Ever heard of...

TheCleaner

Active Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
304
Location
Newcastle, England
Car(s)
2004 Clio dCi 1.5 100HP
Rear demisters breaking the screen..

Im trying to figure out what in hell has smashed my mums rear window. I bought her the car, and was the last to use it just yesterday, and it was absolutly fine, but cant help feel guilty as it suggest I've done something.

She said she got in it this morning, turned on the rear demister and the back screen just went. she said theres a small hole in the window and its all just fragmented.

Ok just got another phone call and she seems to think its a pelette gun is the culprit, but im unsure, as noone elses car has been damaged, really ever, in the car park.

The reason i think demisters (possibly faulty) as in breaking glass purposly for whatever reason, electric charges break the glass, and since demisters are basically a big toaster, could faulty ones possibly break the rear window

I gave her a digital camera just yesterday so thankfully she can take some pictures before it will have to be bagged. will update soon
 
renault clio provence 1.2, 1998, R reg, a few previous owners, october MOT

As you can imagine its hard to make much sense from my mum, she only got the car at our house 2 days ago and still had that "i wonder if the car is ok" thing, so with this happenin shes just ranting a bit.

just need pictures now so i can see myself. If the hole is crossed by one of the demister wires ill suspect it even more, and i would rather it be a faulty heater than someone damaging the car.
 
For something like this my bet is on vandalism.
 
pics

http://img81.imageshack.**/img81/6756/dscf00018wf.th.jpg

http://img84.imageshack.**/img84/1599/dscf00022pw.th.jpg

http://img164.imageshack.**/img164/7627/dscf00041um.th.jpg

luckily we've managed to sight a new one at the scrapyard for ?20 and my uncles family friend is a mechanic so hopefully we'r sorted for not too much of a cost

alot of people now seem to think its down to a chip thats been there already, and its finally fell through.
 
Looks like someone hit it with a bat or something.
 
I know several cases where the heater has broken the glass (freezing outside and the sudden temperature changes on the insode and outside have cracked the glass). But none looked like that.

Vandalism for sure.
 
I'm going to have to go with the consensus on this one and say vandalism. If it were just the demister (threw me off for a second, we call it a defogger in the US), I don't think it would have fallen through, but you'd have one hell of a crack.

Though a previous crack that has perpetuated could be to blame, but I think you would have noticed it before hand.
 
Wait... you said your mother pushed the button, then it blew out? I would like to believe that she would notice a person swinging a bat directly behind her car, so I don't think Vandalism could be it...
 
But if there was already a small hole/damage to the demisters, the electricity going through could... Well I don't know what it could do because i know nothing about electronics of mechanics.

But I'd imagine it could do something if it was damaged.
 
same thing happened to me, it was very cold outside and i turned on the defroster, then boom my windsheild went. I think stone chips in the windsheild was the main culprit
 
Id be suprised if it were that cold in Newcastle in April though
 
Chupacabras said:
Id be suprised if it were that cold in Newcastle in April though

It's still a bit cold in England at the moment for some reason :thumbsdown:
 
yeah here too - it nearly snowed last weekend, whereas the weekend before was brilliant!

But, i would have thought the temperature would have to be quite below freezing for the heat difference to make it shatter...
 
Chupacabras said:
yeah here too - it nearly snowed last weekend, whereas the weekend before was brilliant!

But, i would have thought the temperature would have to be quite below freezing for the heat difference to make it shatter...

I've seen this once or twice before in cars, and once (the aftermath, at least) in an aircraft.

From what I gathered, two conditions must be met for glass to crack (it shouldn't shatter) from the defroster - the glass must be dry or close to it, and the temperature must be very low (as in, below -20 Celsius). I'm not going to say that this incident wasn't caused by the defroster, but it looks like someone with a tire iron may have had their way with that back window.
 
No way the defroster could get that hot either. I mean, you can put you hand on it and it's not hot.

Vandalism for sure.
 
MrChips said:
Chupacabras said:
yeah here too - it nearly snowed last weekend, whereas the weekend before was brilliant!

But, i would have thought the temperature would have to be quite below freezing for the heat difference to make it shatter...

I've seen this once or twice before in cars, and once (the aftermath, at least) in an aircraft.

From what I gathered, two conditions must be met for glass to crack (it shouldn't shatter) from the defroster - the glass must be dry or close to it, and the temperature must be very low (as in, below -20 Celsius). I'm not going to say that this incident wasn't caused by the defroster, but it looks like someone with a tire iron may have had their way with that back window.

Exactly - ive shattered glass in the lab alot, but thats a big temp change.

AND i strongly doubt no matter how nippy it is in England at the mo, that it was -20! (do you guys in the UK even know what a block heater is? :? )
 
thanks for the input people. at first i thought id possibly left the demister on overnight, which at worst may run the battery dead, but surely not break the back window

anyway, all is well again for ?30.. ?20 for new screen and ?10 for the glue/sealant stuff.. good having connections :)

we have a faulty brake light at the back and my uncle thinks that while he was trying to 'fix' that, he could have cracked the window unknowingly (fix as in... the owld remote control fixing.. hit it!! haha)
 
hehe... when in doubt, get a bigger hammer! :p
 
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