Windshield Wiper De-Icers

[Meeker]

I've been watching to see how well the windshield wiper de-icers work on my 2018 XLT, but I can't see any evidence they do anything at all. Do they get warm enough to melt snow and ice? I'm bringing it in for service tomorrow and thinking of asking them to check it out. I assume that activating the rear-window defrost is supposed to activate the windshield de-icers as well.

 

[nate6966]

I haven't tried them on my 2019 yet, but my past vehicle (2009 Escalade) required me to run it for nearly 10 minutes before it actually thawed the wipers out. I always ran the remote start cycle so it was ready by the time I got into the vehicle.
I have higher hopes for my Expedition, because the Cadillac feature seemed quite gimmicky and wouldn't keep ice off the wipers during driving in freezing rain/ icy conditions.

 

[Meeker]

I'm skeptical that even if they do warm up the glass, the wipers park above the resistive paint lines so will it help at all?

They do a great job of increasing the cost of the windshield though. Yay.

 

[nobrainer]

Activating the rear window defroster is what I saw too in order to activate the deicers. I haven't needed mine yet this year...though we're expecting snow by Sunday so I will try to report back my findings.

 

[Zig10]

I had them on my Jeep Cherokee and they were indeed tied to the rear window defogger. Haven't used the ones on the Expedition yet (thankfully), but the ones on the Jeep did a good job breaking the ice loose after being parked. They did not do much of anything while driving through freezing weather, though.

 

[Wayne Decker]

[QUOTE="Meeker, post: 373318, member: 52637", the wipers park above the resistive paint lines so will it help at all?./

My drivers side wiper sits right on the heaters, the passenger's side is above them. I plan on having it adjusted when I'm in for an oil change.

 

[Deadman]

I'll have to look closer, I didn't realize the windshield was heated. I'll test them out this winter, as we saw -29F actual air temps last winter.

 

[Meeker]

Resolution: when I had my windshield replaced this summer, they did not correctly plug in the de-icers. Dealer fixed it for free since they were the ones who replaced the windshield.

The reason I thought they might not have ever worked is that my windshield was cracked early in the 2018/2019 winter, and I avoided using the rear window defrost & front defrost so that the crack wouldn't spread. Worked fine until my wife and daughter took the Expy out on a cold morning - got it back with the crack halfway up the windshield...

I did not ask them to align the wipers on the heated area though. So far I'm not sure that's necessary. Will monitor.