Rear wiper/defroster disabled?

E

el_kab0ng

New member
It's been about 2 months since we've had any rain and the last dealer service on my 2016 T4RTE. Last night, during the downpour, I noticed that neither my rear wiper nor rear defroster were working (wiper wouldn't wipe, fluids wouldn't come out and the light on the read defroster button won't light up). I'm assuming something was disabled during my 15,000 mile service (maybe a fuse?) but I'm the furthest thing from a mechanic to know what to look for. I figured I'd reach out here at the same time as I wait for a call back from the dealer.

Has anyone had something similar happen to their 4R? Where would you even begin to look to see if its a simple fix? My brake lights and backup camera work fine as do the plate lights, so I don't think the entire tail gate is affected.
 
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el_kab0ng said:
It's been about 2 months since we've had any rain and the last dealer service on my 2016 T4RTE. Last night, during the downpour, I noticed that neither my rear wiper nor rear defroster were working (wiper wouldn't wipe, fluids wouldn't come out and the light on the read defroster button won't light up). I'm assuming something was disabled during my 15,000 mile service (maybe a fuse?) but I'm the furthest thing from a mechanic to know what to look for. I figured I'd reach out here at the same time as I wait for a call back from the dealer.

Has anyone had something similar happen to their 4R? Where would you even begin to look to see if its a simple fix? My brake lights and backup camera work fine as do the plate lights, so I don't think the entire tail gate is affected.
Click to expand...

Ensure the rear window is all the way up. If cracked open even slightly, those features are disabled....
 
Yeah, same thing happened to me. Took me a couple days to figure it out.
I thought I had rolled it all the way up, and found that I had about a quarter of an inch to go. There was no gap, so you couldn't tell just by looking at it.
 
Wow. That was it.. some how the rear window was down just slightly and rolling it up fixed it. I wonder if this was posted on the 600000 page 'things you didn't know about your 4Runner' and I just missed that page.

Thanks, guys! Now I'm a little less stupid than before.
 
el_kab0ng said:
Wow. That was it.. some how the rear window was down just slightly and rolling it up fixed it. I wonder if this was posted on the 600000 page 'things you didn't know about your 4Runner' and I just missed that page.

Thanks, guys! Now I'm a little less stupid than before.
Click to expand...

You're not the only one. Happened to me 2 winters ago. Went on a road trip and didn't realize that my wife's purse tapped the rear window. drove me nutts for a day til I found another thread. I would be nice if a dash light went on if your windows were down.
 
Just fixed my rear defroster!

Ty! I pushed the rear window up button, it was down just enough that I didn’t realize it. Wish I read this thread before I checked the fuses.
 
Thank you. You just saved me time and money. Rear window was down a hair. Yet another cool thing to add to the list of things I didn't know about my 4runner. :-)
 
Something else...some members here figured out. On the 4th gens.

That rear desfost, the actual plug that connects to the glass, was melting and causing a short and exploding the rear glass...BAM! Out of nowhere!

I unpluged the fuse on mine a couple winters ago after a rash of back windows exploding, reported here.
 
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I remember my first month in the runner too :P

giphy.webp
 
Genius community!! Thanks

Lost my rear defrost a while back. Don't mind much but the linked mirror defrost was a hassle. Lazy and other chores etc meant I kept blowing off checking it out.

Big snow coming and so here I am in the freezing cold and snow digging under my aftermarket fuse mounted to my own fuse box. Result, fuse is good.

And then here you guys are with all the answers! Run the console switch ALL the way up. Thanks for being a great resource. Maybe next time I'll check first.
 
My buddy just got a 4runner as a rental and couldn't get the rear wiper to work. Told him to check if the rear window was rolled all the way up lol
 
BackOff said:
Something else...some members here figured out. On the 4th gens.

That rear desfost, the actual plug that connects to the glass, was melting and causing a short and exploding the rear glass...BAM! Out of nowhere!

I unpluged the fuse on mine a couple winters ago after a rash of back windows exploding, reported here.
Click to expand...

Ugh, thanks for reminding me about that... always slightly nervous when I use the defroster in the winter/colder days out here. I need to get off my lazy bum and inspect the connections. Toyota's TSB for that issue says they have an updated rear glass for the issue, but they don't really specify why the original one was blowing out. I am sure you could probably use a DMM to check the continuity/resistance of the contacts, though the best way to do it would be to voltage drop them (but you'd have to account for the fact it's a giant resistor so you're readings are accurate) to make sure it's got sufficient material to conduct and not cause a hot spot.

Given all the posts we saw in the 4th gen section I am going to guess that the majority of the issues are related to corroded connections causing excessive resistance due to that window belt moulding wearing out. You wouldn't believe how much of a difference that little rubber and felt moulding does for keeping crap out, I replaced all my belt mouldings the year before last because they were dry and cracked.

PS- Also thanks again for helpin' me out back in the day on the trail; was just talking about that experience with a coworker last week! lol
 
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