If you own a 240Z or a 260Z, chances are your heated rear window doesn't work. Well I may have a solution!
The one in my 260 doesn't work - broken elements I think. You cannot buy new windows anywhere, and if you get a second hand one, that almost certainly won't work either (tried it!).
Yes, you can buy silver conductive paint and try and touch in the lines, but it is nigh on impossible to do and looks a right bloody mess as the lines on the car are originally orange, not silver. Tried it - gave up!
So here is my solution.
I saw advertised on Maplins website a little in-car fan heater that you plug into the cigarette lighter. (Link follows for this later).
It occurred to me that if I could mount this near the rear window, it might work to clear it.
The heater is normally only £9.99 but currently on offer at just £4.99, so I bought one. It comes on a little stand with an adjustable ball joint so you can angle it how you wish. The stand can be fixed to the car using two screws provided, or with a double side sticky velcro pad also provided.
The heater has two settings - FAN (when it blows a quite strong stream of cool air) or HEAT (when it blows a slower stream of very warm air).
I found I could easily mount it on the centre of the bottom of the rear tailgate using one of the existing screw holes which hold on the vinyl pad that is there. I didn't use the second screwhole on the stand - just popped in the sticky pad to secure it.
I then angled the little heater to point directly up onto the rear window and set it on HEAT.
Not wanting to have to keep plugging it into the cig lighter (it will just reach), I chopped off the cig lighter plug. It is fed by two wires. I bought a couple of little spade connectors, then connected one wire to one of the leads feeding the heated rear window, and the other to the second lead feeding the rear window.
Note - you have to get it the right way round. The heater wire that has the 15amp fuse half way along it needs to be connected to the offside heated rear window lead. Do it the other way and the heater won't work.
The whole thing took me about 20 minutes to do and I am no electrician!
Now, when I switch on the 'rear defogger' switch the little heater comes on and starts blowing warm air onto the rear screen.
The heater looks very neat, cannot even be seen from outside the car, and all the wires to it can be very easily run around the tailgate out of sight (I used double-sided sticky tape to secure them).
So the big question is, does it work?
Well I've been quite happy with it. When the back window is fogged up and you switch it on, after about a minute you get a small oval patch of clear glass that starts to form in the centre of the screen. This you can see through quite well.
Then as the heat starts to rise and build up in the roof space, the screen starts to slowly clear from the top downwards. After 10 minutes, I have found most of the screen is clear.
Obviously, it will never be as good as a properly-functioning heated rear window, but it is a cheap solution and better than nothing!
Yes, I know people say you can just wind down the driver's window and that will eventually clear it, but the point is that windows generally steam up when it is either pouring with rain or freezing cold - just when you DON'T want to be driving with the window down.
Here is the link to the Maplin heater, and also to another similar one I have seen on ebay that may even be better.
Then below are several pictures showing how I have fitted the rear window heater to my car.
If you decide to try it, good luck!
In-Car Ceramic Heater : Accessories : Maplin Electronics
Sakura 12 VOLT 2-IN-1 IN CAR HEATER & DEMISTER FAN | eBay
The one in my 260 doesn't work - broken elements I think. You cannot buy new windows anywhere, and if you get a second hand one, that almost certainly won't work either (tried it!).
Yes, you can buy silver conductive paint and try and touch in the lines, but it is nigh on impossible to do and looks a right bloody mess as the lines on the car are originally orange, not silver. Tried it - gave up!
So here is my solution.
I saw advertised on Maplins website a little in-car fan heater that you plug into the cigarette lighter. (Link follows for this later).
It occurred to me that if I could mount this near the rear window, it might work to clear it.
The heater is normally only £9.99 but currently on offer at just £4.99, so I bought one. It comes on a little stand with an adjustable ball joint so you can angle it how you wish. The stand can be fixed to the car using two screws provided, or with a double side sticky velcro pad also provided.
The heater has two settings - FAN (when it blows a quite strong stream of cool air) or HEAT (when it blows a slower stream of very warm air).
I found I could easily mount it on the centre of the bottom of the rear tailgate using one of the existing screw holes which hold on the vinyl pad that is there. I didn't use the second screwhole on the stand - just popped in the sticky pad to secure it.
I then angled the little heater to point directly up onto the rear window and set it on HEAT.
Not wanting to have to keep plugging it into the cig lighter (it will just reach), I chopped off the cig lighter plug. It is fed by two wires. I bought a couple of little spade connectors, then connected one wire to one of the leads feeding the heated rear window, and the other to the second lead feeding the rear window.
Note - you have to get it the right way round. The heater wire that has the 15amp fuse half way along it needs to be connected to the offside heated rear window lead. Do it the other way and the heater won't work.
The whole thing took me about 20 minutes to do and I am no electrician!
Now, when I switch on the 'rear defogger' switch the little heater comes on and starts blowing warm air onto the rear screen.
The heater looks very neat, cannot even be seen from outside the car, and all the wires to it can be very easily run around the tailgate out of sight (I used double-sided sticky tape to secure them).
So the big question is, does it work?
Well I've been quite happy with it. When the back window is fogged up and you switch it on, after about a minute you get a small oval patch of clear glass that starts to form in the centre of the screen. This you can see through quite well.
Then as the heat starts to rise and build up in the roof space, the screen starts to slowly clear from the top downwards. After 10 minutes, I have found most of the screen is clear.
Obviously, it will never be as good as a properly-functioning heated rear window, but it is a cheap solution and better than nothing!
Yes, I know people say you can just wind down the driver's window and that will eventually clear it, but the point is that windows generally steam up when it is either pouring with rain or freezing cold - just when you DON'T want to be driving with the window down.
Here is the link to the Maplin heater, and also to another similar one I have seen on ebay that may even be better.
Then below are several pictures showing how I have fitted the rear window heater to my car.
If you decide to try it, good luck!
In-Car Ceramic Heater : Accessories : Maplin Electronics
Sakura 12 VOLT 2-IN-1 IN CAR HEATER & DEMISTER FAN | eBay
[well spotted,going to get a couple of those for that price],but if you want an alternative,but not as easily reversible i purchased one of these complete kits a while ago for another vehicle,no probs,they cost more and if you are prepared for the messing about work sound.Some uk kit car companies sell similar for about 30 quid. 