Insignia rear window heater suddenly stopped working!?

magicroundabout · 9 Jan 2013 at 18:16

As above really. It was working fine yesterday, now today nothing. Checked the fuse, connectors etc and all appear ok.

would anyone else know what could have gone for me to check and hopefully fix quite cheaply

magicroundabout · 16 Jan 2013 at 16:51

right, had the car into vauxhall today to diagnose the reason the rear heater isn't working and also affecting the DAB.

their report reads as follows:

Carry out repair :- H/R/W not working & radio keeps loosing reception. carried out GDS test, no fault codes recorded. Carried out manual investigation i.e. checking wiring & found that the wiring harness has melted (suspect due to the H.R. screen drawing too much power)

Investigate radio loosing reception. suspect fault is with the ariel which is part of the H.R. Screen (signs of failure can be seen)
Requires retesting once the screen has been fitted.

Basically they showed me a picture of a module within the tailgate which is part of the RWH. This had burnt out and they have said the rear window is drawing too much power so require a new module and new rear window. This i found quite bizarre.

They have disconnected this module now so the rear window wont work at all.

Thing i have now is that i drove the car away and as soon as i hit between 2500/3500rpm (only in 4th gear) the car would not go any faster and was juddering quite badly.

obviously it's going back in tomorrow but does anyone have any idea what they have done etc or what this module is?

ShakenNstirred · 16 Jan 2013 at 18:11

buy second hand module fit yourself and see how it goes
unless this work is done under warranty, window isn't going to be cheap

magicroundabout · 16 Jan 2013 at 18:32

i don't see why i need a new window. all of the elements are fine and have been tested. i just need to know what the module is and where it is located

ShakenNstirred · 16 Jan 2013 at 19:15

have a look on a Insignia forum, bet the answer is on there
http://insigniaforums.co.uk/

magicroundabout · 18 Jan 2013 at 20:40

car has gone back into vauxhall today after having a discussion with the director of the vauxhall garage about how unsatisfied i have been with the service etc.

i got a phone call around 11am to say they have found the problem with the air leak. it's an intercooler pipe which has split and vauxhall have agreed to pay 70% of costs. result.

they are also asking about the heated rear screen to see if vauxhall will cover this too as it's classed as a non serviceable item and therefore shouldn't fail (cos it's electrical apparently)

fingers crossed

MatteH Oxford · 19 Jan 2013 at 09:14

Are you sure that the rear window hasn't had any of the element tracks repaired?. You can usually get away with fixing one or two but any more than that could affect the resistance & hence the power consumption.

magicroundabout · 19 Jan 2013 at 09:15

no they're all original and have already been checked by vauxhall.

the wiring harness and power unit need replacing along with a new rear window (apparently)

MatteH Oxford · 19 Jan 2013 at 10:26

Odd....a rear window element in itself isn't exactly complicated. The only other thing is it must be shorted somewhere, but that should be easy enough to spot & fix - the only place a short to chassis could likely occur is next to the live/earth terminals at each side of the window.

If that is how the rear window element is designed of course, the vast majority are.