While driving in a rain storm on a 2 way highway at 50 MPH windshield wipers suddenly quit working. This resulted in the driver not being able to see. Consumer had to drive at 5 MPH, and use the yellow medium line to guide him until he got to a turn off. Dealership indicated that the circuit board was bad, and needed to be replaced.
Oldsmobile 88 wipers problems
14 of the 800 owner complaints about the Oldsmobile 88 describe windshield wiper failure, most of them for the 1997 model year.
- owner complaints
- 14
- worst model year
- 1997
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
By model year
- 19991
- 19981
- 19975
- 19962
- 19952
- 19942
- 19931
Often reported together
What owners say
This is in reference to the gm recall about the failure of brakes, power steering, wipers. I have a 1995 olds 88 royale. Back in november my wife was turning left into a driveway to turn around and her power steering quit completely. I e-mailed oldsmobile about the problem after I read about the recall. They sent me back a e-mail and said they were not going to do anything about it because the VIN and model year didn't fall under the recall. They told me to go to a local dealer if I felt that there were any concerns about our vehicle. The car is sitting in our garage right this very minute without any power steering. Is there anything you can do to help me with this situation? If so I would greatly appreciate your time and effort in this matter.
While merging into interstate rush hour traffic with no warning engine failed causing lost of braking and steering effectiveness. No warning was received. Vehicle was towed to dealer and upper intake was found cracked allowing coolant to enter combustion chamber. One week and $800.00 later car was "repaired" vehicle continues to experience fuel delivery problems. Hard starting, random stalling. Dealer advised me this is a common problem with the 3800 series ii engine regardless of mileage or type of use and maintenance. Considering the sudden lost of all power this is very dangerous as braking and steering effectiveness is reduced as is electrical power for accessories such as headlamps and windshield wipers.
When the windshield washer is activated, the wipers sometimes fail to come on and the washer fluid continues to spray on the windshield, obscuring vision . Frantic manipulation of the control results in a return to normal operation. A serious accident could result from this failure.
While driving on highway 60mph driver's windshield wiper do clean the windshield, but it appears as if they will fly off. Contacted the dealer, and dealer replaced the arm and blade, but the are worse than ever.
Driver side windshield wiper blade chatters causing failure which results in poor visibility. Dealer cannot find the problem. Replaced the arm and blade from a stock car. Problem has become worst.
Windshield wiper/washer-do not function properly unless wiper switch is turned to 'high' and then down to the interval I need. I had to pull off the highway at 70mph when I turned the washers on and the wipers did not come on. Oldsmobile has refused to correct. Air conditioning-knob fell off in my hand this afternoon. I cannot select the defrost mode and it is cold and raining. Abs modulator valve was replaced by oldsmobile (I thought the federal safety agency would like to know). Air conditioning-evaporator was replaced at 38798 miles. Oldsmobile refused to reimburse because I had the work done at a nearby chevrolet dealer since smoke was pouring out of the vents and into the passenger compartment. Alternator died at 39196 miles and oldsmobile refused to reimburse me.
Windshield wiper failed. Yh
After wet weather the windshield wipers freeze to the windshield and when turn on the wipers break. Consumer told they were designed to do this.
During rainy weather & using the windshied wipers, the motor would be sluggish. Wipers would not clear rain from windshield. Would be moving slowly across windshield. Made visibility very poor. Taking vehicle to dealer.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Oldsmobile 88 wipers
Which Oldsmobile 88 years have windshield wiper failure problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1997 (5 complaints), 1994 (2 complaints) and 1995 (2 complaints).
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used Oldsmobile 88?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history