No rear defrost?

**kriptnite** · #1: 11-01-2012, 04:44 PM

Yes can anyone tell me why my rear defrost will not work,i checked fuses and all are good.the light lights up on the switch but does not defrost,this is on a 97 legacy awd 4door sedan thx.

**Stasis** · #2: 11-01-2012, 04:50 PM

Have you check plugs and contacts under the trim?

**kriptnite** · #3: 11-01-2012, 04:53 PM

no i have not.was really not sure where the wiring ran?but like i say the switch does light up?

**kriptnite** · #4: 11-01-2012, 05:12 PM

i see lots of stuff on here about rear defrost trouble but no fixes?

**Grimmrican** · #5: 11-01-2012, 06:02 PM

my 95 legacy wagon had problems with the rear windshield last year. until my dad made me realize it was my connectors on the winshield them self. there shold be one on each side. make sure theyre connected. if theyre broken off i cant help u there for i got lucky mine were unplugged

**mattmattyxcore** · #6: 11-01-2012, 06:48 PM

I had a blown fuse when i bought my ls and after replacing it, only the bottom two and very top elements work. Hopefully this will help but something tells me there may be another issue.

**Stasis** · #7: 11-01-2012, 07:09 PM

Yes two plugs one each side, they come undone in the wagons due to closing boot over and over with force. If they're broken pop the glass and get insurance to fix it. Or attempt to fix, whatever suits

**Grimmrican** · #8: 11-01-2012, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stasis

Yes two plugs one each side, they come undone in the wagons due to closing boot over and over with force. If they're broken pop the glass and get insurance to fix it. Or attempt to fix, whatever suits

I kno at advance auto they have a repair kit in the help section if it does break

**Stasis** · #9: 11-01-2012, 09:48 PM

^Do you know if there are kits to repair the actual heat bars themselves?

**monkeyposeur** · #**10:** 11-01-2012, 09:53 PM

I have a wagon, and not a sedan like you but I had some trouble with my rear defroster because I broke one of the defroster tabs off. Loctite sells a defroster tab repair kit. It has conductive glue that you use to glue the tab back on. I just put some sandpaper on a flat surface and rubbed the tab back and forth to clean it off and keep it flat.

Another problem that you may have is that a conductive line (or heat bar as stasis calls them) that spans the windshield is broken. Loctite also sells a kit to fix that. You tape the glass off to make a thin line and paint the stuff on.

If it isn't either of those issues I would check the defroster tabs to make sure that power is actually getting to them.

link to heat bar/defogger kit on Amazon:

Amazon.com: Permatex 15067 Quick Grid Rear Window Defogger Repair Kit: Automotive

**SomethingWittyAsAUsername** · #**11:** 11-02-2012, 02:15 AM

There is a defroster repair kit that comes with a conductive paint. Iirc, you just paint a broken line or such back on. I only use the stuff for motherboard and computer work, so I've never actually used it for it's true purpose

**Grimmrican** · #**12:** 11-02-2012, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stasis

^Do you know if there are kits to repair the actual heat bars themselves?

I was about to take a pic of it at work but we r out of stock :/

Edit: we got a truck in today and stocked the shelves. This one fixes the lines on the window ( grids) and tabs

**monkeyposeur** · #**13:** 11-03-2012, 10:13 PM

This is the same product that I posted a link to in my earlier post:

Amazon.com: Permatex 15067 Quick Grid Rear Window Defogger Repair Kit: Automotive

**Grimmrican** · #**14:** 11-03-2012, 11:18 PM

That's one of the older packagings lol theyre made by permatex so it's whatever lol they r exactly the same thing. Except u can get it a lot faster if u hit up ur nearest parts shop

**Sludgeroo** · #**15:** 11-17-2012, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stasis

Yes two plugs one each side, they come undone in the wagons due to closing boot over and over with force. If they're broken pop the glass and get insurance to fix it. Or attempt to fix, whatever suits

I work in auto glass, if they're broken, like monkey said, the kit works nicely. Don't pop the glass, as the rear window is incapsulated and very very expensive. Even if you have insurance, the agents are going to watch out since a 400 dollar window is going into a 14 year old car. Plus is makes for insurance rates to be higher for everyone.

With those kits, from professional experience, work as long as you let the set up for 24 hrs before re-attaching the tabs. Like stasis said check the wear under the boot, and check the tabs.

When you take off the rear pillar covers, the tabs will be sunken under the pinchweld, they wont be in plain sight.

This is the tab stuff that NAGS (National auto glass standardization) let's us use, the best from everything we have tried: http://www.frostfighter.com/prt2000.htm

And here is the same companies grid repair: http://www.frostfighter.com/prt2100.htm

Hope this helps!