Aldmhac

Hey everyone,

First time here but definitely looking to get involved in the community! I have a 2010 Convertible that I bought used a little over a year ago from a Ford dealership. When I purchased the car, I noticed the rear defroster wasn't working so I brought it back to the dealership and they fixed it right away. So about a year has gone by and I noticed a few weeks ago it was not working again, and the external device attached to the window had once again fallen off. I had my mechanic take a look at it after he finished doing an oil change and he told me he didn't want to touch it since it looked as though when the dealership originally fixed it, they did a spotty job and he didn't want to make anything worse or void my warranty. My mechanic then sent me to an Auto glass specialty shop who told me I would need to replace the window since this problem would not be able to be fixed properly by using any type of adhesive of having a soldering job done to it since part of the mechanism that makes the window heat up was damaged when the dealership originally tried to solder it. He then told me it wasn't possible to replace the window without replacing the top, which is completely understandable.

I have Ford Extra Care warranty which does cover the rear heating mechanism so I called my dealership and set up an appointment for them to "fix" it.

I'm a little bit nervous here that the problem won't be fixed properly and the dealership will try and get away without replacing the window for me. Does anyone have any suggestions at what I can do to make sure it gets fixed correctly?

88lx50

OK - here is the best advice you will get, from someone who went through this. Don't let the dealer fix it. I bought my car used and a dealer had already repaired it and it fell off again. I think the dealer used chewing gum to put mine back. Fix it yourself. I did mine in the spring and it held on great this whole summer. BTW - the reason why it rips off initially is because there is not enough slack in the wire and it binds and tears off when you put the top down. I fed some more wire through the well area over to the other side to give it more slack and take tension off of it when the top went down.

Here is the product to use to repair it. It is a bit expensive, but works great. Buy yourself a new tab from them as well. Follow the instructions exactly, especially the temperature to apply the product. I think it needs to be at least 70 degrees to cure properly.
http://www.frostfighter.com/index.htm

JimC

I used the Frost Fighter on my 2006 after the dealer tried to fix it twice. When I sold the car in June 2012 it was still working after 3 years and lots of miles.

Aldmhac

Thanks for the responses guys! I'm going to look more into that product and get my hands on some.

Part of me wants the dealership to fix the issue since I paid a boat load for the extra care warranty and I don't see why they would do a sub par job if I'm going to keep having to come back to take care of the issue. I would definitely be happiest with them replacing the entire top and starting from scratch but I have a feeling its not going to be that easy at all.

88lx50

You are fighting an uphill battle and in the end, the repair will not last because they will try to solder it back again and it will just fall off again. For not a lot of money, you can do the repair yourself and save yourself the hassle. If you were under the original bumper to bumper warranty you might get Ford to change the top, but I doubt they will with the extended warranty. Most dealers suck, plain and simple, and Ford doesn't even want to pay for repairs under the original warranty.