LAZARU5

Finally tried the rear defogger this week. First time since purchasing the car in April. Took it to dealer to trouble shoot and they tell me that I need a new rear window. Does that seem possible? How does one go about verifying integrity of the rear defogger in the window? I really hate to have the window replaced.

ChuckT

You purchased in April, just 6 months ago, and the warranty no longer works?

ChuckT

The rear defogger grid is just a set of resistor wires in the glass. The wires generally do not break, but the connections to them, along the glass edge, might.

If you get a person with a small amount of electrical skill, and a volt/ohm meter you should be able to find the break.

Blk04cobra1

Did they tell you why it's not covered under warranty? Replacing the back window is not a hard task and would definitely have it done if it's under warranty.

amdeutsch

I don't see anywhere where the OP stated anything about warranty coverage or not. All I see is a dealer comment about needing replacement.

LAZARU5

Correct. The non-selling dealer (400 miles from selling dealer) acknowledges that this is a warranty repair. One other piece of information may be worth noting. The AM radio gets absolutely no reception. It's not something we have been using. We have mostly used SAT radio this Summer. Is it possible that the AM antenna is also in the rear window? I think it is on my W211 E500. If the car was out of warranty, I would certainly attempt to repair what may be a broken connection. Also, since this is a convertible top, I suspect that the connection is not necessarily "hard wired". One would think that the connection was more like what you would expect on a portable phone since the window pivots in the middle of the glass.