Rear Wiper Change
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Here's some information that you can use at your own discretion. Not responsible for any damage you may cause to your MDX etc.
This weekend, while cleaning my car I found a piece of plastic under the floor mat. it turns out that it is the piece of plastic that fits over the pivot of the rear wiper.
Further inspection indicated that if I pulled outward on both sides, the piece can be removed. Replacing it is just as easy, position it and snap it back on.
When I removed the plastic cover, I notice that the spring that holds the wiper against the window is hooked to a hole in the arm.
Even with the plastic piece on, it looks like you can stretch the spring so that the hook clears the hole using either a small screw driver or a long nose plier. Maybe if you use a plastic card, such as a credit card, you can unhook the spring.
I didn't actually try removing the spring since I didn't want to scrape off the black paint on the spring. Once the spring is no longer in tension, you should be able to pull the arm away from the rear window to change the wiper blade.
This weekend, while cleaning my car I found a piece of plastic under the floor mat. it turns out that it is the piece of plastic that fits over the pivot of the rear wiper.
Further inspection indicated that if I pulled outward on both sides, the piece can be removed. Replacing it is just as easy, position it and snap it back on.
When I removed the plastic cover, I notice that the spring that holds the wiper against the window is hooked to a hole in the arm.
Even with the plastic piece on, it looks like you can stretch the spring so that the hook clears the hole using either a small screw driver or a long nose plier. Maybe if you use a plastic card, such as a credit card, you can unhook the spring.
I didn't actually try removing the spring since I didn't want to scrape off the black paint on the spring. Once the spring is no longer in tension, you should be able to pull the arm away from the rear window to change the wiper blade.
Ok, I just went thru this and have this to report. All the rain we've been having in the Bay Area and the constant chattering from the worn rear blade were driving me crazy.
The plastic trim piece that covers the rear wiper pivot indeed comes off by simply spreading the sides apart and will go back on by simply snapping it in place. However, I did NOT pry on or otherwise remove the spring. There is quite a bit of tension there and I would guess it's impossible to put the spring back on once it's off. The way I did it was to simply unscrew the nut holding the arm to the pivot. It's secured by a 10 mm nut. Back it off and then turn the arm clockwise a 1/4 turn and it comes right off.
The bad news. The actual wiper blade that has the 6 attachment points to the rubber refill is not replaceable without replacing the whole arm. If you examine the backside of the arm under light, you will see it says "Do not remove. See owners manual." Right. The owners manual is silent about all this. It only covers changing the front blades.
So, about all you can do is change out the wiper refill along with the steel spines. Just do that as you would changing the refills on the front by squeezing the splines together and pulling off the old one, and sliding the new one on, making sure you get all six attachment points right and clicking the last part in place. The "locking" side goes closest to the pivot end.
Place the arm in the 6 o'clock position on the pivot, rotate it 1/4 turn counterclockwise to its usual rest position, and then secure it with the 10mm nut. Do not overtighten the nut. It's just brass so it's pretty soft. Probably designed that way so it can hold with just tension and no lock washer or locking compound.
That's it. It's such trouble that next time, I'm using a teflon or PIAA silicone refill to hopefully get more life out of it. Too bad it doesn't come standard with an intermittent feature. (As between only intermittent and only full "on," I'd prefer intermittent. You don't need to wipe as often in the back. Of course, you should have both. I don't know why Acura didn't design it that way.)
The plastic trim piece that covers the rear wiper pivot indeed comes off by simply spreading the sides apart and will go back on by simply snapping it in place. However, I did NOT pry on or otherwise remove the spring. There is quite a bit of tension there and I would guess it's impossible to put the spring back on once it's off. The way I did it was to simply unscrew the nut holding the arm to the pivot. It's secured by a 10 mm nut. Back it off and then turn the arm clockwise a 1/4 turn and it comes right off.
The bad news. The actual wiper blade that has the 6 attachment points to the rubber refill is not replaceable without replacing the whole arm. If you examine the backside of the arm under light, you will see it says "Do not remove. See owners manual." Right. The owners manual is silent about all this. It only covers changing the front blades.
