Wipers are changing the amount of sweep they move.
 

Hello everyone. My 2001 Honda Accord LX started doing something strange today. The windshield wipers are occasionally alternating from going too far in their range of motion to not moving quite enough. There is about a 4 inch change in the range of motion. When they go too far the driver's wiper hits the windshield trim. When they go too short they slam into what would normally be the resting position while off. I have never seen anything like this before. There are no unusual noises coming from the wiper motor except when the blades smack into the window trim or the resting area. Not sure if maybe the gears are starting to get loose and allow for a changing blade range of motion or maybe there is an electronic glitch that could possible be causing this. Thanks in advance for any and all help. Have a Great Day!

Is one or both wipers changing the travel distance?

Both wipers.

I will do more testing tomorrow. It seemed to be both wipers but it was raining on the way home so I was just using them intermittently.

Two possibilities for you to check...

The nut holding each wiper arm to its shaft is loose and the arm can move. Reposition the arms & check they are tight. (This is the easy fix)

The levers & linkages under the cowling have 1 or more bushings that are shot. Sometimes you can replace just the particular arm that has a bad bushing, but some people have found it's about the same cost as getting the entire assembly with all new bushings & rods.

Thank you for your input. I will do some more investigating this afternoon. I have a bad feeling it will need a new wiper transmission assembly considering the car is 18 years old and has 160k miles on it.

Changing the wiper transmission is pretty easy on these cars. The hard part is getting the plastic cowl piece off due to the one time use push pins. Once you've got the arms and plastic cowling off, then it's just a matter of removing the 3 screws at the motor, and the 1 nut on the motor itself. Then lift up, and pull the unit out the left side (the far end has a locating pin). Then reassemble it, cycle the motor twice and attach the cowling and arms. I replaced mine last summer with a unit from rock auto for about 60 bucks and an hour of time on my 99 Accord. I had checked into doing just the bushing first, but found for almost the same cost I could replace the entire unit. The main link bushing was wasted on mine. Note those bushings are plastic.

Thanks for your input. This car was purchased new by my Mom and I have since inherited it and plan to keep it forever. That being said I really prefer to use genuine Honda parts if possible. The best price I found for that genuine part so far is $243.45 including tax. I have a trusted shop not to far away that will get the Honda part (probably cheaper than I can get it!) and do the work for $323.00 out the door. That is $ 79.55 more than I would pay if I did it myself. I don't have the necessary metric tools either so that would be an additional cost. So for less than an $80 difference I am going to have it professionally fixed. Thanks to everyone that responded! Have a Great Day.