Hey, I've been looking into fixing my rear defroster for a little while now but not too sure of how to go about it the right way, I'm sure you guys could give me a few hints.

Before I start describing the problem, if you would need a pic to help the situation feel free to ask and I'll post em' up.


Ok, heres whats going on.
When I hit the button on the dash, the light will come on, and stay on for a little while before going off after a certain amount of time(which seems normal to me, i think its on some sort of timer)
heres the actual problem though, when you go to the back where the defroster wires plug in, the passenger side is plugged in fine, but the drivers side... has no where to plug in, I looked at the one thats fine and it just looks like a metal tab connected to the hatch shock.

Is there anyway I can make it work?
fabricate a tab?
shove a wire into the plug and solder the other end to the shock?

I'm really unsure what to do, I would like to get it working before it starts getting cold and that big hunk of glass starts fogging up.

Thanks
-885speed

 

Bump

 

well it seems to my that your other connector has fallen off and slipped behind your quater panel interior panel. youll have to pull it out a little and see if you can locate it. these cars have 2 of those connectors. one on each side. i ran into the same problem. after removing my interior i cant get it to stay on . that wire is run so tight its god damn ridiculos.

 

I have the same problem, the wire on my passenger side has no connector on it. I haven't figured out what to do about it yet. I never have to use a defroster where I live, but I would still like it to be hooked up right.

 

same exact problem here. did the same thing. and now at least once a week the pass. side wire will pop off when i open the hatch.

 

Well after reading your post, I went outside and started looking for it, no dice there.

I know I can fabricate one up and even lengthen the wires if needed, but does it just attach right to the shock and send the current down to the lower mount?

 

From what I can tell, yes. Things on these hatches are strange, like the 3rd brake light being powered by that contact switch.

 

Ok well I just got a used set of hatch struts that work, got lucky $20 for both.
Now these ones have something my old ones didnt, they have connectors where the strut mounts to the body, and one where it mounts to the hatch.
The only reasonable thing I can come up with is that the current runs down the strut to the other connector and then the wire off of that gets soldered to the defroster grid.

any help would be great, thanks.

 

That is exactly how the rear defrost is powered. Power goes through the drivers side strut, through the defroster grid, and then through the passenger side strut and to ground.

Replacement struts seem to all have the blade connectors for defrost but it wouldn't surprise me if original struts from cars without the defrost option don't have them.

 

Thank you! answers my question quite nicely.
Just gotta try to scrape some tint off the inside and hope none of the grid comes off with it

 

based off of my limeted experiance and dont go to far with it from the rear hatch shocks your wire connects then goes into the underwork of the interior ..... due to the amount of times you go in and out of your trunk those wires wear out alot and very quickly here is what you can try
buy new aftermarket wires and splice them into your underbody after you get rhough the ...sailpanels? still not to sure on the names but its the plastic right behind the drivers side door next to the b ack seat on drivers side


or you can go buy some shrink tube like 20 cents?
and some soder .... remove the wire from the shock slide the shrink tube on then heat the wire up with a soder then touch the soder onto the wire tell you have a good solid coat from the insulation to the connection then heat up the shrink tube between the insulation and the connection and try that if that does not work then you have a break deeper down in the wires
before you start tho get a good wiretester or ohm meter and test the wires



there is my 2 cents but hey im still a newb ameture just got two reat hatch shocks for 60$ total and noticed my wires are broken pretty good at the shock connecter so thats what im going to try