So, about all you can do is change out the wiper refill along with the steel spines. Just do that as you would changing the refills on the front by squeezing the splines together and pulling off the old one, and sliding the new one on, making sure you get all six attachment points right and clicking the last part in place. The "locking" side goes closest to the pivot end.
Place the arm in the 6 o'clock position on the pivot, rotate it 1/4 turn counterclockwise to its usual rest position, and then secure it with the 10mm nut. Do not overtighten the nut. It's just brass so it's pretty soft. Probably designed that way so it can hold with just tension and no lock washer or locking compound.
That's it. It's such trouble that next time, I'm using a teflon or PIAA silicone refill to hopefully get more life out of it. Too bad it doesn't come standard with an intermittent feature. (As between only intermittent and only full "on," I'd prefer intermittent. You don't need to wipe as often in the back. Of course, you should have both. I don't know why Acura didn't design it that way.)
thanks
Thank you very much, need4spd...nice to have a report from someone else taking their vehicle apart first...
I ended up just replacing the rubber blade refill, because I also tried removing the plastic piece and found the spring was WAY too stiff to attempt removing and replacing, especially given the limited access to it.
I agree with your assessment of using a PTFE or silicone refill to go for long life. Problem is that the specialty blades are hard to find as only refills...I couldn't even find a Bosch microedge as only a refill. I was going on a long trip and was in a hurry, so went for the regular old rubber blade. I would suggest trying to find a TripleEdge brand, as that is the blade I have had the most success with on front wipers. It is made of silicone rubber, which is flexible down to like -60F. I've seen the refills of that type of wiper at AutoZone. It also builds up a silicone barrier on the glass over time which acts alot like RainX. I recently tried some teflon blades on front, and they are OK, but don't seem to be as good when it gets really cold outside (I'm in Michigan). Also, use the RainX brand washer fluid, which also helps rain water bead on the glass. With all that, you may never even have to use the wiper after a while, which would be sweet with the lack of intermittent you mentioned.
Good luck and thanks again, because I was starting to think of taking that brass nut off, too!
Thank you very much, need4spd...nice to have a report from someone else taking their vehicle apart first...
I ended up just replacing the rubber blade refill, because I also tried removing the plastic piece and found the spring was WAY too stiff to attempt removing and replacing, especially given the limited access to it.
I agree with your assessment of using a PTFE or silicone refill to go for long life. Problem is that the specialty blades are hard to find as only refills...I couldn't even find a Bosch microedge as only a refill. I was going on a long trip and was in a hurry, so went for the regular old rubber blade. I would suggest trying to find a TripleEdge brand, as that is the blade I have had the most success with on front wipers. It is made of silicone rubber, which is flexible down to like -60F. I've seen the refills of that type of wiper at AutoZone. It also builds up a silicone barrier on the glass over time which acts alot like RainX. I recently tried some teflon blades on front, and they are OK, but don't seem to be as good when it gets really cold outside (I'm in Michigan). Also, use the RainX brand washer fluid, which also helps rain water bead on the glass. With all that, you may never even have to use the wiper after a while, which would be sweet with the lack of intermittent you mentioned.
Good luck and thanks again, because I was starting to think of taking that brass nut off, too!
Wow, I didn't realize how hard it would be to remove the spring.
One of my friends with a 2001 also suggested that the nut can be removed once you take off the cover but I've never tried it since it doesn't really rain much down here.
The 2002 does have the intermittent wiper and the amazing thing is that both front and back seem to be speed sensitive. When you slow down/stop, the intermittent wiper also slows down. At first I was trying to figure out how to adjust the speed for the rear wiper and decided that it was tied to the front wiper speed control. I'll have to test this out some more the next time it rains.
One of my friends with a 2001 also suggested that the nut can be removed once you take off the cover but I've never tried it since it doesn't really rain much down here.
The 2002 does have the intermittent wiper and the amazing thing is that both front and back seem to be speed sensitive. When you slow down/stop, the intermittent wiper also slows down. At first I was trying to figure out how to adjust the speed for the rear wiper and decided that it was tied to the front wiper speed control. I'll have to test this out some more the next time it rains.
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