Why is my rear defrost so.......worthless . Side defrosters , do not work. Is there a fix for lackluster performance ?? Why aren't my side window defrosters working ?? Separate fuse, perhaps ?? And my side view mirrors do not defrost . I know you can get the ones that defrost, but I was wondering if the wiring was in place for hooking up. Oh,....and Merry Christmas , everyone.

 

All depends on how the elements are doing in the rear glass. Some D1/D2's have the side mirror defrost, and some don't wiring should be there on later models kinda like the seats just missing switches.

 

When I cleaned the adhesive from the For Sale sign off my rear window, I damaged a few of the heater traces. Repaired using a kit from a chain auto parts store. The damage was not easy to see, but you could tell which traces didn't work on a frosty morning.

 

Uh, you do you know the elements in the rear side windows are not defrosters, don’t you? Those are the antenna for the radio. And are you saying the mirrors don’t work either? They may have been replaced with mirrors that don’t have the heating elements in them.

As for the rear, like mentioned, you could have some elements working well and others that don’t. If you’ve got patches on the rear window, I’d get the meter out and do the continuity dance for each line.

This is an extract from my build thread when I was monkeying with some stuff that might help too:Doing a scoshe of research, looks like they are and are connected to the rear screen. Lucky me! I just didn’t think my first 2 D2s actually had them, or don’t recall them working and I never thought they did. From the Electrical library:

Mirror heater
The LH and RH door mirror heaters are connected from the heated rear screen relay in the passenger compartment fusebox on an NP wire via splice joints A19/A167.
When the heated rear window switch is operated an earth path is completed from the switch on a B wire, via header C0760, to earth header C0017 LHD/C0018 RHD. The switch is connected on an NB wire to pin C0663-5 on the BCU.
On vehicles with Air Temperature Control (ATC), when the demist function is selected the ATC ECU provides an earth path on an NB wire through splice joint A249, to pin C0663-5 on the BCU.
The completed earth path is interpreted by the BCU as a signal for heated rear screen operation. The BCU is connected from pin C0661-1 on an SK wire to the the IDM in the passenger compartment fusebox. The SK wire is the serial data bus between the BCU and the IDM. The BCU passes a signal to the IDM which in turn provides an earth path, on a B wire to earth header C0551, for the coil of the heated rear screen relay in the passenger compartment fusebox.

 

I thought the antenna was built into the front windscreen. oh well. Thats interesting. That they would put the radio antenna on the side glass. I just assumed it was defrost. So I'll check to see if I can get heated side mirrors. Thats a load of good information, LTS. Thank you

 

Funny you mention that: a really cool option is actually to have defrosters in the front windshield. I’ve had it in 2 Discos now and it’s more or less a hard requirement for me. It is easily retrofitted too.

But you are not strange as I initially thought the side windows were defrosters too when I bought my first D2 a good while back.

 

So , then , to have heated side mirrors , just purchase the wired mirrors themselves ? And keep everything else ? Or would I have to purchase both left and right side as brand new units ?? It really sucks that Land Rover didn't make ALL side mirrors to defrost.

 

I was under the assumption that all North American D2's had heated mirrors, but totally get the frustration of them being "wimpy." I live in an area where I often wake up to a thin film of condensation on my mirrors. On my 04 Subaru seconds after hitting the switch I could start to see it going away but on my D2 it takes much, much longer.