Rear Window Element Repair / Replacement

n30_mkii · 28 Jan 2013 at 18:23

Picked up my second hand vehicle from a local dealer last week. First trip out today where the car was misted up. So I put on the front and back heated screens which worked great at the front, however there are around 10 element sections in a row that are not working. leaving a small section top and bottom which are (so not ideal)

Anyone have any idea how easy this is to fix? or replace? if not I will give the place a bought it from a call, which I probably will anyway. I've seen some paint stuff you can put on if there are breaks, but until the weather cheers up and I get some good light I won't be able to tell.

Cheers for any advice, I should also mention it's still under manufacturers warranty but I can't imagine they would replace / repair it under that? (Ford)

-westy- · 28 Jan 2013 at 18:26

Is it the rear window that doesn't work properly?

If it's still under warranty, then return it to be replaced/fixed.

n30_mkii · 28 Jan 2013 at 18:41

Yes its the rear screen. Would it be covered or am I going to have to kick up a fuss?

-westy- · 28 Jan 2013 at 18:48

If the car's still within the manufacturer's warranty, then I'm sure it'll be fine. But if it's a trader's "warranty" then it might be harder..

Gaijin · 28 Jan 2013 at 22:33

You can get pens to redraw the tracks on the screen. No idea how effective they are though.

pinkaardvark · 29 Jan 2013 at 11:55

I've used the repair pens years ago and they do work but can be a bit fiddly to use.

Brookert · 29 Jan 2013 at 11:59

Has anyone found that broken gridlines cause a drop in radio signal? I've got 2 grids which are broken, and I wonder whether the pen thing would be good enough to get them working and getting radio signal again.

tom_e · 29 Jan 2013 at 12:18

Brookert said:
Has anyone found that broken gridlines cause a drop in radio signal? I've got 2 grids which are broken, and I wonder whether the pen thing would be good enough to get them working and getting radio signal again.

Should be, they were good enough to unlock cpus back in the day

GeX · 29 Jan 2013 at 12:21

tom_e said:
Should be, they were good enough to unlock cpus back in the day

yeah, but so was a 2B pencil and I don't think it's wise to use that to repair a heated screen!

Jonnycoupe · 29 Jan 2013 at 14:19

The antenna elements on the screen wont be heater section so yes deffo give it a try, the pens will fix the heater anyway so can deal with decent current.

Brookert · 29 Jan 2013 at 14:43

Jonnycoupe said:
The antenna elements on the screen wont be heater section so yes deffo give it a try, the pens will fix the heater anyway so can deal with decent current.

interesting, so not all of the grid is used for reception. Theres a patch on mine where the grid creates another grid box, which has some broken patches in. Hopefully this is the radio bit, and might give me some reception back!

Jonnycoupe · 30 Jan 2013 at 08:12

Yep, particularly as the antenna detect tiny voltage and current fluctuations running 20A through them to warm the screen would totally ruin reception.. Run the engine at 3600rpm and you get very good reception to 60Hz LW radio