Highschool 69

Hi, new to the C4's. Just purchased a 1996 coupe. Now trying to start repairing all the things I have found wrong. At the rear hatch struts I found an elecrical connection to the defrost grid. One side is detached from the glass. Can it be repaired or is the defroster toast? Thanks in advance for any advice.

cudamax

If any of those black thin lines r broken They can easily be repaired by urself
http://www.brandsport.com/pmtx-15067...kqDRoC1dnw_wcB
Every auto part stores sell them even Walmart

cumbercr

Great advice. One of mine has been broken for years. I thought it was going to stay that way.

cudamax

WVZR-1

If the terminal to the glass is detached it's still repairable. There are different schools of thought as to the "how to". The FSM mentions solder and that's how I've repaired previous ones but with newer technology then perhaps a "conductive epoxy" might do as well or maybe even better. For the novice it might be the preferred, the solder operation for someone that doesn't do it frequently could be challenging.

I interpreted your situation to be the terminal and NOT just a break in the grid. Is the terminal and wire still attached to the strut and the wire just pulled loose from the solder joint?

Highschool 69

Thank you for the reply. Yes, the wire and terminal are on the connection at the strut rod. The wire is detached from a woven soldered braid attached to the glass. The braid reminds me of the old slot car braided wire pickup for power from the track.
I was not aware of any "conductive epoxy". I would try to solder it but was concerned with cracking the glass. If I get this fixed, my next problem may be in the grid.
I have to start shopping for a factory service manual.

Cliff Harris

The wire is quite heavy and the braid conducts the heat away pretty fast. You need at least a 100 watt soldering iron to do this without damaging anything.

Both of the wires on my car came loose and I was able to solder them back on without problems.

Hot Rod Roy

After repairing my broken solder joint at the grid, I put a blob of RTV on the wire, so the wire does the flexing as you close the hatch, rather than flexing the solder joint! Since the wire was already broken, I used a slightly longer wire for the repair, to reduce the stress on the solder joint.

65Z01

I bought a butane soldering tool that works very well but didn't get a chance to try it on the prior Vette before it got hit and totalled.

samsonb

Get a good soldering iron and solder it back on.

Remove the wire from the rod and tin the end of the exposed wires. If there is enough slack, you could cut the old exposed wires off and re-strip to have fresh wires. But you'll want to tin the exposed wires, then tin the part on the grid those wires go to. Get a nice blob on the grid.

Though make sure you have a towel laid out to catch any solder drippings.

Then connect the wire to the rod, and tape it so the exposed wire stays aligned with the grid that has the solder blob. And apply a soldering iron to the exposed wire along with some solder and get a good blob on and quickly remove the iron.

Let sit for a bit before removing the tape.

http://store.curiousinventor.com/gui...older/prepare/

FrankieD

There is no need to struggle trying to repair this, the easiest and most efficient method is using this:
http://www.frostfighter.com/index.htm

Bobby Brewsky

Here's another resource:
http://www.frostfighter.com/index.htm