I have a 1991 4runner that I just bought about 3 weeks ago. I have been going through and taking care of all the little things that didn't work when the guy sold it to me. Today I was working on the rear defrost for the rear window. It wasn't getting power, but both fuses looked fine, and the window goes up and down fine. So I pulled off the back cover for the taligate and took a look at the defroster wires to see if they were attached to the rear window. It was a mess. There was electrical tape everywhere. It turns out that both wires were cut from the female ends of the connectors. Not a big deal, however when I went to pull off the connectors, the black wire's female end stuck to the male end and it was pulled completely off the rear window! Shit, so now on the back window there is only the male end of the connector for the white wire and nothing for the black wire! I don't know what to do. Would the rear defroster work if I solder both the black and white wires directly to the one and only remaining male connector? Winter is coming here and I really need this to work. Thanks guys.

Kyle

No, that absolutely won't work.
That just creates a dead short and immediately blows the fuse (best case scenario)
You have to re-attach the connector or solder the wire directly to where the connector was.

Huh, that is what my wife said...so how would I go about reconnecting the male terminal? Does napa, carquest or autozone sell some sort of adhesive that conducts electricity? You also said that I could solder it directly to the spot the male terminal was? Would that really work?

Those defrosters never seem to work right.

I'll look in the morning, but I think I have a window with the connectors intact if you wanted to drive by and get it. No charge other than your gas to get here.

That would be awesome!

Related to this thread, I recently picked up a 95 4runner and opened up the tailgate and found some clipped wires (see image link). Anyone have any idea what they're supposed to go to? I'm guessing the defroster, but I'm not sure. Tailgate window functions properly. The defroster button on the dash lights up, but the window never gets warm to the touch. Any help would be appreciated!

Image here: IMG_1541 (1).jpg - Google Drive