After I posted this I came across
this post
Rolling the rr window
all the way down, then
all the way up fixed the problem.
<<>>
Rear windshield wiper and washer suddenly went inop last week. The rr window rolls up and down OK. In dash 15A fuse checks OK. I disconnected the motor plug with the wiper switched on and got ~12V+ at 3 of the pins.
Has anybody else experienced this? Is there a way with a multimeter (continuity?) to check if the motor's burned up without removing it? Failing that... is there a way to check the motor after it's removed? I imagine this is an expensive part so I don't want to replace it blindly.
I'm usually the guy that "can't see the forest for the trees" and usually overlook the simple stuff I should do first.