My 96 SSE'* wipers stopped working recently. When I turn them on I can hear the motor working but the wipers won't budge, also they can easily be moved by hand back and forth so I'm assuming the track came apart somewhere. I wanted to take a closer gander at it but sadly I had no idea how to get to it - I'm used to old cars (83 Jetta TDI) with nut-and-bolt wipers. Does anyone have details instructions or any sort of help for me?
1 - how to take off the wipers
2 - where to begin taking off all the plastic garbage guarding the track and such

Thanks

The wipers are fairly easy to remove. You'll need the hood up, then looking at the wiper where it attaches to the car..there'* a little tab on the side. LIft up on the wiper arm and then gently pull the tab outward. It should move pretty easy when the arm is up. Then..wiggle the arm and it comes right off.

As for the rest.. mmm it'll probably be easy to spot once there..I haven't dug that deep.

If they are anything like my 97 Grand Prix (which they probably are) and the splines on the drive axles that the wiper arms attach to are not stripped (probably not) I say its most likely going to be the shear pin on the drive cam attached to the wiper motor. Its there to shear off when the wipers are too obstructed, avoiding damage to the motor and other components. I actually fabricated another pin or found an equivilent at the shop I was working at, at the time.

BUT... make sure you make a note on how the cam is attached in relation to the motor and wiper arms at park.

Before disassembling, make sure the motor has gone to park (turning the switch on then off before disconnecting the battery to work... if thats what you do). Then when everything is uncovered move the wipers to park and be sure that the two plates of the cam are aligned at the shear pin. Make sure the cam and arms go back together in this same fashion or else you'll have really weird wipers. When I reassembled mine I must have been 180 deg out or something. And like a moron I totally reassambled everything (was in a rush) before testing them. I ended up with wipers that parked correctly, but they cycled 4" too short and stopped in the middle of the windshield between each cycle lol.

Well now you are prepared for a shear pin failure

(When I say cam, don't think camshaft. Its merely two plates sandwiched and fastened by a shear pin, with a center pivot and an eccentric pivot, the shape of a camshaft lobe profile )

to see the portion that moves both wipers, you need to just remove the black cown cover. There are a series of screws for it and then it slides up. I believe you need the wiper arms off to get it completely out. After that, you should be able to see where the arms attach to the motor on the driver'* side. Check there for a disconnect. Might be as simple as the nut that held it on came off.