Heated rear screen on SL panaoramic not working.

[roadster198]

My R129 1998 SL320's rear heated screen appears to have given up the ghost. When it's switched on only a few lines appear to be working and basically gives up. Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[NW_Merc]

Is this the screen on the folding roof or hard top?

 

[television]

There is no element in the soft top window, thats impossible as it folds in order to go into the boot.

If the lamp is staying on the full 15 mins, and just a few elements working there is a break. These screens are very low power and not very effective even when working. A repair kit may work, and as the hard top comes off they are easy to work on.

 

[roadster198]

There is no element in the soft top window, thats impossible as it folds in order to go into the boot.

If the lamp is staying on the full 15 mins, and just a few elements working there is a break. These screens are very low power and not very effective even when working. A repair kit may work, and as the hard top comes off they are easy to work on.

I've had a mechanic look at it and there is power getting to the roof... his concern is that it could be the glass itself that's the problem. I assume a replacement pain for the hardtop will be very expensive?

To be fair I asked him for a quick assessment so as not to impose to much cost.

 

[television]

If the lamp is staying on it shows the control unit as latched to the relay that operates the screen, you have the connector in the passenger door B pillar, you can measure for 12v there and you can do a resistance check on the plug that goes to the glass window element.

As I said earlier the screens are not very effective, they are too low a wattage.

t

 

[mikestrivens]

Yes on mine I find that the aircon is better at clearing the inside of the rear window than the heated element.

 

[mikestrivens]

And the car heats up quickly enough to clear the outside pretty quickly as well.

 

[roadster198]

New battery bought and the rear screen seems to be trying a little harder but not much more than that.... :sad:

 

[stevieb15]

Yes on mine I find that the aircon is better at clearing the inside of the rear window than the heated element.

I looked at this thread yesterday and thought it wrong, but as its been months since I used the hrw on any car decided not to comment in case my memory failed me.
But this morning with two cars sat on the drive under 3 degrees of frost I was able to perform a direct comparison test between the SE and SL...within 3 minutes the SL was clear whilst the SE was a work in progress.
It may be a case of the SE hrw being utterly useless but as I've always been quite impressed with the SLs ability to defrost I'll stick with my view its rather effective.

 

[roadster198]

I looked at this thread yesterday and thought it wrong, but as its been months since I used the hrw on any car decided not to comment in case my memory failed me.
But this morning with two cars sat on the drive under 3 degrees of frost I was able to perform a direct comparison test between the SE and SL...within 3 minutes the SL was clear whilst the SE was a work in progress.
It may be a case of the SE hrw being utterly useless but as I've always been quite impressed with the SLs ability to defrost I'll stick with my view its rather effective.

The new battery has certainly improved it's performance a little however it's clearly not right. I've e-mailed the SL shop and I'm still awaiting a reply....
They've been good with a couple of other issues so I hope they can sort something out...