RE: 97 A4 Rear Window Defroster

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

> I recently noticed on my 1997 A4 (1.8t) that the top three (horizontal)
> lines on my rear windows defroster do not (?no longer?) defrost.  I asked
> the dealership when I had the car in for it's 30k service, and their reply
> was, "The top three lines are your antenna".
> 
> I was originally told by the salesman that the 2 *vertical* lines were my
> antenna.  Not that I do not trust them, I just wanted to confirm their
> story with other listers.
> 
you should be able to tell for yourself by looking at the left and right
edges of the rear windshield.  On one side you should see a wide trace that
goes the full height of the window, while on the other side you should see
the wide trace is broken somewhere near the top of the window.  On my '91 V8
this is on the drivers side.  It is usually the case that the upper wires
are intended to be defrosters and antennas ... at least that's the way it is
on the V8 ... if not you'd think they would have simply put antenna traces
there!  If you do confirm that the top 2 or 3 wires are used for an antenna,
if they look like they're hooked up to the heater trace on the other side I
would expect that they are intended to be defrosters when the radio is off
and the defroster is on.  That again is ow the V8 is _supposed_ to work.  If
you have the Owner's Manual for the car you may simply want to look for a
description of the defroster in there ... it should tell you how the system
is intended to work.  

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)