rear defroster not working

[Petros]

the rear glass comes out easy, you do not even need tools. from the inside you lift the rubber seal, I start as the corner and work across the bottom. Once you have the two lower corners and lower edge seal rolled back the glass pushes out along the bottom, and you just pull it out the rest of the way from the outside.

I would not replace it unless the element is actually bad. I think if you use a hair dryer and a plastic scraper you can get it off the heating elements without harming it by carefully rubbing at the edge of the film. Usually it will come off all together in a sheet, I guess this was so old the sun had broken down the film so it would not stay together.

All of the Gen 2 wagons use the same rear glass and heating element, I have never notices a "heavy duty" defroster, they all looked the same to me.

If Marlin can get the trans and glass to the US and ship it from this side of the border likely the trans and glass can be shipped for $100-150. From Canada it would be about 3 times that much.

[irowiki]

From searching here there's a 100 watt version and a 180 watt version of the rear glass! Place near us has the heavy duty version out of an 84 for $75.

We'll try getting it off first, I'm just covering my bases!

[dlb]

The chances of having a leak afterwards is always a possibility I guess.

i damaged the rear hatch on my first terc and had a body shop do the repairs. they swapped my tinted glass into the new hatch. after that, any time i had the hatch up while it was raining, it would leak through the top corners. i took it back to the body shop, who sent me to an auto glass place, and it took them several tries before it finally stopped leaking. i only have that one experience but it's enough for me to not want to swap glass again.

[irowiki]

I was actually thinking if I had a replacement glass I'd probably take it to the glass place and have them swap it out!

[irowiki]

Okay while I had the right speaker out I confirmed the relay was there and working. I did swap it out with a spare that wasn't quite so crusty, though.

That leaves the issue to somewhere in the back!

[Petros]

do not replace the glass and defroster unless you know it is bad. clearly it would be a waste of time to replace the defroster and find it still does not work. If there is no power at the contacts of the defroster there is no point in replacing it until you find out why. Again I want to remind you to check the wire bundle where it passes from the body to the door, the constant flexing sometimes causes the wires to break inside the insulation. Use two push pins into the wire to check for continuity.

[irowiki]

Oh I know there's no power to it, the glass itself however, I'm not sure how it is supposed to look, but I think a large amount of the heat element stuff is missing off the wires. Or is that just coating?

Will be taking the back apart to put speakers in so I'll check the wiring then!