Rear wiper problem
 

Going through the list of items to replace/work on and I got to the rear wiper which has not been working since I got the car. I turn the wiper on and it goes over to the right and stops. I thought maybe my motor was not working and so I had the cover off and had my wife working the switch. The motor is fine, it just seems to lose the connection to the wiper arm when it goes over, and then doesn't bring it back. Have any of you seen this? I'm wondering if my hatch is not closed all the way or something that would cause this. Some sort of misalignment maybe, or tired springs in the mechanism? Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

does the drive arm stay connected when the motor is acuated?
is the arm bent on the hatch?
Is the shaft free to move up and down? it may need some oiling

The wiper stays connected for one half of the first pass, then it gets left just sitting there. The motor continues to rotate for a few times. I will try some oil and see if it just isn't coming up all the way. If I press down on the hatch lid it does stay connected, and goes back and forth.

So it seems you've answered your own question, yes? The hatch is not seating properly, thus the wiper transmission loses contact with the wiper.

Is your hatch receiver bad? The hatch mechanism itself? How about the rubber stoppers at the edges of the hatch?

If hatch height is ok, could be drive arm is bent.

I shall check those and report back. Thanks everyone.

the arm on the hatch side could also be bent,
and the shaft on the drive arm could be sticking and not free to move into the full up position

Hi guys, sort of resurrecting this thread.

I have similar issue but.....
I had a battery drain and finally troubleshot it to the rear hatch. The lid was not pushing the mechanism down far enough to shut off the power to the interior light system. I adjusted the latch to fix that and then the latch is so tight, my hatch won't pop when I pull the knob by the seat. Also, now my wiper only goes across and doesn't come back.
Is it possibly that the metal nub on the wiper arm is worn down? Not really much force on it but I suppose after 20 some years....

Not sure if I need to replace the wiper drive piece or the latch or both or?? Anyone ?