Rear window defroster

[kansjfr]

When installing new speakers in my '08 427R, I noticed that one of the male terminals that the wire clips onto on the back window is missing off the glass. Went to local Ford dealer and ordered the "repair kit" , and it's the two little metal pieces that go on the glass, and the wires plug on to. One side is OK, the other is completely gone. My mechanic buddy at the dealership printed the repair instructions off his online shop manual, and it says that the new clip has a small amount of solder on it, and you're supposed to hold it in place with a wood pencil, and put a soldering gun on the terminal, and heat it up until the solder melts and bonds itself to the square copper patch on the window. Geez, has anyone done this? I don't want to break the window. I'd rather do without the defroster (my car never sits outside anyway) than have to replace the window. Any suggestions would be welcome. By the way, I have one of those real good Weller 340/225 watt soldering guns, so it'd melt the solder pretty quickly, I think.

[xkape]

we have defrosters? lol

Sorry, none of us I have seen cept gtncpa drives in the winter. I had to say it.

Saudering ain't that bad man, it took me all of 5 seconds to learn and the iron and metal wire cost me all of 10 bucks at lowes. Dont be scurred.

[kansjfr]

Ok, but I was kind of worried about the heat from the soldering gun cracking the window.

[Pentalab]

Ok, but I was kind of worried about the heat from the soldering gun cracking the window.

A 225 watt soldering GUN is way too big for that job. Use a 40 watt pencil iron. ( even the 40 watt pencil iron is just over 700 deg F. ) Make sure the tip of the iron is clean, then tin the tip with a tiny bit of solder. Then quickly solder your connection. Use the correct tip, not some huge wedge thing. You can get all sorts of various tips for pencil irons, like a taper on both sides, or ones that go to a fine point etc. I have been soldering stuff since 1969..and gave up on guns in 1972. Too big, and bulky and heavy.

Practice on some small ga copper or tinned wire 1st. You can also always put some electrical tape on the glass, on either side of your connection, mask it off with tape. Put something immediately below where you will be soldering, on the parcel shelf..... so if molten solder falls off, it doesn't burn the carpeting or speaker grille etc. You don't want any on your rear leather seats either..so cover up with a towel, etc.

Jimbo

[kansjfr]

Well, I checked the shop manual again, and it said to use a soldering gun that was not flame powered (obviously), but that it needed to be at least 100 watts. So I went after it with my Weller 225/340 watt gun. I broke a wooden pencil and wedged it between the parcel shelf and the metal terminal, holding it tight against the glass. Then I just heated the metal terminal with the soldering gun until I saw the pre-applied solder on the terminal melt, and then it's done. Waited about a half hour and hooked up the wire, and it held, and no broken back window, thankfully. Success!

[DiMora]

Success! Awesome.

I was going to recommend a soldering gun and fine tip, but you got it sorted. Nice work.