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How Long does your Rear Window Defroster take?

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Old 12-16-2003, 04:29 AM
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How Long does your Rear Window Defroster take?

I'm wondering about how long it takes for your rear window defroster to:
1. start defrosting the window
2. completely defrost the window


The other day I parked outside overnight, and then in the morning I drove it about 20-30min. on the freeway from point A to point B and it still hadn't defrosted completely. I don't know if it's broken or if I just hadn't noticed before since it got very cold recently, and I almost always park in a garage?
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Old 12-16-2003, 04:32 AM
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okay it will on depend on how much it needs to defrost. are you talking just a little frost? or 6 inches of snow?
mine works pretty quick, defrosted a few inches of snow in a few minutes.
and you said 30 minutes, was the defroster even still on? it shuts off after a few minutes and you have to turn it back on. it usually takes a few times of turning it on to defrost everything.
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Old 12-16-2003, 04:46 AM
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Yes, the defroster was on the whole time. By the time I got to point B (20-30 min. later) it was almost done defrosting.

No snow, just some thickazz frost...
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Old 12-16-2003, 04:56 AM
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Hmmm, actually this is one of the things I like about the car. My rear defroster takes only 2 to 3 minutes. Yesterday I had a thick layer of ice and I ran the car for a couple minutes and most ice was gone, what was left easily slid off in chunks.
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Old 12-16-2003, 06:11 AM
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Originally Posted by Triple8Sol
Yes, the defroster was on the whole time. By the time I got to point B (20-30 min. later) it was almost done defrosting.

No snow, just some thickazz frost...
i would say there might be something wrong then. mine work very well and very quickly.
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Old 12-16-2003, 06:44 AM
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Not to be a smart a$$, but I have no idea how long my defroster would take to totally remove frost or ice from the rear window.

Once the defroster starts to melt whatever is there, I use an ICE SCRAPER to clean the rear window so I can see out of it before I start driving. I actually do the rear window last, and do the other windows first.
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Old 12-16-2003, 06:47 AM
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my defroster clears everything up in 2.5 minutes. its the pieces of snow thats screwing it up
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Old 12-16-2003, 07:15 AM
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Originally Posted by Triple8Sol
Yes, the defroster was on the whole time. By the time I got to point B (20-30 min. later) it was almost done defrosting.

No snow, just some thickazz frost...
seems like something is wrong but I have no idea what...in NH we just had snow and rain that froze. I turned on the rear defroster and let it run for maybe 2 minutes and I could see the lines coming through so I cleared it with a brush.
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Old 12-16-2003, 08:55 AM
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Mine works on clearing the outside great, but last night the ice on the rear window caused condensation on the inside of the window. The rear defroster did clear that.
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Old 12-16-2003, 11:20 AM
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Originally Posted by simpleMax
Not to be a smart a$$, but I have no idea how long my defroster would take to totally remove frost or ice from the rear window.

Once the defroster starts to melt whatever is there, I use an ICE SCRAPER to clean the rear window so I can see out of it before I start driving. I actually do the rear window last, and do the other windows first.
Definitely agree. I always scrape it before getting on the road. But my rear defroster takes a few minutes. Anything longer and some connection maybe loose back there.

I'm just glad the front defroster doesn't enlarge the chip in my new windshild
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Old 12-16-2003, 01:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Triple8Sol
I'm wondering about how long it takes for your rear window defroster to:
1. start defrosting the window
2. completely defrost the window


The other day I parked outside overnight, and then in the morning I drove it about 20-30min. on the freeway from point A to point B and it still hadn't defrosted completely. I don't know if it's broken or if I just hadn't noticed before since it got very cold recently, and I almost always park in a garage?

I have noticed the same thing. It has been snowing here like crazy lately and it takes about 15-20 minutes or sometimes more before the window clears up nicely. I have thought about taking it to the dealer but I can only imagine the ordeal I'll have to go through for them to actually fix it if there is something wrong.
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Old 12-16-2003, 05:21 PM
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Well I made an appointment to take it in the day after New Years, so I'll have them check this out among other things...

Thanks for the replies everyone!
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Old 12-16-2003, 08:24 PM
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I have the same problem, it takes forever to remove frost. I brought it in last year to have it checked out and the dealer said after testing it, everything was fine. So i dunno
 
Old 12-16-2003, 09:21 PM
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you might want to be a bit hesistant using the defroster if you have tinted windows...
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Old 12-17-2003, 07:51 AM
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Originally Posted by gsumax
you might want to be a bit hesistant using the defroster if you have tinted windows...
why, exactly?

And please don't start with "the heat will crack the window"... ask anyone in the south or southwest and they'll tell you their windows get hotter than hell and they don't break.

I had my tint done in Jan in NH and used the rear defroster to cook the moisture out. Worked fine, no bubbles, no broken window. So why, exactly, should he not use the defroster on a tinted window?
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Old 12-17-2003, 10:07 AM
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Originally Posted by 2k2wannabe
why, exactly?

And please don't start with "the heat will crack the window"... ask anyone in the south or southwest and they'll tell you their windows get hotter than hell and they don't break.

I had my tint done in Jan in NH and used the rear defroster to cook the moisture out. Worked fine, no bubbles, no broken window. So why, exactly, should he not use the defroster on a tinted window?
no, it wont crack your window. But tint is a thin film of plastic, and with enough heat, it will cause the tint to eventually shrivel up. It happened on my old honda...I was just saying based on experience...maybe it was the tint job, but i got the same guy to do my maxima and I hardly use the defroster and nothign has happened yet. If you use the defroster all the time and no problems, thats a good thing, but my problem happened over time and after about a year and a half or so.
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Old 12-17-2003, 10:16 AM
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Originally Posted by gsumax
no, it wont crack your window. But tint is a thin film of plastic, and with enough heat, it will cause the tint to eventually shrivel up. It happened on my old honda...I was just saying based on experience...maybe it was the tint job, but i got the same guy to do my maxima and I hardly use the defroster and nothign has happened yet. If you use the defroster all the time and no problems, thats a good thing, but my problem happened over time and after about a year and a half or so.
a quality job with decent tint will not shrivel up. I've had mine on for over a year and it's gone from over 100 degrees this past summer to 3 below zero... no problems. I also turned the defroster on at 3 below zero and had it heat up and melt the crap off the back window, then shut the car off and had it refreeze... no problems.

Quality tint should not be a problem.
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Old 12-17-2003, 10:24 AM
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Originally Posted by 2k2wannabe
a quality job with decent tint will not shrivel up. I've had mine on for over a year and it's gone from over 100 degrees this past summer to 3 below zero... no problems. I also turned the defroster on at 3 below zero and had it heat up and melt the crap off the back window, then shut the car off and had it refreeze... no problems.

Quality tint should not be a problem.

Your right, I just asked one of my buddies and he said exactly what you said. He said the summer heat is alot more than what the heat of the defroster puts on your tint. I guess the first time I just got a crappy job. Sorry about being wrong.
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Old 12-17-2003, 10:50 AM
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Mine takes awhile too.. Maybe it's Seattle?

I remember reading about the maxima's defroster being inferior in a road test a long time ago. Maybe they fixed the problem?
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Old 12-17-2003, 03:11 PM
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My window defroster takes too long also. When i leave work it is done defrosting about 10 minutes later, about two minutes before my house.
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Old 12-17-2003, 03:18 PM
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how many of you guys who are having problems with the defroster have tinted windows???

i know mine works like a champ takes about 7-8 minutes to clear the frost fro mthe back window completely...i timed it once
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Old 12-17-2003, 06:24 PM
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True, I have metallic tint on the back window, but that shouldn't affect it right?
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