2002 Olds Silhouette van wipers won't go down
 

So I have my late father's 2002 Silhouette minivan (3400 V6. 63.000 mi) and the windshield wipers have stopped going down when they're turned off. Instead, they come to rest in a vertical position. I've tried turning them on and off multiple times and it's always the same thing. They always complete their cycle on a downstroke as usual, but instead of retreating to the bottom of the windshield, they 'spring to attention'. I'm getting ready to sell the van for my mom, so I want everything to work as well as possible. Any ideas how to fix this?

This happens to a lot of GM cars, not just vans, because it uses a "rotating" crank arm on the motor instead of a solid one.....
Underneath the arm is the bracket that holds the motor.....there is a "tab" that sticks straight up....over time, or if wipers are turned on while the windshield is snow packed or frozen, that rotating arm may bend the tab enough, so that it no longer makes contact with the rotating contact arm....when that happens, the "catch" on the bottom of the rotating crank does not hit the tab when you shut the wipers off, leaving the wipers up.....that tab has to be bent upward again....easy once you know how to do it....

Thanks for the explanation. I haven't had time to investigate it yet but will once the semester ends and my students begin going through their 'five stages of grief' over their grades. I don't know whether it matters but I forgot to mention the Silhouette has those oddball wipers that that are mounted at opposite corners of the windshield, swipe away from each other on the upstroke and meet in the middle on the downstroke instead of moving in tandem to the left on the upstroke and to the right on the downstroke.

I found a picture of the mount.....where the finger is pointing, is the moveable catch on the underside of the rotating crank arm.....when you turn the wiper to off, the catch hits the tab, and this causes the rotating crank arm to change it's position, allowing the wipers to park.....

When that tab on the mount is bent backwards, the catch can't reach it, and thus the wipers don't park....
So that metal piece to the right of the finger has to be bent straight up to 90 degrees...
http://www.fixya.com/uploads/images/9A7B0AF.jpg

Thanks! A visual reference is a huge help.

Well, the wipers ended up healing themselves. I drove it in the rain today with the wipers in delay mode and I noticed they were coming to rest in the 'down' position so I turned the wipers off and they went down, just like they're supposed to and have worked correctly ever since. Hopefully that's problem solved.

It might be that the tab that is supposed to catch it is almost bent too far away. If so, at least you'll know where to look if it starts happening again.

It's quite possible the tab on the mount is slightly bent, and sometimes the catch will make contact and sometimes it won't.......

I sold the van today so it happens again, it's somebody else's problem now.

And you didn't tell him? For SHAME!

Well, you sold it before the lower intake or head gaskets, water pump, seal on rear wheel drive, hole in condenser, rear knuckle deteriorated, brake lines rotted, harness pass through corroded(fuel pump/ABS), etc......