Location of rear window defogger relay for 91 dx hatchback

[Cruiserbill]

Group, new to this forum, but looking forward to learning stuff. Long story short- have son's car for a bit b/c he broke his leg snowboarding. Defogger never worked since we bought the car. Switch light comes on, but no results @ rear window. Live in Oregon, so would be a + to get working. Fuses good, but have only Haynes book wiring diagram, and cannot locate the relay. Ant help?
Cruiser bill

 

[Mr.Baker]

IIRC, I think it is in the under hood fuse box?

Looks like this:

 

[RonJ]

Dash fuse box:

Did you check whether 20A hood fuse 36 is blown?

Have you done the function test?

 

[Mr.Baker]

Dash fuse box:

I was about 50/50 sure, it was in the under hood one.


Hopefully either way, the OP would have checked both of them.

 

[Cruiserbill]

Wow,
Thanks guys, I am going to check with a shop who has done electicals on my other cars and see what they will charge to root out the prob. I will also ask them if they can check relays for not a lot of $. Yes, the 20 amp fuse is good under the hood.

Best,
Cruiserbill

 

[RonJ]

Save some money. Buy an inexpensive multimeter and do the tests yourself. The tests are pretty simple.

 

[Cruiserbill]

Group,
Moving to the next step. It ends up the electrics report that it is the switch and "some broken wires." They suggest because the wires run through the door (?) that the whole project could run $250. More than I was hoping to spend. Good news was that the grid is still good if we can figure a way to get the current back to it. The shop guy also thought that it had a timer shutoff delay in it, but I am thinking that would be in the switch. Shop is checking on $ and availability of the switch, and will know more later. Does anyone know the general price range of these defroster switches? and, likely as important, the routing of the wiring from the relay back to the window grid?

Thanx
Cruiserbill

 

[Mr.Baker]

The shop guy also thought that it had a timer shutoff delay in it, but I am thinking that would be in the switch. Shop is checking on $ and availability of the switch, and will know more later. Does anyone know the general price range of these defroster switches? and, likely as important, the routing of the wiring from the relay back to the window grid?

They do indeed have a timer shutoff, I would think it would be in the switch, but not 100% certain.
As for cost, I've had to grab some random switches a few times for other various Hondas' I've owned, always had good luck finding them at my local salvage yard, run maybe $3 ea.

 

[Cruiserbill]

Thanks,
New it's $77, shop guy says $ 15 for used @ yd., but I would need to track it down. He also says wires broken
@ hatch hinge. Has anyone done that rewirering repair.

Thanks

 

[RonJ]

Please don't be insulted, but given your inability to do the simple tests in post #3, I'm not sure that you could handle most car fixes.

 

[Cruiserbill]

Well, without jumping to conclusions, I think I can safely say RonJ has not done the wiring redo. For his info. I did the test in no. 3, but there was no power, and since it ultimately was 2 problems, I would have likely been chasing my tail on this one. Off to the junk yard tomorrow now that I have the bad switch removed to see what I can find. Since I gave my last multi-tester to the guy that bought my motorhome, I used the one at my Autozone store.

 

[RonJ]

Well, without jumping to conclusions, I think I can safely say RonJ has not done the wiring redo. For his info. I did the test in no. 3, but there was no power, and since it ultimately was 2 problems, I would have likely been chasing my tail on this one. Off to the junk yard tomorrow now that I have the bad switch removed to see what I can find. Since I gave my last multi-tester to the guy that bought my motorhome, I used the one at my Autozone store.

Lame excuses. I'm quite competent with wiring problems, and there's nothing special or magical about simple electrical tests or the rear window defogger. This^ is a typical upset noob response from someone embarrassed by having to pay a mechanic to do a simple test you could not do yourself. Had you posted any results of your tests, which you obviously did not, it would have been straightforward to help you pinpoint the problem(s). I doubt you ever did any of the tests in the diagram, and even if you did you didn't post the results, so it's also unclear that there is actually more than one problem. Good luck with the fix, but don't bite the hand of those who try to help you when you were personally over your head with a simple electrical problem.

Next time, save us all some time and just go directly to the mechanic and hand him your money.