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defroster caused my windshield to crack

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Old 12-06-2007 | 05:24 PM
  #11  
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Originally Posted by 2terpsjeep
pretty sure the glass was clear... unless the chip was at the absolute bottom edge of the windshield. anything is possible of course. and here i thought i had a pretty flawless rig.
Yeah I hear you. Knock on wood mine hasn't cracked yet, but on the TJ's it happened twice.....second one was a month after the safety inspection, lol so I was like fkit I'll leave it as is until next inspection is due.
Old 12-06-2007 | 05:30 PM
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well, i'm definitely going to let my dealership have it if they try to deny it's their problem... but, if all fails and i do have to eat it, i'll probably wait out the winter and fix it in the spring. i'd really hate to fix it and have it happen all over again next week
Old 12-07-2007 | 01:50 PM
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i've got an appointment to drop my baby off on tuesday morning (for some other stuff) and plan to bring up the windshield issue while i'm there. a fellow jk'er in my office pointed me to another similar site that had a thread about the same thing. seems there are a bunch of folks having issues with the defroster caused windshield crack... one guy claimed that the glass is covered under warranty, but only to 12k miles or 12 months. unfortunately i'm at a little over 14k in 10 months, it's always the damn "or" that gets me.

i'll keep y'all posted on what happens.
Old 12-07-2007 | 02:01 PM
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I feel the pain...Our kitchen sink and microwave caused one of our plates to crack. I took the plate out of the microwave after thawing some meat. I then put it into the sink and ran the cold water on it. The plate shattered in half. Who should I contact?? The plate manufacturer, the microwave manufcaturer, the sink manufacturer, or the local water company?
Old 12-07-2007 | 02:27 PM
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Originally Posted by lightning
I feel the pain...Our kitchen sink and microwave caused one of our plates to crack. I took the plate out of the microwave after thawing some meat. I then put it into the sink and ran the cold water on it. The plate shattered in half. Who should I contact?? The plate manufacturer, the microwave manufcaturer, the sink manufacturer, or the local water company?
the meat manufacturer?
Old 12-07-2007 | 02:55 PM
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Originally Posted by 2terpsjeep
the meat manufacturer?
I would think that too but the meat wasn't on the plate when it went into the sink.
Old 12-07-2007 | 03:28 PM
  #17  
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Being that I cut Laminated glass all day long I can say the Jeep heater/defroster is not hot enough to crack the windshield unless it has a reason. (crack or chip). I can take a blow torch and show you what I mean. You can hold the torch on there for a LONG time before it will crack. And that is instant heat not like the defrost that has to warm up upon starting the Jeep. But if there is a chip or crack forget about it. Crack instantly. The chip/crack becomes the weak point in the glass. There could have been a chip in the windshield you didnt see under the seal that would have caused this.
Old 12-07-2007 | 03:57 PM
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Originally Posted by lightning
I feel the pain...Our kitchen sink and microwave caused one of our plates to crack. I took the plate out of the microwave after thawing some meat. I then put it into the sink and ran the cold water on it. The plate shattered in half. Who should I contact?? The plate manufacturer, the microwave manufcaturer, the sink manufacturer, or the local water company?
Call the plumber.
Old 12-07-2007 | 06:05 PM
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This type of crack is usually caused by heat difference between outer and inner surface of windshield (crack started from bottom.) Blowing warm air to inside of these modern twolayer windshiels gets inner surface to heat up more quicker than outer surface, causing stress and bending it just enough to make it crack.
Also same thing can happen when for ex. standing and waiting traffic lights to change and you spray some cold (near freezing point) water to clean your windshield. Heater blowing hot air to inner surface and cold fluid sprayed to outer surface, stress and bending followed by crack.
Not nice, just got to know it. It´s kind of desing flaw this defroster being so narrow and directing warm air to too small area. Gets it more quickly cleared but can cost a new windshield.

Last edited by wgr; 12-07-2007 at 06:07 PM.
Old 12-07-2007 | 07:31 PM
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I had the same thing happen. My problem was a very small chip at the base of the windshield in the black area. I really couldn't see it. So what I was told to do is run a ball point pen in the crack from the starting point to the end. If the pen sticks at any point there's a small chip that caused it.


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