they worked intermittently for a week, then completely stopped in mid-swipe. I had to manually move them to the down position for now.

What the heck happened? I can hear a clicking noise when I leave the wipers on, but no movement.

Hubie

 

Remove the wiper arms, turn on wipers, do the studs move?
If so put the wipers back on and tighten the nuts that hold them on.
Otherwise the switch is the most likely culprit.

 

Better describe the intermitent problem before they parked/stopped.
There is also the possibility that your park switch inside the motor has failed. By the way, how did you move the wipers back into the down position, if you didn't loosen the nut on the pivot point first, you may have also stripped out the pivots.

 

They would get stuck at the top, then a few seconds later swipe down. Then stop. Then swipe up, get stuck (without going all the way up), then eventually swipe down (and stop). repeat.

until the other day, when they just stopped.
I got out of the car, and manually lifted the drivers' side one a bit, until it easily flowed back down along with the passenger side one in unison.

And there they sit, dormant. and it's snowing out.

I'm not a mechanic, I'm no good with cars. What would you suggest?

 

I already told you what to check, you dont need to be a mechanic to check the things I suggested.