Fahrenheit 451

I need to put a new thermostat in my '85 4Runner and haven't had the time. So, I've been driving my '93 4Runner around instead. It wasn't long before a few quick problems arose. I haven't had this truck for even a year yet and this is it's first winter for me. Not surprisingly, the rear wiper blade was shot. Standard problem considering how the blade parks. No biggie. Stuck another on there real quick before heading for work the other day.
A few days with sub zero temps snuck up on us and my windshield washers quit working. I had a pretty good idea why. A few quick turns of the wrench, unplug some wires and sure enough, the bottom of the reservoir is frozen solid. Funny how if you make the tank look like an icecube tray it will work just like one. Some hot water, few more turns of the wrench and back in business.
A bigger issue, no rear window defroster. Now, I've never had one before and didn't really even realize this one had one until I was standing out in the parking lot scraping ice off the rear window. Duh. I had seen it before, but it hadn't lodged in my brain. Jump in the truck, find the switch, push it in and start driving. Since I never had one before I had no clue what to expect time-wise for it to work. However, after about 5 miles I pretty well had it figured out. It didn't work at all.
Time for Yotatech to rescue me. I did a search and found a few different posts about common issues then headed outside. My son was taking a nap so I figured I had a little bit of time to work on it. As seen in the following pics, the problem was easy to get to and very obvious.
Getting to the problem:
(No, those aren't clown shoes. Those are my hiking boots)


Panel pops right off. I was expecting horrors and was happy to see these nice big clips that popped right out with no problems even though it was in the 20's outside.


Half a dozen or so screws holding the plate in place.


Pull back the plastic on the driver's side to access the wiring to the defroster.


Sort of a staged pic here. I had already pulled everything apart and started working before clueing in that this might help out other people. Eagle eyes will notice that the factory wire plug is sitting on the contact backwards. I slapped it up there real quick for a pic.
Pretty easy to see what went wrong, huh.


Since I was somewhat pressed for time, I settled for splicing/soldering and heat wrapping a pigtail onto the factory wire. When I feel like I have more time, I figure on going to Autozone and getting some weatherpack connectors and doing it up better. Then again, if it continues to work, I'll probably forget about it. I shortened the pigtail after this pic making sure it wouldn't catch on any internal mechanisms.


Slapped it all back together, hit the button then sat in the back of the truck freaking out my neighbors by blowing on the window to get it all foggy. Works like a charm!
Hopefully, this might help out anybody else that is having similar problems with their window. It really is incredibly easy to get to and work on. Nothing to be scared about!
The funny thing is, I quit driving the '85 around since I didn't have time to work on it and wound up spending time making sure the '93 was up to par. Now all the '93 needs is a new motor and a SAS

Scofco

Thank you for the writeup!
My defroster is toast aswell.
The fuse was blown, replaced it, still nothing. That's as far as I ever ended up going with it.

User 051420

Mine too....

Scofco

Which means if the fuse keeps blowing, then it's more than likely the solution stated here.

I'll have to pull it into the shop tommorrow and check it out.

UKMyers

I just took mine apart this weekend to lube the tracks for the window since it was getting slow. My defroster was'nt working either. All I did was pull each plug off and clean the connections. There are 2 on each side. Mine works good now.

Fink

Awesome, mine's been shot for a long time now...I'll have to tear into that this weekend.

Good work!

Fink

leebee

now i find out there are two sets of connectors! the one on the drivers side had been bent back and forth so many times the joint broke. it was getting caught on one of the cables in the gate. i soldered it back together and thought that was that. defroster didnt work. checked at the stealer and they told me it could be a break in one of the lines. ill have to take the gate apart this weekend and check the passenger side for the second set of contacts. looks like a busy day at the shop saturday!

lee

Fahrenheit 451

That's good to know! The info I had found only mentioned the driver side which seemed reasonable to me since I figured it was just one big circuit that started and stopped on that side. I think having somewhat recently fixed the tailgate closed detection switch on my '85 4Runner set me up to think that only having to work on one side made sense.
I'm glad mine turned out to be on the driver side. I would probably still be out there trying to figure out what was going on! :pat:
I think I might just pull the whole thing apart to lube the tracks on the regulator and check to make sure the passenger side isn't about ready to fail as well.

Scofco

Tore mine apart today, nothing was obviously wrong, no cut wires, no dirty contacts. *shrug*

I'll have to dive deeper next time I get a chance.

UKMyers

451 If you go to the ends of the gate where the latches are you can rotate them around a full 180 degrees and they will latch tricking the gate into thinking it's closed. You can then roll the window out with the gate down. Just be careful not to go too far. You can a lot better access to the tracks this way. Also in the middle is the gears that move the window. Throw some grease on them where they contact each other. When your all done use some clear silicone to seal up the plastic or else it will fill with dust and crap later on. You know I really shoulda took pics and did a write up on this. My window goes up faster than it ever has in the 3 years I've owned the truck now.

Fahrenheit 451

>>tricking the gate into thinking it's closed. You can then roll the window out with the gate down. Just be careful not to go too far.<<

Oh, yeah. I just about made the expected mistake when working on the tailgate on my '85. I had the tailgate laid down and ran the window out to get at something and nearly shot the glass right out onto the driveway. What made it worse was then I had a heck of time holding it and running the switch to get the window to go back in.
After that near mishap, I may very well shoot for the "Yogi in a bus wreck" pose and do the track with the gate closed.

leebee

ive tried that trick with my 93 and i get some weird warning buzzer/beeping sound. there is another safety built in there somewhere you have to defeat for that to work. it worked on my old 86 when i replaced the window motor, i guess they had too many complaints about the glass being ejected from the gate.

lee