Now that its getting frosty out, I have noticed that the rear defroster on my '03 Xtype REALLY Sucks. I have had cars with crappy rear defrosters before, but this is the worst I've encountered. It does work, maybe, sort of, after about three cycles (there's an auto shutoff after about 5 minutes) the windows is PARTIALLY cleared. Rear visibility isn't great to begin with, and a frozen rear window makes backing out of the driveway each morning a leap of faith.

So I am wondering what can be done... Could I put a different fuse in that circuit to jazz up the amount of juice flowing through those wires embedded in the glass? Also, there are air vents under the rear window, but nothing blows out of them - is it supposed to? or are those just to releive air pressure when you close the trunk or something?

 

Meatbag, putting a larger fuse in the fuse holder will do nothing to increase the performance of the rear defroster. A fuse is only there to limit the current, not allow more to flow. Now, I will admit that the rear defroster isn't the best in this car, but atleast for me it seems to do the job. IT may be advisable to simply back into the parking spot so in the morning you are able to drive out straight without having to use the rear defroster/window.

As for the air vents on the rear deck, that is only there to equalize pressure between the trunk and the passenger area. There is no forced air that is pushed through that area that I am aware of.

 

Mine seems to be ok...I mean it takes up to 5 mins. But its not terrible. I always park backwards too so it never bothered me.

 

Thats odd, ours works great! clears it up in no time at all.

 

Mine works great too, never had any problems.

 

My 05 works ok too. It's the front that takes forever for me. But then again, I've only just begun using the A/C to actually defrost/defog... I used to turn it off until I noticed it actually does heat up faster than the car. Maybe this winter won't be "so" bad.

 

Both of my defrosters work fine, but I put Rain-X on all the glass this weekend. I had to hit the defrost tonight on an errand, it cleared up on the front very quickly.

 

My '03 rear defrost barely works. I get a couple clear patches, like 2-3" round, but that's it. The rest stays nicely fogged. I've checked the fuse and that I have voltage across the wires along the window. Any ideas how to make them actually do anything useful, or anything else I can check?

In general, as others have noted, this car fogs all the windows easily/frequently, but not having a clear rear window almost ever is annoying, and probably dangerous.

 

mine is pretty ***** as well, it's clear some of the wires are broken, it's easy to see in the rear view mirror how some lines simply aren't being defrosted at all while others are fine, pretty annoying and probably incredibly expensive if i'd wanna try and fix it, so probably won't

 

Mine work incredibly well now after repair in cold wintery Utah. Testing for "voltage", I elected to check for "continuity" across several sections of each wire strand. Tedious, but effective. The repair kit was really quite cheap and works well if patience is observed.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DIY-Rear-Wi...edirect=mobile

 

wow, interesting, will order and give it a try

 

Another bit of advice is always using the "automatic" button on climate control which uses the A/C even when heating which dehumidifies the cabin air.

 

OP: Wow, this post is TEN YEARS OLD.
That car had about 40,000 miles at the time, and the rear window defrost on the 2003 never got any better.

Last year I bought a 16,000 mile 2006 X-type, and the rear window defrost is much better.