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Between the rear passenger window and the back window is a junction where rear defrost wiring and radio antenna connect. Rear defrost wiring becomes loose and burns this unit out. when looking for replacement at salvage yard everyone of them I found had burned up. Lots of La Sabres w/o working rear defrost. I made solid connections for defroster, and added an antennae, not much point in repeating a system that will fail again.
check that the antenna cable is still plugged into the back of the radio and plugged into the bottom of the antenna at the finder to check radio end insert 4 large paper clips into the square holes in the front corners of the stereo this disengages the lock mechanisms slide the radio out and check the connections if electrical antenna check the fuse on the back of the radio that it isn't blown if so replace. loosen the inner fender panel and see if cable still connected to antenna #2 check the fuse for the rear defroster its probably blown if so replace and check for any grounded out hot wires also check the connections at each end of the rear window sometimes they become corroded or unglued from the window, if any of the fine lines that cross the window have been scratched or removed partially this will also render the defroster inoperable
The common problem with the rear defrost not working on a park ave is the antenna integration modules on the rear c-pillars. This is the way they make the rear defrost and antenna part of the same grid on the rear window. If your external mirrors are heating up, the rear window is getting juice too. They are fed from the same circuit. And yes, the relay does go in a particular way. Compare it to the position of the others nearby and insert with the same orientation.
Remove the interior panel next to the rear window on the passenger side. There should be a small black box (3"x3") bolted there. This box sends power to the rear defogger and carries the signals from teh integrated FM antenna. Often, the end of the plug fries and stops the defoggers from working while the radio has no problems.
The plug into the box is usually melted. It may look like it can be soldered and hardwired to work again, but more often than not the box is fried too. You can get them on the cheap from a JY or get them through GM.
I found this on another site... it seems like a credible post so I thought I'd share... I'm going to check it out next weekend.
"Just an FYI. The rear
defroster issue is due to a bad Antenna Buffer Module / Antenna Module.
The power to the rear defogger goes through a module that separates the
antenna amplifier signal from the 12 volt power to the defogger. The
defogger elements also act as the antenna.The module is behind
the rear pillar right behind the rear passenger door. The inside
plastic has to be gently pulled off, the seat needs to be folded down
to get the lower part of the trim off. One screw at the bottom, unplug
the wires... (two connect to the window grid, mark which one is
which)... and the module is free. The module may require
re-soldering of the pins joining the main power connectors to the
internal circuit board. If you feel you can do this (or have a friend
do it for you), go for it... else get another module from the dealer to
replace it."
This is the most credible of the several posts that I've seen talking about this module. I know its there... I saw it yesterday when I was working on the car.
First place to check is under the wide trim piece that runs over the back drivers side door and also runs to the back window. You can pull this away from the body. It just snaps in place and the seatbelt goes through it. Pull it down toward you and you should see a black box fastened to the side of the window pillar. It should have three wire connections. One is the radio antenna, one goes to the window and one comes from the wire harness. Check the two wire connections from the harness and to the window. See if they are loose or in my case the one from the harness was burnt and had melted the black box where the wire went in. I had to replace the the wire connector and the black box ($72.00) and replaced the connector terminals. The replacement connector is available but that little thing is pricey ($32.00). They must be proud of that thing. Hope this helped.
Depends, could be defroster could be antenna for radio, could be both. IF you don't see an antenna on your hood on passenger side then its most likely the antenna.
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