Wipers clashing returning to parked position

[jhol78]

We have a frustrating problem with the wipers on our 2016 Galaxy.  They work fine except when the autowipe has been active and the ignition stopped before the blades have fully parked.  When switching the ignition back on the blades immediately return to the parked position without coordinating with each other, they cross over and invariably one of them breaks their plastic clip at the arm and flies off.  It is getting expensive!!  The dealer says there's nothing they can see that's wrong.  Thinking this is electronic rather than mechanical I replaced the wiper stalk with sender unit but it still happens.

I can't find anyone with a similar problem in the threads.  Does anyone have any ideas what may be the cause?

Thanks!

[sootyblue]

On 3/16/2022 at 3:43 PM, jhol78 said:

We have a frustrating problem with the wipers on our 2016 Galaxy.  They work fine except when the autowipe has been active and the ignition stopped before the blades have fully parked.  When switching the ignition back on the blades immediately return to the parked position without coordinating with each other, they cross over and invariably one of them breaks their plastic clip at the arm and flies off.  It is getting expensive!!  The dealer says there's nothing they can see that's wrong.  Thinking this is electronic rather than mechanical I replaced the wiper stalk with sender unit but it still happens.

I can't find anyone with a similar problem in the threads.  Does anyone have any ideas what may be the cause?

Thanks!

The same thing happened to me today  it's happened twice in a month but today yes you guessed it the wiper blade snapped from the arm 2017 Galaxy only had the car a month not amused 

[TomsFocus]

Not a 'fix' but sounds like it could be avoided by just not switching the ignition off before the wipers park.

I always have waited until they park before switching off.  Seeing wipers half way up a screen on a parked car always irritated me.  Almost as much as a single tyre bulging where it's been left half on the kerb.

 

[Paulkp]

For us old members that may have learnt to drive on a car with a dynamo, I was taught to turn everything electrical off before turning off the ignition - getting as much as possible into the battery.  I still think that is a good idea.

This may even been on a car with vacuum operated wipers.......

55 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Seeing wipers half way up a screen on a parked car always irritated me. 

and rear wipers flapping on a dry day.....

[Sanddancer]

Hi I'm have the same problem, only had this car 2weeks already replaced 2 wipers, the wipers sort of shudder in parked position then snap, it's always been the passenger side that snaps so frustrating 😭

[Sanddancer]

Ok not seen any fix for this so Ive tried something today but not sure if it will be successful because it's been a random fault for me however not switching the wipers off before the ignition might have been what I did.

So today after looking around YouTube I saw a video of an American 4x4 car that needed the wiper arms resyncing so I thought I would give this a go you never know.

 

Took both arms off, put the wipers through a full cycle without the arms on, let them park and put the wipers back on which looked like they were in the correct place with plenty of space between the two, I have lifted the bottom one up because it was resting on the plastic trim at the bottom of the screen, lifted the top one slightly as well they basically both look like they are parking horizontal with an even gap.

 

Not sure if this is a fix but it's what I have done, just trying to work it out so easy fixes first. I will also turn them off before shutting down the engine. 

Anyhoo see what happens 

[unofix]

Is one of those Wiper Blades not fitted the wrong way round ?

Should the leading edge of both blades not be facing the same way? Otherwise one blade will be clearing water on the up stroke and the other on the down stroke which will affect the loading and hence fractionally the speed at which the individual blades move.

If the blades can only be fitted one way round, then it maybe the case that you have two left (or two right) blades. Or perhaps Ford intended one to face forward and the other backwards.

 

[Sanddancer]

The blades came in the same box (as a pair) so defobthe right ones, I can check and see if it goes on the other way round but my mate has the same vehicle, we bought them at the same place, ex MOD he hasn't had the problem I've had.

 

I will defi see if it fits the other way though.

[Sanddancer]

Ok an updt, I've been using the beast and travelled in the rain all day on Thursday and can say I've had no problems although I am making sure I switch off the wipers before I shut the engine down.

[Sanddancer]

Not galaxy related but I have never had to reset windscreen wipers in my life until I bought a Galaxy now today I had to do the same with the daughters Hyundai i10.

I'm coming to the conclusion that modern cars are crap 😉

[unofix]

4 hours ago, Sanddancer said:

I'm coming to the conclusion that modern cars are crap 😉

We came to that conclusion a few years ago 🤣

[Sanddancer]

😆not just me then