Sounds like you might have stripped the teeth from the motor where the wiper
arm is affixed.  To completely diagnose this problem, which is common in
very cold climates, you'll need to remove the wiper arm from the motor
mount.  It's probably a nut under the shorter side of the wiper arm that
needs to be removed although I'd have to see it to be sure.  Remove the arm
and see what's left.  If you have lost the teeth on the mount then you're at
least looking at removing the dash to get to the motor to replace the mount
or the whole motor depending.

HTH,

Matt Thyer
Ellensburg, WA
1983 Vanagon Diesel L 'Zeno'

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Robert Stewart
Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 9:26 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Left Passenger Wiper Failed after snow and ice build up, need some
feedback on how to fix this please.

So after a the first snowfall and freezing temperatures it appears I may
have damaged or broken my passenger wiper.

Need your input.

I removed the snow and ice from the front window but it may have left some
residual snow which may have melted and re-iced up around the passenger side
wiper. I noticed some moisture on the outside of the window when I went to
drive the van tonight and I turned on the wiper not realizing it was
actually frozen water droplets. But it was too late.

Well the wiper went on and only the drivers side moved, I thought I heard a
pop or something out of the norm and the passenger side wiper never even
moved. I looked at it later and I think something may be stripped.

I tried to move the arm to see if there was any play and there was, then I
tried to see if the drivers side had play and it had none. So is it possible
the inner part that is inside of the wiper arm that connects to the motor is
now stripped?  How would I fix this?

Replace it or just put some plumbers tape on it?

Looking for some ideas and feedback.

Thanks,
Robert
NY