Rear glass F body interchange??

[shadango]

We are looking for a HEATED back glass for the son's 80 Volare.....

Is the heated back glass for a 76 Volare 2 door gonna fit our 80? And would it be tinted??

On the online resources it seems they WOULD interchange...but any thing to watch out for?

And what the best way to test a heating grid? Just ohm across the terminals for continuity and then see if any breaks appear in the grid anywhere?

Found one cheap in a salvage yard, but its almost 3 hours of driving away from us one way.....may be able to combine with another trip to cut that in half but at 10 mpg in my truck , that extra 150 miles round trip will still be costing me about $50 in gas...so I want to be 100% sure its right before we make that trip....so unless someone knows of a way to buy new local to Pittsburgh that would make sense money wise, I guess used is our only choice....

Thanks in advance guys

 

[volare 77]

Glass part numbers are the same so 80 and 76 should interchange. Is the 76 a a/c equipped car? If so it is most likely tinted. The collision book I`m looking at doesn`t show two different types of rear glass(only tinted )with the grid. The glass number is T B 5472 I`m not sure if the 76 wiring harness and switch will be a plug and play type of thing as the 80 (i`m pretty sure) is different.

 

[shadango]

Ok so then likely would be tinted......

Thanks very much for the info....waiting to hear back from the yard now.....

I sniffed around here and to have the glass installed is around $130.....the kid is intent on having a working rear defroster....was gonna try one of those stick on grids but figured the real deal would be the better way to go at the end of the day.

 

[volare 77]

They had a blower type rear defogger too but not nearly as effective on ice .

 

[shadango]

They had a blower type rear defogger too but not nearly as effective on ice .

Yeah we had seriously considered the blower but in our neck of the woods, ice and cold is the issue......cant see cold air doing much for our needs...LOL

Hey, I just started (over)thinking about it ---- I have never hauled a chunk of glass that big before....

Any advice on how to pack it well enough to haul back in the bed of my pickup?

 

[DCAspen]

Wrap it up in blankets,make sure you get the wiring for the heated window,the switch for it [76] will be different than one for a 1980

 

[shadango]

Why would the switch or the wiring matter?

Isnt it just two terminals at the back?????

Maybe this isnt doable....

 

[BudW]

The big thing is to find a glass that is tinted (or not) to match your existing glass.
Pretty much all cars with A/C will have tinted glass.
Non-A/C cars can go either way.

The glass will be the same on all F-body’s – as long as you stay within the same body type:
All 2-door glass will be the same.
4-door and wagon glass is the same on front half of vehicle (front doors/windshield) – but different on back half (rear doors and rearward).

The glass pigtail(s) should be the same between the years.

Heated glass grids do occasionally go bad – but not very often. The grid can get scratched or torn from someone scraping it (from inside) – but they make repair kits to fix torn grid lines (or a glass shop can fix one in a jiffy.

The important part is be careful when pulling the harness from the glass that you don’t rip the metal part off of the glass. That part can be fixed as well (by a glass shop) – but is best to just avoid that problem altogether.

The defroster switches appear to be the weak link on these cars. The 15-20 year newer switches are a whole lot more reliable – but don’t quite fit in the location (not without modifications).

I need to get a replacement switch for my ’77 wagon. I have a new replacement for my ’86 5th Ave that I need to replace – but seriously thinking that I may want to switch over to a newer design . . . somehow.
Now that we are out of freezing weather for a few months – I will put that project on the back burner (and forget about it for a long while).
BudW

 

[Dr Lebaron]

Closeted I see glass
79 and 76 2dr heated.
Woodys Auto Salvage Columbus Ohio

republic-a1auto.com - Home

 

[volare 77]

It may be as simple as cutting off the plug and hooking up some wires. I dunno for sure. I know the 76 77 switch is different and i think the relay is also. It depends on the 80 dash harness connections. Here is a pic of the 76 stuff. Mopar NOS 1976-77 Plymouth Volare Dodge Aspen Rear Defogger Adaptor PKG 3879550 | eBay

 

[BudW]

The eBay listing is for the Defogger (blower motor style) and not the Defroster (electric grid style). Those two terms “Defogger” and “Defroster” are so close that even I get confused at times.

