Defroster
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Senior User
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 110
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From: Mills River, NC
Defroster
Hey folks I was just wondering if everyone elses defroster sucks or if its just mine. I have a 85 F150 and it was raining the other night and it was a little chilly and I had my defroster on high and it did nothing. I didn't know if it was just these older trucks or if something was wrong with mine. I really don't want to pull the dash. The fan works good on other settings.
Post Fiend
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 8,786
Likes: 28
From: Northern California
The defroster on my 1981 works great, like it did when it was new.
It can take 2 to 7 minutes to defrost a totally wet drippy fogged up windshield, depending on engine temp, (first started etc) and the amount of humidity.
I'd say your fresh air vents are probably clogged up with leaves, or your heater core may have a leak.
When water from rain, enters the holes in the cowl, it runs down the sides past the fresh air comfort vents located around the kick panels (A/C models dont have these vents and the holes for the vents are covered with sheet metal) and drains down the drain holes at the bottom of the cab, etc..
Your heater gets fresh air from the cowl and if there is moisture at the bottom of the cowl duct work, as with rain soaked leaves blocking the drain holes or with a leaking heater core, (Should be able to smell coolant if that's the problem) the defroster will actually make the windshield fog up worse than if it wasn't turned on in the first place.
What I'd do is remove the kick panels on both sides of the cab. Remove either the Vent (non A/C), or the sheetmetal cover (A/C). Both are held on with four screws bolts each side. Then I would stick your hand down and pull out all the leaves and crap that could be at the bottom.
I did this to my 1981 back in 1991, and it was so full of leaves and pine needles that it filled up the hole all the way to the bottom of the vents.
If your 1985 has never been done, it is likely that there is a lot of crap at the bottom there and that will definatly cause problems with the heater functionality.
Hope this helps
It can take 2 to 7 minutes to defrost a totally wet drippy fogged up windshield, depending on engine temp, (first started etc) and the amount of humidity.
I'd say your fresh air vents are probably clogged up with leaves, or your heater core may have a leak.
When water from rain, enters the holes in the cowl, it runs down the sides past the fresh air comfort vents located around the kick panels (A/C models dont have these vents and the holes for the vents are covered with sheet metal) and drains down the drain holes at the bottom of the cab, etc..
Your heater gets fresh air from the cowl and if there is moisture at the bottom of the cowl duct work, as with rain soaked leaves blocking the drain holes or with a leaking heater core, (Should be able to smell coolant if that's the problem) the defroster will actually make the windshield fog up worse than if it wasn't turned on in the first place.
What I'd do is remove the kick panels on both sides of the cab. Remove either the Vent (non A/C), or the sheetmetal cover (A/C). Both are held on with four screws bolts each side. Then I would stick your hand down and pull out all the leaves and crap that could be at the bottom.
I did this to my 1981 back in 1991, and it was so full of leaves and pine needles that it filled up the hole all the way to the bottom of the vents.
If your 1985 has never been done, it is likely that there is a lot of crap at the bottom there and that will definatly cause problems with the heater functionality.
Hope this helps
