Rear Defroster Question..
 

Hi,
First, I am a new RX8 owner (1 week) and LOVE this car. In the past I had owned a few Z cars, but lately have been driving trucks, so it feels great to drive a true sports car again.

(I walk around saying zoom,zoom,zoom all day at work :).

Anyway, I am confused about the rear defroster. It seems like ownly the center lines actually work (the ones that also have vertical lines). The top and bottom few appear to do nothing. Are they actually part of the defroster? Or, are they the antenna that I hear about?

Thanks
Reeko

Yes, the antenna is in the rear window. If the antenna lines were also defroster, you wouldn't have any reception when the rear defroster was turned on.

I understand that.
I just was not sure that the 2-3 top and 3 bottom lines were all part of the antenna. (I was expecting just a couple). So, I was surprised when only the center most part of the window defrosted.

Just wanted to be sure there was not defect and that was normal.

Actually haven't had to use mine yet....I'll post you back when I have my first opportunity to try it out.

I used mine yesterday morning for the 1st time. There was no indication of weak spots, as all lines, vertical & horizontal, were defrosting.

welcome
enjoy the car

Thanks,
Love the car. I grin every time I drive it. Looking for excuses to go to the store or whatever....

Service will be checking the window tomorrow. Hope they don't need to replace the glass. My guess is they will however, since the elements do not appera to all be working...

If the antenna is in the rear window, what's that metallic stuff in the windshield? It is clustered around the top center of the windshield kinda perforated metallic looking stuff.

I think that is just a sun shade in the front window - at least that's waht I assumed it was.

I dunno. It is most dense right in front of the interior rearview mirror, just where the mirror already blocks the sun. Maybe you're right. I thought it was an antenna...

I just figured it was intended to fill in where the flip shades can't reach. At least it works well for this purpose.

Yep, the black dot-matrix behind the rear-view mirror is for sun shade. The antenna is in the rear window (just like BMWs).

Reeko,

What did the dealer say was going on? When I turn my rear window defroster on the bottom three lines nor the top two do anything. I thought the antenna was the vertical lines and the rest were defroster.

Thanks

Basically, they said that they wanted me to bring it back when it turned colder so they could duplicate the problem.
I haven't had a chance to yet, it doesn't bother me much. So, I thought I would do it when I hit a service point.

I noticed the same issue yesterday myself. I just figured it meant that those few lines were antenna lines. On my car, the area that's affected is the same area I see my spoiler in rearview mirror, so it's not really much of an issue for me.

If you have NAV the navigation antenna is also in the rear window.

That antenna is a small puck located at the top of the rear window. It is in the region that is black at the top. I know its their because I have the NAV system but I haven't found it yet. My main problem is the lower lines. It maybe that Mazda decided that since the spoiler would block the bottom lines they would just not use them and reduce the load on the alternator.

Check out the TSB - sounds like a broken line to me. Mine has several gaps in the lowest and highest points of the glass.

TSB

Megareds nailed this one. They don't replace the window for a couple of bad defroster filaments.

Some owners are damaging the defroster with the way they are cleaning and in some cases with tint installation.

Reeko, the dealer could have caused the problem when they prepped it.

I'm just back from the dealer service department. They report that the lines are "fine." The invoice says:

"Customer states that the top lines and the bottom three lines do not operate on the defrost. Normal operation. Top 2 lines and bottom 3 lines are the antennae assembly and do not operate with defrost. No repair made."

The department head assured me that he read the TSB, called Mazda NA to confirm that the lines were operating correctly, and even checked the voltage to confirm that it was operating correctly. Overall, I left a happy camper.