Okay, so the rear defrosters on these cars have some issues. For some of you that may not be a problem, but I hate scraping my windows every morning when my rear defrost doesn't work.

After a good deal of research I found a write-up about this on an Impala forum so thought I'd check it out on mine and share what I found with you guys.

There is a connector under the fuse block in the passenger kick panel that burns out. The hypotheses is that the connector can't pass the current required for the defroster and gets really hot causing bad things to follow. The fix is to bypass it. Some have done this with an inline fuse and reported that it still heated the fuse holder up pretty well. I haven't heard of any direct connections getting hot and mine was still cool after a 20 minute test period.


Step 1:
Locate the fuse door on the passenger side. I forgot to take a photo of this, but you'll have to pull up the door sill that covers up this area and the door attaches to. This plastic sill is held on with a few connectors under the part along the door. They just pop up, mine came out easy because I've had it off in the past to run my sub amp wire through here.


The arrow is pointing to the connector in question after the panel has been removed.


Step 2:
I found it easier to access the connector by popping it off the wall, it has a christmas tree style plug that you can pop out.


Connector


Showing the blue plug and the hole it came out of.

Step 3:
Determine if this connector is in fact the point of failure.


You squeeze the tabs on one end and the fastener will pull up and swing over.


Yup, not correct at all.

Step 4:
Locate and cut the defroster wire and get it ready to be spliced back together.


The thicker purple wire is the culprit in my car, others have reported that it's black in their cars. Just by looking at the connector and the wires going into it you should be able to tell which is which easily enough.


I just snipped the wires close to the connector and stripped them back a bit.

Step 5:
Connect the circuit! I did this with a crimp/heat shrink connector. I would have soldered if it was available, but others have reported this to work fine. Figure out how you want to connect it and stick it back together! I had just enough length in the wires to make this work, some might prefer to add a little length of wire. It's up to you, just make sure to use the same gauge wire.


My final product.



Edit with an update:

 

Hi `Garrett,
Great write `up with pictures
Thanks for posting/sharing...I'm sure it will help many member's that have this problem.

Peace/Out from`Space

 

A friend of mine found the same info when working on his sister's '06 Impala. With some additional help, we found that burned out connector was NOT her only issue. Where the relay connects on the fuse block under the hood was not making a good connection.

We took the fuse block out, took it apart (despite the notice "No servicable parts inside") and squeezed the forks that hold the relay together a little and it's been working fine now for a couple years).

 

When we used to drive to Mammoth Mtn. to ski a few times each year, we used hot buckets of water every day over my '67 Chevelle......lol!!!

Too bad I don't have pics of those huge snow chains on my enormous L-60-15 belted tires.

 

thanks for the tip,,since I got my 2006 LT my rear defrost has ben bugging me,relays after relays, thanks a lot GM told me I needed a whole new fuse box for 400$ with the relay soldered on,,*******
Duderino

 

I've got the same problem and just move the wire around until it catches. This is a fire hazard in my opinion and should be a recall by GM

 

My car had the same problem. My A/C had been working intermittently as well I was playing in the fuse box and found the fuse for the A/C relay was very loose in it's socket I bent the fuse a little as a temporary fix. Looks like I have more work ahead of me when it dies again.

 

Hello - this is my first post - I am having this problem with my 2007 Monte, is there anyway of getting the pics from this post to help me out? I know it's an older post but any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks! SPD

 

Welcome to the forum.

Here's another thread with pictures. Easy fix, find the plug in the kickpanel, trace the damaged wires, remove them from the plug and splice them together.

https://montecarloforum.com/forum/mo...g-32141/page2/

 

This is not related to slow melting and remain "on"

My 03 melt the ice, Frost and snow. Even deep snow or build-up snow during drive real good and fast. It turns off automatically after 10 min.

But with my 2 07 mc I bought.. first one. It clear up fog good... melt frost slowly. .. can't melt snow, even 1/4 inch of snow. I figured that I have bad rear defrost... also doesn't go off automatically after 10 min.

But when I traded in for another 07, I was surprised that it had same issue!!

Am I only one having this weak rear defroster?