Rear Window Defroster

[01LGT]

Dosen't seem to work @ ALL!

2001 Legacy GT

Has anyone had this problem, and if so how did you fix it!?! This kind of crap is annoying... Winter is RIGHT around the corner here in Colorado and I need this darn thing to work!

Thanks in advance :wink:

~ D

[oskar_subaru]

Dosen't seem to work @ ALL!

2001 Legacy GT

Has anyone had this problem, and if so how did you fix it!?! This kind of crap is annoying... Winter is RIGHT around the corner here in Colorado and I need this darn thing to work!

Thanks in advance :wink:

~ D

have you checked all the fuses ?

[Reason]

Yes check the fuses and make sure the wires is still attached in the rear. Sometime they snap (wire gremlins) and stop working. Other than that those things usually last for ever.

[01LGT]

I haven't checked the fuse yet... I'll do that this morning. I noticed that whoever had the car before me had the windows tinted so I was thinking maybe when they did the rear window they loosened the wire or maybe even snapped it...

I'll try to pin point it today - Thanks guys!

~ D :neutral:

[01LGT]

... just checked the fuse - it's not that :mad: ! I peeked around and couldn't really find the wire(s).
I did on the other hand find that upon further inspection of the rear defroster, there is significant "damage" to the element that spans the glass. It looks like it has been scraped off or peeled off in spots... I don't know if it is just from being old or from the guy that did the tint on the window. Who knows... :-?

Don't you have to replace the rear window to replace the defroster? I thought that they came hand in hand and not apart from each other...

[Reason]

That's one way to do it. They sell repair kits it's a metallic "paint".

[Monkhouse]

Now that you mention window tinting, a friend of mine had his truck windows tinted, and after that we found that the stickers on his rear window had a line cut through them. It was just an inch or two from the edge and followed the window frame perfectly. Turns out that the tinting place laid the film over the outside of the window to cut it, and the knife went right through the stickers. Would it be possible to damage the defrosting circuit this way?

[Huffer]

Defrosting circuits are on the INSIDE of the window, not the outside.

[Lostagain]

... just checked the fuse - it's not that :mad: ! I peeked around and couldn't really find the wire(s).
I did on the other hand find that upon further inspection of the rear defroster, there is significant "damage" to the element that spans the glass. It looks like it has been scraped off or peeled off in spots... I don't know if it is just from being old or from the guy that did the tint on the window. Who knows... :-?

Don't you have to replace the rear window to replace the defroster? I thought that they came hand in hand and not apart from each other...

If the elements that span the glass are damaged then they won't work. The best way I have found to check for voltage in the back window is to scrape off a little bit of the protective coating on both end (left to right) of the glass where the elements are thick (up and down part) and put a volt meter on it. Put a lead on each side and you shoud have 12 volts when the switch is on. If you do that and you have voltage then all the elements are broken. No voltage means you have a trouble in the circuit. Could be a relay or fuse.