2018 Honda Fit Sport Rear Wiper Issues
 

Hey folks!

I have a 2018 Honda Fit Sport. I currently live in a state that has winter. I was using the front wipes to brush light snow off my windshield and my rear wiper tried to go (sometimes it does that every so often with the front ones) but it was frozen, so instead it just broke. The motor, from what I can tell, is not the broken part. If I press the button, it will still try to move and I can hear it trying, it's just that the arm won't come up and hangs a bit below my rear window now.

I thought maybe a fuse had blown, so I went to check the fuse box. When I opened it, I found that the car only has one "wiper" fuse (not one for front and one for rear) and there wasn't actually a fuse in that slot. This was very confusing to me.

I'd really like to avoid the hundreds of dollars bringing it into the dealership because it doesn't seem like it would be all that complicated to fix. Any suggestions for how to proceed? Thank you!

You probably sheared or stripped the spindle to which the arm is attached. Or broke the plastic gearing in the motor.

I'll refrain from the lecture on frozen wipers since you obviously learned your lesson, lol.

You should be able to fix this yourself. You just need to find out what part of broken. Search the forum for the "JDM wiper mod" and you'll get an idea how to pull it apart to diagnose. It should be easy.

Thanks for the info. I'll check that out. The worst part is that I didn't even manually operate the wiper (I'm not that dumb!). It went by itself when I was using the front wipers.

It'll do that if you put the car in reverse and the front wipers are on. Perhaps that's what happened?

It's 2018, should be under warranty, unless you have already passed 36K miles.

To correct your statement of only fuse for the front and rear wipers, it depends on your model. There are both front and rear wiper fuses. They may not all be there.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...e6172bcbf3.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...ce3a2114c1.jpg

It's kind of a dual edged feature. BUT...
Yeah, my 2016 will automatically turn the rear wipers on for a few swipes, IF I'm backing up and have the front wipers on.
That can be nice....but also I can see where on a real bad day if the wiper was frozen to the glass it could be bad. Winters are relatively mild where I live, and on those few days where Ice and Snow are that big of an issue, usually the vehicle either remains parked OR I spend considerable time thawing it out...including the back glass and wiper.
But if anything it's a good cautionary tale,

As far as the OP's damage?
I think the OP just needs to let it warm up a bit, then take a close look. The fact that you can hear the motor, and it's still trying to work is a good thing. The fact that it's not working is a bad thing.

Also? Just a question to the general forum...and this thread.
But would this be covered under any new car warranty? Especially if it was deemed that the damage was simply an act of god? I somehow think Honda would deny it as a warranty claim. But I suppose you have nothing to lose in asking.

Had this happen to me yesterday during a ice storm... Pulled the rear cover off, removed the 10mm nut, pulled the wiper arm off and out came a bunch of metal shavings. So i cleaned it up, put some green Loctite on it and snugged it back up the recommended nm. Hopefully the loctite has enough surface area to bite in to.

The whole "rear wipers come on when reversing with front wipers on" kinda freaked me out the first time it happened.....guess I didn't read EVERY page in the owner's manual :)

One strategy we employ in cold / ice / snow: If you know precip is coming, put up all your wiper arms, and don't put them back down again until after the storm is over.

This does a few things. It prevents your wiper blades from adhering to the glass. It makes it easier to remove ice and snow from the glass because you don't have to free the wiper first. And it prevents the wiper motors from being damaged because they're not trying to free something frozen.

I doubt that it's covered under warranty because the dealer will blame you. Remove the wiper arm itself and see if the splines on the motor are broken/stripped. If they are, you'll need a new motor ($$). Maybe it's just the splines in the arm that are damaged. If you must replace the motor, you can do it yourself, or with the help of a friend.

You can remove the interior panel over the rear hatch by prying it off. I had to do that to replace the rear view camera. Using a set of special tools will help. Once you get that off, a 10mm socket will let you remove the wiper motor. Disconnect the wiring plug first, of course. There will be a tab to press on/squeeze to remove it.
https://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb...l+prying+tools

Check your library to see if they subscribe to Chilton's manuals. Ours used to. You can look up wiper motor removal. If the library doesn't have it, you can pay $25 for access for a month.
DIY Auto Repair Manuals, Service Manuals Online - ChiltonDIY