A non-tab rear defroster question!
 

Hey guys,

I bought an 04 z71 Suburban that was a prior salvage and the rear defroster hasn't worked since I got it. I'm just getting around to tackling it. The button and relay both work. The fuse is good. The passenger side wire gets power to it but the driver side wire does not and thus no defogger. I removed the trim around the rear hatch and followed that wire as it wrapped around kind of towards the glass latch. It appears to just be tied in to another line here. I tested power where the defogger line splices in and again there's no power. Does anyone have any idea where to check from here or does it mean pulling a bunch of stuff and tracing the wire up to see where the wire went bad? Everything else in the rear works (lights, wiper, plate lights, etc...) so I guess I just don't know where to go from here. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Ben

Welcome to the forum.
One wire should have 12 volts and the other should be ground. Cheek to see if you have 12 volts between them. If you do, then the problem is one or more opens in the heater grid lines which can be repaired with a kit. If not, then the ground is open since you said there is 12 volts on one of the wires.

I used a test light and wasn't getting it to light up on any of the grids so I'll check to make sure that's grounding properly then. I didnt see any breaks in the metallic paint. Maybe some yokel repaired a tab wrong after all! Doh!