OK, right now I have the luxary of not driving my Monte in the winter. But as we hit early spring and late fall, I do tend to need my rear defroster. Every thread I've read about our cars (the 6th gen Monte) and rear defroster ends with NO answer to the cause of the problem.

It's been so long since I've looked at it, I don't remember all the variables (and I won't be looking at it again until spring). But what I'm hoping our members here can do is give the not so obvious answers. Things they've found and can share.

What I do know, the tabs on my rear glass are fine, you can here the relay click and if it works, it's only for a second (barely shows signs that it did anything). The light for the defroster can stay on all day and no change. I have no blown fuses.

Come spring, I plan to recheck the continuity from the fuse panel to the back of the car (I believe that came out OK last time) and I plan to check the ground wire as well (again, I am certain that is fine as well).

So hook me up gang, what are some problems people have seen, the more I have to check come spring, the better I stand at resolving this. BTW - one mystery I don't have an answer for is that my owner's manual states there is a "circuit breaker" for the defroster. It looks as if it should be in the fuse panel access on the passenger side, but I have yet to find the stinkin' thing. If it really exists, I'd love to check it out, make sure it's not screwed up (such as tripping itself and some how auto-resetting).

Thanks and I appreciate the help!!

 

I used to hear that same "clicking" sounds, like when its first active, and then it would do it on its on. I kinda came to the conclusion it was shorting-out. "short circuit"
The last time I check it had fallen off the tab .
So if its the same clicking it may be on its way out if not already.
When it did work, it was great quick response.
Hope you figure it out, oh btw i've tried those "defroster repair kits" but seems its not strong enough because the tab falls off again.
I'll keep an eye on this thread i also want to see what "resolution" our members come up with, beside those cheap repair kits.
So right now, i do just fine with the heated side view mirros, those STILL work.

 

x3 on this issue for me.. I have no solutions either. In the meantime, I have a mini heater that I plug into the outlet behind my center console, by the time I get to work I have about a cereal bowl size circle cleared off on very light snow days..

 

Chris, has your tab fallen off place also or just a short somewhere? (fuse?)

 

It's a short somewhere, I had the money to get the rear window replaced and the guy at safelite said that everything looks ok (tabs,grid) he said to take it to a shop and get the electrical system checked out. I was gonna bite the bullet and take it to the dealer but I'm getting by without it, second winter so far.

Hopefully someone here will give some better advice on our issue, I hope

there is a member here (Seawolf?) and he has a ton of knowledge when it comes to electrical issues, maybe he will stop by and give us some help?

 

Good luck, I can manage just fine also but its one of those little things that just bothers me. hehe

 

My relay clicks when you turn on the defroster (I never hear it click on it's own). As far as the tabs, my father re-soldiered the tabs on a neighbor's 2000 Monte SS. So I would not bother with the kits and just go for the re-soldier.

But he checked the tabs and said they are fine. So, looking for more info. There has to be a dark, hidden secret with how common these problems are. Keep the ideas flowing!

 

OK, this thread has been a little stale, we need more info flowing, so here's something. It's not a 6th gen Monte but food for thought....

A friend of mine has a '06 Impala with a non-working rear defogger. With some research in the Internet, I found the Impala guys spoke of a burned out connector in a wiring harness for the rear defogger under the passenger side kick panel. Using their idea of splicing a fuse holder in and adding a 30 amp fuse, we did that. Still, no luck.

With my father's help going over what me and my friend already reviewed, he found a source of our problem. The forked prongs in the fuse panel that hold the relay for the rear defogger were separating (rock the relay a little and WHAM, the defogger was working perfectly).

We pulled the fuse panel out, took the panel apart (required removing all fuses and relays) and using a pair of needle nose, tightened all the prongs used on the rear defogger relay. Put it back together and everything is working great again.

After getting my father over to look, we have maybe an entire hour vested in this.

Not sure how much of this info stirs any thoughts on the Monte (and I really can't look at this stuff on my Monte, which is outside, under a car cover and covered in snow with no battery connected).

 

On my 6th gen one of my tabs fell off. I just used some glass glue stuff that I had and put a stick from the tab to the seat to hold it tight for a few days and it's working fine again.

 

was it the fuse panel under the hood, sorry for a stupid question but not really sure of this, thanks