Hey guys,
I'm having some kind of problem with my rear defogger. When I turn it on, about 30 seconds later, the defogger stops working, and so does my power seat. The seat will work just fine by itself, but if I turn on the defogger, they both stop working. After about 10 minutes, they work again....until I hit the button again.
Have any of you had this happen? Anybody have any ideas on what to check?

Thanks
Chris

 

I had the EXACT SAME problem last winter.

OK, your car is a 2002, so do you still have warranty??

The problem with my car (apparently) was that the resistance across the wires of the rear defroster was either too high or too low (too high I think?) and it caused an overload on the circuit and therefore tripped the 30A breaker which ALSO controls the power seat. SO, I took it to the dealership to b!tch (still under warranty) and they determined that the defroster "grid" was faulty, so they REPLACED the ENTIRE back glass!!

I have not had a problem since then.

What confused me though, is that they replaced the circuit breaker when I took the car in originally, and they had to order a new glass. Well, after they replaced the breaker, the defrosters and seat worked again? However, my thoughts are that the original breaker got burned out from the over-current problem caused by the rear defroster, and they just "band-aided" the problem with a new breaker?

 

Well, it IS still under warranty, but only for 2500 more miles. I dont drive it every day, so i'm nursing it along until I can get it to the dealership. I had an accident back in July, and am STILL having TONS of problems with the body shop (looong story). Most of the body panels have been replaced, and somehow the body shop scratched all of my glass while trying to dry the car or something, so they are going to replace all the glass next week. Maybe that will fix my problem? They also didn't bolt my cd changer down and it bumped around and doesn't work now.
So I guess I should see if replacing the glass fixes it?

 

Yes, IMO that should solve the problem.

Like I said about that 30A circuit breaker though, it may need to be replaced if it got worn out from tripping and resetting so many times. I remember last year when I was having problems with my car, someone said to put in a 30A fuse instead of the breaker cause they don't trip quite as easily?

 

Hmmm, maybe I'll try replacing the circuit breaker, and see what happens. I just really do not trust dealerships and would rather do everything I can myself. I have had 6 months of hell from this dang body shop, and just want the ordeal to be over. Anything I can do myself, I will.
Thanks for the help!

 

One more question. The body shop screwed up my cd changer, could someone tell me how many bolts hold it down? On the changer itself, there are two plastic male ends that slides into slits on the car, and two studs for bolts. But mine is now only bolted down w/ one bolt on the side towards the front of the car. I just wanna be sure there WERE two bolts holding it down before I freak out on the dealership. This place royally screwed me over.
I have already gone to the body shop director and my car is still not fixed properly. They have been working on it since July for crying out loud.
Has anyone else had a HORRIBLE body shop experience and done something to get results? I have already taken the car back 3 times, and each time they only fix half of what I have on my list. The list of things that was wrong AFTER the repairs was a full notebook page long. I recently told them they are no longer allowed to store the car there while not working on it since they break something each time they touch it. I drop it off as parts come in etc.
HELP!!

 

Same thing happened to my TA I had 3 girls in the car, and had my seat moved up and had the defroster on. (Them girls were full of hot air ) Anyway, after I dropped them off, my seat wouldn't work. I coudln't move it back But yeah, I never really found out what the problem was. I've only driven it for 3000 miles, so I haven't experienced many problems yet.