Things are going great with my new (to me) 00 RX300.

Now I am working on the rear wiper. It works barely, slows and stops mid sweep. If I "help it along" it will complete cycles. I resign myself to replacing the motor, but thought I would remove the arm first just to see what. I now have the arm off and when I actuate the wiper, it seems to have a lot of power but groans/squeaks with each cycle.

Any reason not to just grease the heck out of it and see how things sort themselves out? How do I access the motor?

 

The panels on the inside of the rear hatch pop off. Be prepared to replace a few of the plastic pop-off fasteners if you don't have the right touch.

I don't recall reading about this problem before, so I don't think it is common.

I would try lubing. Grease where appropriate, and oil where appropriate. Maybe you'll spot some obvious problem when the mechanism is exposed.

 

sounds like the motor is shot. Although one would not think that is the case,how often does the rear wiper get used? Maybe the previous owner/owner`s used to leave it on (weather it was raining enough) to have it on or not. I see that all the time around here. And with out enough water on the glass,it create`s a drag for the motor.

 

Hate to resurrect an old thread, but I pulled rear wiper motor out today and lubricated the shaft that drives the wiper arm. Had some corrosion on it and was as dry as a bone. I cleaned the corrosion off with some emery cloth and after getting it all lubricated and put back together, it works smoothly and very quietly.
Took a little over an hour...

 

Has anyone ever tried to replace the mess fabric with silver reflective material? Seems that would do a better job of keeping out the direct sun and limiting the heat and decomposing of the interior.