hey, my rear defrost wont work and the light comes on when i hit the brakes. can anyone help me out? are there any specific thing i should check?

 

the wires coming from the rear posts to the wires on the window fall of all the time on EVERY car. i assume you have allready checked those. and when you say the light comes on do you mean the defoster light comes on when you hit the break?
if that is the case did you do any re-wiring/fix anything wire related recently.also check your fuse box, specifically wires behind it. two of them may be bare and touching.
hope this helps/point you in a good direction.

 

Good call, X! That's what does it; I assume the car is an '86? As X said, the lines on the window for the CHMSL (center high mounted stop light, aka third brake light) fall off the window. They rest on the hatchback's gas-charged lift's piston. The pistons are the ground for the defroster. So when you hit the brakes and the third brake light activates, the defroster circuit gets grounded via the wire that's "touching" the gas piston for the hatch.

I had to use a high-heat soldering gun to re-solder the side "strap" traces to the window.

 

wow, thats not what i meant. but cool. i meant wires behind the fuse box were touching and that the wires going to the rear defrost may have fallen off, i did not know about the brake light thing. cool, now i do though