Poor Cold Weather Wiper Design ????

merdinus · March 4, 2014

Had our first 'ice" event last night. Rained all day, went to sleet and mid-teens. The trough between the hood and windshield traps water and ice and snow and becomes solid ice covering the wiper arms and blades. Anyone else had this issue? Would burn out a wiper motor quickly and it's a delicate job digging it out without damaging the arm.

VMaxtastic · March 4, 2014

A constant battle in the great white north. Nothing unusual about it. Whack the wipers on the windshield to knock off the ice, scrape excess ice away.

gtptyler · March 4, 2014

Its not really any worse of a design that was on previous models. The Silverado HD and the 06 1/2 silvy with the taller cowl hood catches more

Hootbro · March 4, 2014

That issue is any truck brand and freezing rain accumulation in that area.

The only thing I miss from my Tundra was the cold weather package on that truck had a windshield with a heating element on the lower portion where the wiper blades met, to help with wipers being unstuck until full heated defrost kicked in.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Hootbro

merdinus · March 5, 2014

Haven't had the time and the weather is just starting to clear but there must be a fix other than saran wrapping it. It's absolutely true that the defroster does not assist at the base of the windshield. In search of a fix....

TRC · January 25, 2019

Hey guys sorry to drag this antique out from its resting place, its all I have found in internet searches that describes my issue.

I'll start with I have a 2015 GMC 3500HD with the 6.0 gas engine and driving in the Northeast winters is now more inconvenient and dangerous then it

was with my past trucks.

The massive "ditch" between the windshield and end of the hood, deep in that ditch is where the wipers hide, far below the defrost vents on the dash.

The issue is that the water and slush running off the warm glass along with drifting snow off the hood gets trapped in here and freezes solid

with the defrost any less then maxed out (Cant hear anything in the cab and its way to hot like this)

This happens fast enough that when driving in snow or freezing rain the wipers freeze solid in the "ditch" in as little time as turning the wipers off for a

couple minutes (or turning down the defrost) or parking to get gas, or run into the store. its a major event to clear the frozen mass from the wiper arms

and blades.

For those of you who say every truck does this ill say, no, they don't I have a 2004/5 2500HD and prior to that a 2005 F150.

My company vehicle Is a 2012 GM3500, also in that fleet is a 2002 Chevy 2500, 2008 GMC 2500, and a 2011 GMC none of these have ever had this issue

to anywhere near this extent. I've tried different wiper blades different brand of washer fluid/deicer

Am I the only guy who has ever had to drive in the s***y weather with a 2015-2019 HD truck and had this issue?!?

Sorry for the lengthy ramble, just wanted to explain the issue as clearly as my simple little brain will allow,

Edited January 25, 2019 by TRC

Mozzer · January 26, 2019

Haven't had that issue while driving, agree the defrost is a poor design hitting the middle of the screen more than the rest but once defrosted I haven't had the freezing wipers issues you describe. That includes a couple of 500 km trips in -30 C from Calgary to Kelowna.

Sent from my Moto Z2 Play using Tapatalk

TRC · January 26, 2019

Do you find it necessary to keep the defrost on a relatively high setting?

I hate to be a pain it the a** but maybe ill try to take it to another dealer and see if there's any suggestions or upgrades that could be done, because its apparently not a known issue.

Ive worked in a dealership before, it might be more useful to contact GM regarding this potential safety hazard, seem that the manufactures are more worried about safety than

independent dealers are.

If i wanted to have icy wipers and a streaky frozen windshield id daily drive a s***box not a $45k truck.

Thanks for the reply, if anything comes of this ill be sure to update.

Mozzer · January 26, 2019

Once warmed up it does fine with a medium fan setting & split up/down setting (screen & feet) even at those cold temperatures.

Do you get good airflow through the screen vent when set to defrost? If you don't feel the flow moving around properly when changing settings maybe a flap is getting stuck.

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TRC · January 30, 2019

I just went checked how the flow actually feels out the defrost vents, it feels pretty even across the the openings and it does seem to be a decent flow.

The fan and air sure make it sound like its moving a lot, and the cabin does heat up and get hot with just defrost vents on.

As soon as I get a a little bit of free time Ill take it to another dealer and see what they have to say on the issue, maybe talk to a service manager to see if its ever been a

compliant before,

Thanks for the suggestion!

MrsChevy · February 6, 2022

Hey guys,

Well the saga continues..

My husband just received his 2022 Chevy Silverado with plow package and a $9000 plow set up. The “gully” under the blades is, as described above, filling with moisture and snow as we plow and he continually has to get out and bang off the wipers and chip the ice out of the gully. We have good air flow and temp level. Part of the problem for us seems to be that the stop for the wipers is just below the windshield. Only a tiny, tiny bit, but enough where the only thing we have found to fix it is to have the defrost on max and the wipers on at least maximum delay mode. Any slower or cooler and they freeze right up. As I’ve read above, annoyingly hot and loud!! Even if it’s not snowing we have to do this because the snow dust from plowing is enough to cause this problem!!

And.. we have had several plow trucks over the years, (including one Ford, SORRY) and we have never, not once, had this problem. I think maybe, let me know what you think, if the stop for the wipers was a little higher, it would help quite a bit. My husband said you have to watch for the stop at the top too and a few other things I don’t quite understand but he plans on exploring this via you tube and hands on experiments. Pretty bad when you waited 4+months for your truck because of the chip shortage and paid 10’s of thousands of dollars to have something like this happen on a PLOW truck!!
Chevy!! Come-on, help us with a fix!!

silveradosid · February 7, 2022

i put these on our trucks, it helps a lot https://crystalclearblades.com/products/automatic-heated-wiper-blade-system-1?year=2018&make=CHEVROLET&model=SILVERADO 1500

mark.byrne · December 15, 2022

I"m experiencing this issue right now with my new 2022 2500 sierra. Living in a cold weather climate (Labrador) the wiper are basically useless. As stated in a previous post the wipers will freeze in place in a matter of minutes. I appreciate the optiopn on spending $200+ on a heated wiper system but there has to be another option. No aftermarket wiper arms with a re-design to place the wiper a little higher on the windshield?