Adding Heated Wipers

[jmgtp]

Possible? Perhaps... that's what I am here to find out.

A few months back I replaced the plastic 'woodgrain' trim inside my 01 LGT. There was a light scratch near the pop out cupholder that had been bothering me since I purchased the car. I snagged a whole set of trim on eBay, I believe from an Outback, and lucky me it came with the fog, cruise and heated wiper switches!

Not able to resist I pulled the left trim section piece off and to my delight the heated wiper harness was sitting right there behind the switch blank! I thought, 'thanks again Subaru for plug and play hottness!' (I previously installed a set of OEM tweeters that sneak in near the side mirrors).

I checked to make sure there was a fuse for the heated wipers and indeed one was installed (I believe I checked for the fuse in the underdash box). BUT... they don't work. So I am here to find out if the heating elements are not installed and hence it obviously cannot work (but there are heater element looking things? pics coming...). Or is there another electrical obstacle that needs to be overcome? Another fuse or a relay?

Perhaps there is a temperature threshold in which the heaters won't activate below X degrees? All I can say for sure is that with wipers on or off if I hit that heater button the little light in the switch does not illuminate and the heater pads sure don't get warm. Winter is coming and it would be nice to have. Has anyone succeeded or attempted this before?

I'm going to go through a Haynes manual tonight to see if there is a schematic for the system that may shed some light.

Thanks!
John

[badbasser98]

the heating elements are built into the windshield. So unless you get a winshield from an OB or other model that had heated wipers, you are SOL even if everything else is in place.

[jmgtp]

The only reason I attempted this is because the car does appear to have the heating elements in the glass:

(click for larger image)
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/9048/heatedwipers002jp6.th.jpg (http://img242.imageshack.us/my.php?image=heatedwipers002jp6.jpg)

I can't imagine what else these heavy duty looking defroster lines may be. The wiper blades rest directly on top of these pads, I lifted them up for the purpose of the picture.

[BAC5.2]

Bust out the multimeter and check everything.

Make sure the fuse is not blown also.

[phi11]

thats the coolest thing that I've seen all month.

[badbasser98]

I would also check to make sure that you indeed plugged the switch into the proper plug behind the dash... have a repair manual? If so, then double check all connections and make sure the actual plug is "hot".

[jmgtp]

There was only 1 plug behind the switch that was not already in use and it was a perfect fit. I'll be checking things out with the meter this weekend.

[jmgtp]

Anyone know where the relay would be for the wiper de-icer?

I've verified the switch is good. It has a clip in plastic piece that only lets it plug into the de-icer harness... but I popped that out and plugged in the cruise switch and cruise works with the de-icer switch hence the switch is good.

I've only located one 20amp fuse in the interior fuse box for the wiper de-icer and it is present and not blown.

Next step is to find the relay (which may be missing) and jumping it so if the wiper pads heat up.

I read somewhere on the net that it should be above the right dash kick panel. All that is really visible there is the hvac blower motor and heater plenum.