Today I was driving in the torrential downpours we are having right now and my wipers on the intermittent speed would go up to wipe, hang up a little at the top and go back down way too far hitting my hood and chipping the paint. When I would select the #1 speed on them, they would not wipe the entire arch and wouldn't go all the way down. On the fastest speed, it wouldn't be that much faster going down but going up it was crazy and would actually extend off the windshield a couple of times. lol.

I am searching right now but wanting to know if it's the linkage that I need to look at or just go ahead and pop the wiper switch out and open it up and fix it when I find some links on fixing them and what processes to do.

I really hate posting easy things like this but we are under a flash flood warning and it's raining so hard I can barely see my car from my window. lol.

I guess I got too comfortable having all speeds work for so long... almost over 50k miles and perfect condition, working wipers! lol.

Thanks for looking.

-Allen

 

I don't believe the switch could cause the behavior you describe.
It's probably the motor or linkage.

 

I PMed him... I agree that it doesn't appear to be electrical but more mechanical.

 

Well... I went outside and moved the wipers w/ my hands but was met w/ resistance. They did move if I forced them and both at the same time. There was some play. About 2" but idk. It's supposed to be dry tomorrow and I'm going to take the plate off and inspect the rods and connection joints.

 

Finally had some nice weather today to get out and check everything. Took the wipers off, grill and view plates (Thank God S4's have one above the motor) and inspected everything.

The center pivot was where the problem was. I've had the rods simply pop off and everything be fine but this was the rod that ran from the wiper motor to the center pivot. The plastic lock cap had lost it's locking ring and could not stay in the rod connecting the motor to the center pivot. There was play and that was the cause of not wiping entirely across the arch and over extending.

 

Glad you found the problem... That part should be cheap from the dealer. You might want to look into replacing all the little plastic ball joints in there, as the plastic is now well over 20 years old and may just disintegrate...

Look up Malloy Mazda, it's a dealership here in VA. The parts dept. Manager, Mr. Ray Crowe is awesome at finding those parts and gives great prices to RX-7 owners and club members. He's also a friendly guy and great to deal with.

 

I ALWAYS deal w/ Ray! He is amazing! I always look forward to those Woodbridge, VA Malloy Mazda boxes arriving on my SC doorstep! haha. I could always go to my local Mazda dealer but they have no idea. With Ray I can head in the general direction and he has it down pat telling me the part is already being packed up and shipped! +1 for a great guy!