Heating the wipers without cooking the cabin?

[Anjoo]

My wipers are constantly frozen when it gets extra cold out - the defrost mode on HI does a decent job melting the ice off but absolutely cooks the cabin such that the heat becomes unbearable. When I turn defrost off the wipers refreeze again. Am I doing something wrong? How do I keep the wipers from freezing? I even replaced the blades with silicon ones.

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[MountainBikeDude]

If you use the rear defog, I think that activates the heating elements at the base of the windshield as well, where the wipers sit in their resting position.

 

[defcon888]

My wipers are constantly frozen when it gets extra cold out - the defrost mode on HI does a decent job melting the ice off but absolutely cooks the cabin such that the heat becomes unbearable. When I turn defrost off the wipers refreeze again. Am I doing something wrong? How do I keep the wipers from freezing? I even replaced the blades with silicon ones.

We don't live in the snow area of the country but when I have traveled to parts of the country during the winter I was told by the rental car company to lift the wipers off the windshield (like when you are washing the windshield). It will prevent them from freezing them onto the window.

Also, whatever you do, DO NOT USE WARM water to remove frost or ice......or you might be replacing your cracked windshield.

 

[defcon888]

My wipers are constantly frozen when it gets extra cold out - the defrost mode on HI does a decent job melting the ice off but absolutely cooks the cabin such that the heat becomes unbearable. When I turn defrost off the wipers refreeze again. Am I doing something wrong? How do I keep the wipers from freezing? I even replaced the blades with silicon ones.

See my comment above this one. Lift your blades off the windshield when not driving.

 

[Anjoo]

I have a heated garage so my wipers are fine at the start of the ride - the frustrating thing which does not happen with any other vehicles that I’ve owned is that the wipers freeze up during the drive. I know that the heating element for the wiper area works because the ice melts off the wipers when using defrost mode, but I have to turn that off or else my passengers and I will get cooked. Then when I turn it off they start re-freezing.

 

[Anjoo]

If you use the rear defog, I think that activates the heating elements at the base of the windshield as well, where the wipers sit in their resting position.

Alright I’m going to try this and report back. I swore I had it on and still had issues but I could be wrong! Feels like a silly way to enable front elements, wish that you could enable them directly.

 

[SwampNut]

I would use this solution if my truck window was frozen: Link

 

[MountainBikeDude]

Alright I’m going to try this and report back. I swore I had it on and still had issues but I could be wrong! Feels like a silly way to enable front elements, wish that you could enable them directly.

You can also leave the front vent on while the others are working, it doesn't need to be running full tilt in defog mode to have heat run up the windshield.

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