rear defrost on 02 cavalier

my bros car --- the defrost on the rear window does not work, its not getting power at all. the fuse is good,, there is power to the fuse..

anyone else have this problem? sounds to me like there a break in the wire ... ffs

thanks

might be the plug in at the windshield itself

i dissconected it and touched it with a test light and it still didnt light up (no power),, so i odnt think its that , but i will try probing the wire to double check tho,, good idea

could be the switch, or the relay, i think its a relay, its the thing that makes it shut off automatically....

how would i check that?

Did you ever get your problem fixed with the defrost? I'm getting the same thing with my 2003!

yeah i did, it was a corroded/burnt connector at the drivers side kick panel..
easy fix, pulled the kickpanel off, and i could phyically see it (green and burnt when i took the connector apart)

Thanks. Is the kick panel the piece of molding at the door base? What made you look there? Did you follow the wiring through the whole vehicle? Did you ever try the switch before you found where the fault was?

okay i tell ya how i figured it out...

I first tested for power with a test light to the back terminals (on the window) and had nothing so i thought it was a power issue. So I checked with a DVOM (digtal voltmeter) and had 12 volts. So I had power going to it but I had high resistance in the wire (not enough amps[i think] to light up the bulb in the testlight).

So then I thought it was a ground issue. so I checked for continuity from the grids to a known good ground and I had continity (no breaks in the ground wire) (the dvom made the buzz noise).

So I had ground and power but high resistance... so what causes highresistance is a burnt terminal in the connector/corroded wire.

So what I wanted to do was to check all the wires going from the switch to the grid terminal things. So I first checked the connectors because typically thats where they get corroded. (luckly I have access to service information about wiring diagrams so I found out where the conectors are [i think there was only that one]) and then i just sniped back the wire on each side of the connector to get rid of all the corroded crappy wire and butt conected them together. (basically just bypass the connector. and that fixed it.

and yes I did replace the switch first (200 dollar part) because I thought the switch had high resistance in it. Luckly I work at the dealership so I can bring it back and get my cash back. because it didnt fix it.

yeah the kick panel is the trim peice at the base of the door, it just pulls off and the connector should be around the biggest/widest part of the trim peice. more towards the front of the car.

hope that awnsered all your questions.. if you want the service info on the car let me know .. pm me.

Thanks again. I looked up the module here and they want $320 cdn. That's crazy. They don't sell just the switch. Think I'll be visiting Pick your part.

A wiring diragram would be nice.

just make sure you properly diaganos. it first.