My rear defroster in recent years has been performing weakly to say the least. It even has trouble making a dent in light frost. I have verified the connections on both "arms" that hold up the hatch and they are tight a secure. when I hit the defroster switch the amp meter dips so I know its drawing juice, any ideas on what I can do to resore it original performance? Thanks in advance...

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89 IROC original owner, 3 amplifier 8 speaker Kenwood/Infinity sound system, 300,000 miles on original 305 TPI. Change your oil!!!
Jeff's IROC Restoration

 

I'm not that great at electrical, but I'll tell you what the shop manual says to do.
To locate inoperative grid lines:
1) Ground one test lamp lead and lightly touch the other lead to each grid line.
2) If test lamp shows full brilliance (in your case I guess full voltage) at BOTH ends of grid lines, check for a loose ground wire.
3) All gridlines must be tested in two places to eliminate the possibilty of bridging a break
4) For best results test each gridline a few inches to either side of the glass vertical centerline
5) To test a specific line, Place the lead on the LEFT FEED BUS BAR (The wide vertical strip attached to power) and slowly move lead to the RIGHT GROUND BUS BAR (attached to ground)
6) Be aware that the brilliance of you test light SHOULD decrease as you move from Left to Right. (Increase in resistance, less juice, the further along the line you move)

The diagram shows the window divided into 5 equal vertical sections. The sections starting behind the driver have full brilliance, then 3/4, then 1/2, 1/4, and finally the last section behind the passenger SHOULD have ZERO brilliance.

If there are broken lines, then you will have full brilliance, starting from the left, until you hit the break in the line, and then Zero brilliance (from the break to the ground)
I hope this helps.

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1983 T/A LG4 w/T-tops
Rebuilt/Modified E Q-jet
Custom Dual Ram-Air
Self painted cherry red w/ restored black/grey interior
Welded Comp Eng SFC
Tokico Struts/Shocks
Hotchkis LCAs and Panhard Bar
Energy Suspension bushings all around

[This message has been edited by Nightcruzer (edited February 05, 2001).]

 

One more thing. If there are broken lines, then you will have full brilliance, starting from the left, until you hit the break in the line, and then Zero brilliance (from the break to the ground)

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1983 T/A LG4 w/T-tops
Rebuilt/Modified E Q-jet
Custom Dual Ram-Air
Self painted cherry red w/ restored black/grey interior
Welded Comp Eng SFC
Tokico Struts/Shocks
Hotchkis LCAs and Panhard Bar
Energy Suspension bushings all around