wiper motor replacement looks like a relatively "easy" project, at least according to the Haynes manual.

Whimsey

 

If I remember correctly, the rear wiper has a few settings from OFF to INT to LOW to FULL ON. Are you sure it's not on INT and that's the reason for the delay?

Mike

 

Thanks Whimsey. I'll check out Rockauto.

mikephotos,

To clarify, it's not that there is a delay in it actuating, it is just a very slow sweep across the glass. No matter where the switch is.

Once in a while it will sweep normally, but in general it takes the 30 seconds as I mentiioned.

Thanks again.

 

Ah, i see. That certainly does seem to be a problem that might be motor related. Mine works fine so I'm of no help ...sorry!

Mike

 

I've Got An 02 And It Does The Same.

 

Was there ever a fix found to this problem?

I have the same problem, but I have my doubts as to it being a motor issue.
When it does that slow sweep across the glass, sometimes when you move it to "high" speed it will pick right up. Seems to me the motor would be getting the same 12 volts in either setting, so changing the speed shouldn't "fix" it if it were a motor issue.

I see this thread is 3 years old. Does anyone ever post a fix when they find it? Second time I've found that to be true here.