The main switch looks like a blower motor switch - well, because it is for a blower motor.

This is a picture of an ’80 M-body Defroster switch – which I think is about the same size/shape as a F-body one is.

They have a relay as well as a timer built into them. Most of all of the newer switches are push-button and all of them has gotten smaller over the decades.

Pictures were swiped from eBay.
BudW

 

[volare 77]

my 77 has a factory grid defroster and it has this switch NOS MOPAR 1976-77 F-BODY DODGE CHRYSLER DEFROSTER ROCKER SWITCH #3746958 | eBay

 

[volare 77]

The ebay link to the kit is correct for the blower type. I saw the knob on the switch and it looks like the one on my car and I assumed that was it. My bad.

 

[volare 77]

The relay is separate and is part 3746964. Suppose to fit 76 -79 according to the listing.

 

[BudW]

To install a defroster into a car that previously didn’t have one – I would get a factory glass (which I think you are in process of doing), get a switch and some wiring.

Personally, I would place the switch on the panel under the steering column or under the L/F seat – but do whatever works for you. That way you can use the much better working newer switch and it doesn’t distract from the already beautiful F-body dash.

Here are a couple of eBay links for a couple of suggestions for switches (but the sky is the limit – though).
https://www.ebay.com/itm/00-01-02-DODGE-NEON-REAR-DEFROSTER-DEFROST-SWITCH-WINDOW-04671670AB-OEM-2000/222041820976?hash=item33b2b94f30:g:zKcAAOSwmmxW2G87&vxp=mtr
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1995-99-Dodge-Plymouth-Neon-Rear-Window-Defrost-Defog-Switch-Trim-Gray-OEM/263512679690?hash=item3d5a94650a:g:l6EAAOSwPXBajy4Z&vxp=mtr

As far as that goes, just go to your local auto salvage or pull-a-part and get a switch from brand-X if you wanted to. Just be sure to get a bit of wiring/pigtail for the switch while you are at it.

The defroster does take a bit of amperage to operate. It uses a dedicated 18ga fusible link (good for about 20 amps) – but I would install a 25a fuse instead of a fusible link. The switch uses a 5 amp fuse – which if you use the accessory wire, it will already be in place.

Chrysler calls the back glass a “backlight” for some odd reason. They also call the heated back glass system “EBL” (Electric BackLight)

Attached is some pages from my ’86 FSM (Factory Service Manual) to aid you.

I would run a dedicated (fused) wire from battery to defroster switch as the feed.
Run a wire from the blue accessory pigtail for switch control.
Run a 12 ga wire to defroster grid (doesn’t matter which side) and other side to a good chassis ground.

On this vehicle, when defroster button is pushed, it also turns on the A/C compressor to aid clearing the windshield. You may or might not want to add that feature to your car (or n/a if you have no A/C).
BudW

 

[XfbodyX]

The defog vs the defrost switch look the same but have a different pn, same connector. But the same basic switch, the ebay one looks like a non mopar replacement.

But they look nearly the same and both uses use different PN-s but are the same basic parts. Why did they do this? Beats me.

This is the rear DEFOGGER Switch and Bezel. Next post is the defroster.

Switch PN 3746960 in the parts book and stamped on the switch itself.
The bezel for the defroster is PN 3746953 and does not have the yellow power on indicator light.

 

[XfbodyX]

The rear defroster uses the same bezel with the second PN on the rear 3747106 with the yellow light for the power on.
That switch used is the 3746958.

You can see by this ebay pic, this is the bezel with the power on light.

You can see on the back where the light bulb goes both in the bezel and the backing plate.

Probably illuminated from a lead from the relay.

 

[DCAspen]

1980 rear defroster bezel

 

[DCAspen]

1980 rear defogger bezel

 

[DCAspen]

1980 plain rear window bezel