We have a 2007 JK Rubicon 2 door and the rear defrost button only lights up when we press the button. Since the button feels like it is spring loaded , the light goes out as soon as we stop pressing on it. We have read the majority of threads here and we have not come across anyone that has had this problem. We have read where the connectors at the window are loose or broken off but ours appear secure and tight. Also we checked the fuse and it is good as well. Any advice or experience anyone could share with us would be greatly appreciated. Our knowledge of electrical is very limited so we kinda feel a bit blind here. Thank you in advance for any thoughts !

 

Do you know if the button has worked in the past? I ask because I have a jeep without the hard top defrost (no hard top) and I installed a switch from a hard top equipped vehicle. The light illuminates when I press it but nothing happens and it turns out as soon as I let go of the button.

 

That's a great question ! We purchased our 07 in 2012 and as soon as we read your message my wife thought she remembered the original owner saying that the jeep originally was a factory soft top. Right now we're looking at the window sticker he gave to us with the jeep and it looks as though , sure enough , it was originally a soft top ! You're a genius Karls10JK ! Now the big question is , if and how , can we possibly connect that button with the defroster ? Since it did not originally come from the factory with the defrost feature engineered into the Jeep , can that be done ? And , to answer your question , we're not sure if that button has worked or not since we've had the Jeep. We live in the desert and the defrost feature may rarely if ever be needed . We truly don't remember trying to turn the rear defrost on since we've had it . Thank you so very much for taking the time to help us in solving this mystery . Stay Healthy, Tom

 

There's a kit on Amazon that gives you everything you'd need to wire it up for defrost. I think the kit consists of the console you've already got, a harness, and a wire tap to give power to the defrost. I don't recall if I also saw it on Quadratec or if it was only on Amazon. It's a factory part number for the kit though, so it should be easy to find.

I've got a follow-up question, does the wiper stalk include operations for the rear window? It's possible the owner added all of the pieces for the hard top or he could have done like I did and just replace the console.

Keep us posted, I'm glad my question was able to help you out.

 

Yes , the wiper stock does include the switch on the arm that operates the rear wiper as well as the window sprayer. Both of those work fine .We have the paper work from the dealer that installed the hardtop for the original owner and we look forward to calling them tomorrow. Hopefully our Jeep is still in their system. After your first message yesterday, I read where we may need our computer to be "flashed" ? at a Jeep dealership. We really don't have a clue but thanks to you , Karlsjk , it seems like our mystery is beginning to be revealed ! If not , we will look up the kit on Amazon that you mentioned and go from there . We normally wouldn't care if the defrost didn't work , but we really like and enjoy this Jeep and once we "finally" discovered that it doesn't work we had a mission to complete. Thank you again for your experience and help Karlsjk . We will let you know what happens next and hopefully complete the final chapter to this saga. Respectfully, Tom