1997 BMW 740 wipers

The wiper arms may need to be reset on their splined shafts to get back to normal.

The motor parks the wipers by reversing a half turn from the idle position. While the motor is making the half turn backwards, the spring loaded pawl catches the tab and forces the bracket holding the arms to engage like a cam and pull the wipers down to the park position. If the pawl fails to catch the metal tab, either because the pawl is sticking, or if the tab is bent, the wipers will park out all the way (straight up and at the end of their travel to the edge of the windshield.