Rear Windscreen Not Heating

[Roger00]

The rear windscreen of my 05 Prius is not heating. With autumn and winter approaching, I would rather have it working than not.

The heating wires in the screen are OK. It seems that the connection to the screen is broken - with rear door raised, it's in the top left corner. A local screen specialist thinks that I will need a new screen - £500 or so from the dealer or £260 from a specialist, both including labour and tax. BUT the screen is OK, it's the connection which needs repairing.

I need a glass/metal bonding product which can then be used to fix the connection. Does anybody know of one, or can anyone make another suggestion? Thanks for your help.

[ian rooke]

Hi you can get a paint from Halfords for repairing rear electric screens but it is hard to apply and make it look decent

[Roger00]

Hi you can get a paint from Halfords for repairing rear electric screens but it is hard to apply and make it look decent

Thanks, Ian. Very helpful.

Because of the age of the car, I'm not keen on spending £500 or whatever for a new screen. A screen specialist is coming tomorrow to repair for about £45. He says in his experience, it may only be 40% or so reliable. Hmm. We'll see.

Roger

[dwilson]

Hi you can get a paint from Halfords for repairing rear electric screens but it is hard to apply and make it look decent

Thanks, Ian. Very helpful.

Because of the age of the car, I'm not keen on spending £500 or whatever for a new screen. A screen specialist is coming tomorrow to repair for about £45. He says in his experience, it may only be 40% or so reliable. Hmm. We'll see.

Roger

You could try silver conductive paint - a good blob may do the trick! Good luck

[Starensis]

Use some fine solder. If you have a steady hand it should fix it & last. Just need to make sure both contact areas are clean.

Altermatively, claim off insurance. You will only need to pay £60 excess,

[Glassman]

If there is a break in the line(s) where they cross the glass (not the blacked area of the screen) the product mentioned can do the job, depending how large the break is. But if the tag (to which the loom connects to) is broken, it's a very tricky job to get a proper bond back onto the glass.

Using solder comes with a risk of blowing the glass up (heat shock).

I vaguely remember a company that specialised in repairing broken tags, but I cannot recommend them on the basis that I haven't used them myself (or know anyone that has). I'll post their details as soon as I find them.

ETA:

Can't find the company that does it ATM, but my understanding of the process (if it is the tag that has broken away from the glass) is to use an suitable glass-to-metal glue (the two part Loctite version which is used for sticking some mirror brackets onto windscreens is probably best) but only use a tiny amount so that you're left with a recess under between the two surfaces. This gap is then filled with a conductive silver paint.

HTH

Edited October 12, 2010 by Glassman