W211 Heated Rear Window Question

[davet256]

I have recently bought a 2008 W211 E-Class and have a question to put to other owners.

I have been told and have read on forums that the top of the heated rear window is used as the radio aerial and isn't part of the heated rear window.

But my question is, _exactly_ how many of the heater elements are part of the aerial in heated rear window? Where does the aerial stop and the heater start?

I think that some of the elements are faulty on mine, but haven't been able to find out which should and shouldn't work.

Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Dave.

 

[television]

look hard at the glass and you can follow the tracks built into the glass, the heated rear window ones could be much thicker than the antenna ones

 

[whitenemesis]

Welcome Dave!

Is it an estate or saloon?

 

[davet256]

Hi,

Thanks for the "welcome".

It's the saloon.

Cheers,
Dave.

 

[whitenemesis]

WIS simply states the wires visible at the top of the rear window are antennae wires and are not heated!

So, all the radio wires are together at the top. You shouldn't have any interspersed with the heater wires (if that makes sense?)

 

[davet256]

Thanks for the info whitenemesis, I know what you're getting at!

My personal view is that several of the elements at the top of my heated rear window don't work. The problem is that because I don't know how many of the elements are part of the aerial, it is an unquantifiable number of faulty elements. With the current cold weather, its easy to see which do and don't work.

If there are any W211 owners that can take a minute to count down from the top of the window the elements that work I can compare with mine for a definite answer.

The top 6 don't work on my car - see attached pics - high res pictures available if anyone wants them.

Thanks for the help so far.

Cheers,
Dave.

 

[television]

It is as in my earlier post,, the top 6 are not for the heated glass , you can see the difference in the size of the wires in your picture

 

[jberks]

That pic looks about right to me.
You can tell which they are as the wires are connected together in a block on the glass. So the top block are the radio and lower HRW.
Look down the edges of the lines where they all join. You'll see which they are.

 

[davet256]

television/jberks - thanks for your input.

This evening, I've looked more closely at the elements and found several breaks in the elements at the top of the screen. There is also a faint haze where a sticker has been placed over the elements at some point in the past - probably a dealer's sticker/advert - and I suppose that whomever removed it may have caused the damage.

If I short across the break of the "number 6" element with my ammeter, the current drawn in about 160mA, and the element starts working again. So my guess is that one is certainly faulty.

I can't see a break in "number 5", except maybe right at one end but it is too far in the corner pillar to be able to short to test if it is faulty or not.

Shorting across the other breaks (top to "number 4" element) doesn't show any current so my guess is that they're the aerial.

I'm still keen to get more hard, factual information from someone who has the same car rather than rely on speculation as to where the aerial ends and the HRW begins.

Thanks to all for the info so far,

Dave.

 

[anyweb]

w211 rear window not heating at all now !

i've just noticed that mine isnt working anymore, the light comes on when i press the button but the window doesn't clear. How can i troubleshoot this ? i will point out that when i bought the car a year or so ago that i noticed it took some minutes before the rear window cleared after pressing the button, as if there was a 2 minute delay before it did anything

now it just does nothing, no matter how long i wait

 

[television]

If the lamp is staying on for the 15 minute duration then you will have to remove the C panel drives side in your case and see if 12 volt is getting to the connectors in the end of the rear screen.

 

[anyweb]

hi malcolm i'll watch if it's on for 15 minutes tomorrow or next time i drive it,
where is the c panel and any idea exactly where the wires are, do you think theres a cut ?

 

[television]

The C panel is the lining in the corner that goes up to the rear window side, you have to test there, no other way, you could have a relay in the rear for this rear window, have a look at 240 in the boot side panel

 

[anyweb]

thanks Malcolm, so to be clear is this part (240) behind the pillar (c) or in the boot somewhere ?

 

[television]

Its in the side panel in the boot, putting the car on STAR could be the easiest option

 

[anyweb]

well i must hafve been imagining things it seems to be working ok, just slow to heat up....

 

[mersum1es]

Just one Finnish forum member found that there was a connector bottom of the fuse box which have had bad contact and it has sparkled and cut the wire. Also webasto started to work (I guess telestart came online too)