Rear Defroster Blanks out Radio

Here's an interesting problem I just noticed today...perhaps someone else has/had the problem and would know what it is caused by...I was listening to an FM station, and turned on my rear defogger. The station I was listening to disappeared into a hisss, which disappeared after I turned off the defogger. The hissing noise replaced the radio station, so it was not just covering it up, but it wiped it out completely. Strangely enough, it did not happen on all of the FM stations, nor was it confined to one end of the band or the other...it was pretty random.

The car is a 2000 Maxima with original radio. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else experienced this.

Thanks! Z

Reply to
azf713
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a wild guess, but some Maxima's had a radio antenna in the rear window glass along with the rear defogger (separate wires/traces/patterns, some had an aerial and the glass...). it's possible someone crossed the wires, or shorted them? possibly depends on the strength of the station signal? never seen this...

Reply to
gary

It's actually a more common problem than you might think :)

The problem is that you have some "broken" defroster lines and that are causing interference with your FM reception. The fix is to find the broken lines (much easier in winter when the frost doesn't melt from certain parts of the rear glass) and buy a repair kit at your local parts store (conductive paint) and touch up the breaks. It's a tedious job with the glass on the car - since the lines are on the inside of the rear glass and there isn't much room to look/work back there.

The easiest way to find the breaks (apart from the recommended "measure the voltage" instructions you'll get at all online articles), is to grab a helper and a white sheet of paper. From the inside of the car, place the paper on the inside glass and slide it along each line, with your helper observing from the outside, looking for a discontinuity.

Just for kicks, try an AM station and see how that sounds ;)

Cheers, Nirav

96 Max GLE, 137k
Reply to
njmodi

Thanks so much for this reply, Nirav! I will give it a look tomorrow and see what I can find.

AZF

Reply to
azf713

Hi, firends,

Just as an FYI, I was able to locate the defective grid...I waited for a frosty morning, and found the one grid that wasn't heating. However, I was not able to locate a break visually.

I used an ohmmeter and located what appeared to be a break. I picked up a repair kit for $5 at AutoZone, and repaired it. The instructions said to wait 24 hours before using the defroster, but curiosity got the better of me, and I quickly cycled the power...and the radio now works perfectly.

I will need to wait until tomorrow afternoon to clean up the stray repair fluid, but the bottom line is that Nirav's diagnosis was right on the money.

thank you again!

AZF

Reply to
azf713

I was right for a change :) I was expecting a flurry of "that's BS" responses to my suggestion...

Glad to hear you got the problem fixed.... oh btw, that repair paint works great to repair corroded/oxdized traces on the top layer of a PCB as well :), e.g. a phone circuit board.

One side effect of that repair is now when you use the defroster, you'll get a hot-spot on the rear glass at that repair spot - bugs me to no end.. but I've been told I'm not normal - so it may not be an issue for you ;)

Cheers, Nirav

Reply to
njmodi

I actually saw that hot spot....it's interesting....lines all across the window, and WHAM a big splotch...and then lines...but once the window is clear, it doesn't show up.

I can live with that more easily than the hissing noise the radio was making

Thanks again!!

Z

Reply to
azf713

No probs... I gotta look mine over again soon - I'm getting a faint buzzing again - so perhaps one of my previous repairs has started to fall apart - that paint is not too durable - don't scrub your back glass to hard (from the inside).

Nirav

Reply to
njmodi

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