ok..so after a few more minutes of tinkering...took the arms off then turned on the wipers....come to find out the body shop had the wiper arms on backwards (towards the passenger side rather than facing the drivers side) so popped the wipers back on in the right orientation and everything works like its supposed to...

still curious about the water or fluid if anyone has any ideas

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Birmingham, AL
2006 Audi A4 "Audrey"-daily driver
1976 MB 450SL "Marlene"
2000 Jetta VR6 "Julia"-traded at 220k miles
1997 Jetta 2.0Trek "Blanche"-traded at 450k miles YES 450,000 miles
1986 Prelude "Gladys"-died at 120K miles