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So I have a 2010 Platinum Screw with the 6.5' bed. I bought it used with 73,000 miles a few months ago. Now that it's winter here I found out that the rear defrost is not working. I read up on the topic and found out that this is a common problem. Also seems to be common problem is that when it IS working, people have reported that one of the panes like to shatter for no obvious reason.
So I went ahead and bought a new rear window and the gasket tape that is needed for the install. The whole ordeal was $584 including tax.
Install took several hours but I did it and it went without a bunch of trouble.
The new window is different than the old one in terms of electrical connection.
There is instructions with it how to make the changes.
The new window is actually for 2013-2015 MY. There was also a revision for 2011-2013 MY. The difference is the plug and the wires. The new plugs is totally different and has only two wires. The old plug has three wires going to the window.
The old window has a reed switch to turn off the indicator light on the dash when the slider is opened. This is what the small black and white wires are for that go inside the old window. You have to cut them off on the window and splice the ends together on the plug side. If you don't do that, not only stays the light dark then when turned on, the window doesn't heat either.
Once plugged up it heats just fine and the light in the dash comes on and stays on even when the slider is opened. It of course does not heat then, because the slider contacts are not closed. So far so good.
When I turn on the defrost, I tried to verify function by getting close to the panes and exhaling against the grids by imitating what happens when they fog up on the inside. This worked very well, and all panes where operating as expected.
Now comes the part that really scares me:
After about 5 minutes of the defrost running, I touched the middle slider on the bottom, where the glass has this coated strip, that also goes around the slider pane, and it started to get really hot to the touch. After a few more minutes it was getting too hot to the touch. The passenger and driver side pane also started getting pretty warm. You could really feel it easily.
Now my question is, has anybody else ever tried to touch this? Is that normal?
And would that be the contributing factor that a bunch of people had the glass shatter and also if it's getting that hot, that something burns up over time and leads to inoperable rear defrost if it didn't shatter before that?
How do other car makers design their slider windows?
Ya, a couple years ago the dealer replaced the back glass with the 2013 MY version. I did notice the new one had high temps to but not nearly as high as the original glass.
I've since unhooked it so I don't have to worry about it shattering.
And now my sunroof broke. These are not Ford specific features. Amazing they can't engineer reliable parts. The new Tacomas are looking really, really good right about now.
Which fuse do you pull on a 2103?
I have a cap on so I don't really need the rear defrost, but I want to keep use of the heated mirrors.
Besides, between the tinted back window and the tinted windows on the cap, I can't see much out the back except in full daylight....
I've never checked the temp on mine, but I have avoided using it for this reason.
All the tint keeps the mirror dimming feature form working except with exceptionally bright lights. It's a shame because I actually liked that feature.
01-22-2017, 12:11 PM
Put In New Back Window
