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Ice Storm & Car Trouble

January 30th, 2009 at 02:58 am

Yesterday the snow & ice hit. By the time I was heading to work (7:30), it was coming down as sleet. Roads were slick & it was a rough drive. Then 3/4 of the way to work, my driver-side windshield wiper just QUIT working. In the middle of an intersection, with sleet coming down and dirty slush flying up from other cars' tires.

So I couldn't see out the windshield. There was nowhere to pull over and the passenger side wiper still worked, so I leaned into the middle of the car & drove that way. Literally, there was nowhere to pull over because there were a few accidents on the side of the road.

I made it all the way to work safely. Thank goodness! My dad came out in the afternoon and confirmed my diagnosis... the wiper motor was broken. So then I left work early (using 1/2 vacation day) to drop the car off at the repair place. By this point it was just drizzling, so it made sense to drive the car then. No way I could have driven that car much further in steadier rain.

$88.00 later and the motor and both wiper blades were replaced. Just in time, cause it was steady pouring at that point. I have to say I feel REALLY lucky that I didn't get into an accident!

7 Responses to “Ice Storm & Car Trouble”

  1. Lady T Says:
    1233286410

    The same thing happened to me once, in a hard rain, and I was on the inside lane of a freeway! Luckily everyone wasn't going 55 mph ... since it was rush hour, there was a lot of stop-and-go traffic. Still, it was difficult to see well enough to get OFF the freeway and into a parking lot. It was SCARY!! I am glad you didn't have an accident ... AND, it seems like you paid a very reasonable price for your repairs!!

  2. Amber Says:
    1233294449

    Glad you made it ok, I just replaced my blades which cost me $24 but I'd rather be safe than sorry

  3. Koppur Says:
    1233333477

    Glad you are safe!!

  4. boomeyers Says:
    1233335257

    How scary!! Glad it was fixed without too much of a hit to the pocketbook!

  5. dmontngrey Says:
    1233336375

    That's scary! Glad it all worked out ok.

    The wiper mechanism on my old car had a habit of sliding off the motor, so I've certainly been in a similar situation. No fun.

  6. frugaltexan75 Says:
    1233353811

    How old was your wiper motor? That sure would be scary to have your wipers stop working in the middle of a storm!

  7. HouseHopeful Says:
    1233459785

    The wiper motor has to be factory original - so about 8 years old. Technically it was the transmission in the wiper motor that was the problem. Who knew a wiper had a transmission?

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