the rear defroster on my brick is painfully slow. it can handle a light frost, but it will still take 5-10 min to do that. anything more than that and it gives up long before anything is accomplished. how long should then usually take? is there an easy fix for this?

Hello,

Before you give up on the defroster, check it out electrically. When you use it do some of the grids work and others not. That is a sure sign of an open on those sections. If you have a group that is continious, check out the side foils that feed them for an open. On my 82 I had to fix four different sections that had opened with age. Some of them had multiple opens. It took a while with an volt/ohm meter and a grid repair kit, but for the last two years it has worked fine.

Also check that you have good voltage across the grids at the connections on each side of the window (12+ volts) and that they are on tight. One side should be grounded and the other has the + voltage. In addition check out the defrost switch for good electrical contact and check that it is not getting to hot because of bad contacts or a loose connection. If you have a wagon also check the rear wiring harness for brakes.

Spend some time working on it and you should have good results.

Mario
--
82 242 DL-MPG

Its probably the resistive lines in the glass. They are probably shot. Thats a long time for them to last. It might be time to scrape the glass or store your car in a garage.