so my rear wipers in my 97 are a little retarded. the fluid comes out fine, but when i push the button to use them, they dont move. ive gone behind the car and "assisted" them by pushing them along while a friend pushed the button in the car, and they started to work a little bit. however, i just cant get them to work when im not back there! its a problem because the back window gets so dirty, especially after the colorado snow, that i find myself stopping at gas stations to clean it of so i can see out of it. i was just curious if anyone else has had this problem with their wipers and knew what i might do to fix it, hopefully without replacing the whole unit. thx

 

I had the same issue at one point and it was caused by a bent wiper arm. Don't know how the arm got bent, but what was happening is that the wiper would get caught under the lower lip of the rear glass. I could hear it move a bit, but it wouldn't get up to the window. Bend the arm out slightly and it would work great. Its a balancing act though. Bend the arm too much and you won't get all that great of pressure on the blade. If this happens, you'll have to experiment with how much you bend it, either that or get a new spring.

Give that a try and see how it goes. I do think that you can adjust the glass to seal tighter as well, but I haven't looked into mine all that much.