upper three lines of rear window heater do not work
10-24-2007, 12:19 PM
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My Ride: 520d LCI, old engine, manual, black dakota, platingrau II, standard (242?) rims.
If those lines are from your defroster then you get some special copper paint that allows you to fill in the gaps. Else you have to replace your screen. Of course once I met an Autoglass guy who said that I should 'break' my own glass and make a claim for it because it would be covered without affecting my non claims bonus. I Of course took the copper plate option because I hate messing with the factory seal of the glass.
Originally Posted by Veight' post='485458' date='Oct 24 2007, 08:40 AM
It would be strange that BMW would not defrost the area of glass that covers the brake light.
I'll report back from the dealer.
10-24-2007, 12:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Veight' post='485458' date='Oct 24 2007, 03:40 PM
It would be strange that BMW would not defrost the area of glass that covers the brake light.
And when there is ice on a window, you are supposed to remove it before driving off.
That's why.
10-24-2007, 12:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Iceman' post='485645' date='Oct 24 2007, 03:37 PM
There are two more brake lights.
And when there is ice on a window, you are supposed to remove it before driving off.
That's why.
And when there is ice on a window, you are supposed to remove it before driving off.
That's why.
If you are supposed to remove the ice, then why have defrost lines in the 1st place. And yes there are two more brake lights, my point is why would they not go the extra inch and clear off this important area of the window. Nice try Iceman. You sound like the BMW service writer at the typical dealership.
Ice is transparent.
10-24-2007, 05:33 PM
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boukehj, I think your car is working fine. The top three lines on my car are clearly for the diversity antenna (and yes, they do go through the CHMSL).
You can easily verify this by tracing the lines and looking for breaks in them. On my car, they do not go end to end continuously. Instead, there are a couple breaks at what seems to be random places which would obviously not complete the circuit for the defroster...
You can easily verify this by tracing the lines and looking for breaks in them. On my car, they do not go end to end continuously. Instead, there are a couple breaks at what seems to be random places which would obviously not complete the circuit for the defroster...
10-25-2007, 12:49 PM
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Originally Posted by Veight' post='485658' date='Oct 24 2007, 10:58 PM
If you are supposed to remove the ice, then why have defrost lines in the 1st place. And yes there are two more brake lights, my point is why would they not go the extra inch and clear off this important area of the window. Nice try Iceman. You sound like the BMW service writer at the typical dealership.
That's how it is.
In Germany, and I am pretty sure it is just the same in most or all countrys, the drivers vision has to be clear. No things are allowed in the front or rear window which could distract him in looking at the street. Therefore, windows have to be cleaned from ice before you start driving. That's what we have ice scrapers for.
The "defrost" lines are not for defrosting, they are there to "defog" the rear window. They are used to clear a steamed-up rear window!
And the area you mention is not THAT important. Much more important is the middle and the bottom, and the sides... Through the upper section of your rear window you can see airplanes or helicopters when they approach. Traffic is more in the middle and lower section of your window.
10-26-2007, 12:25 AM
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Of course this is a defect and the car should go back to the dealer. I have an LCI 525dT and I don't have to use the ice scraper on the rear window. The defroster does the job while I am scraping off the other windows. When I get back in the car it's just water on the rear window and i whipe it off with the rear whiper and just drives away.
10-26-2007, 03:33 AM
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My Ride: 520d LCI, old engine, manual, black dakota, platingrau II, standard (242?) rims.
It's a feature, not a bug!
Went to the dealer today and just got a call back from the service people there. They confirmed that the upper lines were not part of the rear window heater.
I then checked the lines and indeed, the upper lines are intermittent - there are cuts in them that are clearly by design (just as someone mentioned).
All's well
Went to the dealer today and just got a call back from the service people there. They confirmed that the upper lines were not part of the rear window heater.
I then checked the lines and indeed, the upper lines are intermittent - there are cuts in them that are clearly by design (just as someone mentioned).
All's well
10-26-2007, 06:02 AM
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My Ride: 08 550 Carbon Sport Almost everything factory, but no sound upgrades.
idgam noted earlier a manunal reference. Here is the entire paragraph:
Quote from my 08 550 Manual, page 113;
?Rear window defroster
The rear window defroster switches off automatically after a while. Depending on the vehicle equipment, upper wires are used as an antenna and are not part of the rear window defroster.?
On the same page there is reference to ?ice and condensation? on the front and side windows.
The manual uses ice, condensation [fog] and frost [as in defroster], but clearly not all for all windows
Sounds like most every post is correct.
Quote from my 08 550 Manual, page 113;
?Rear window defroster
The rear window defroster switches off automatically after a while. Depending on the vehicle equipment, upper wires are used as an antenna and are not part of the rear window defroster.?
On the same page there is reference to ?ice and condensation? on the front and side windows.
The manual uses ice, condensation [fog] and frost [as in defroster], but clearly not all for all windows
Sounds like most every post is correct.
10-26-2007, 06:28 AM
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Originally Posted by Iceman' post='486083' date='Oct 25 2007, 03:49 PM
It's not a try!
That's how it is.
In Germany, and I am pretty sure it is just the same in most or all countrys, the drivers vision has to be clear. No things are allowed in the front or rear window which could distract him in looking at the street. Therefore, windows have to be cleaned from ice before you start driving. That's what we have ice scrapers for.
The "defrost" lines are not for defrosting, they are there to "defog" the rear window. They are used to clear a steamed-up rear window!
And the area you mention is not THAT important. Much more important is the middle and the bottom, and the sides... Through the upper section of your rear window you can see airplanes or helicopters when they approach. Traffic is more in the middle and lower section of your window.
That's how it is.
In Germany, and I am pretty sure it is just the same in most or all countrys, the drivers vision has to be clear. No things are allowed in the front or rear window which could distract him in looking at the street. Therefore, windows have to be cleaned from ice before you start driving. That's what we have ice scrapers for.
The "defrost" lines are not for defrosting, they are there to "defog" the rear window. They are used to clear a steamed-up rear window!
And the area you mention is not THAT important. Much more important is the middle and the bottom, and the sides... Through the upper section of your rear window you can see airplanes or helicopters when they approach. Traffic is more in the middle and lower section of your window.
Guess you didn't get the point I was making.
Not saying that its blocking my vison out the back window. We in the US don't have to look for approaching aircraft while sitting in the drivers seat and peering out the top portion of the rear window. But it is nice to have all functioning rear brake lights TOTALLY visable from fog or whatever is blocking rear window to cars approaching from the rear. Whats the point of the center rear mounted tail light if its not visable.
Just saying it was strange that BMW would not include wires to clear this area since its 3 inches from the area it already clears.