Hardtop Defroster Wiring Question - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Chuck W. · 12-17-2015, 05:46 PM

I have a “Boxster” problem. I don’t need a hardtop, but it was such a good price that I couldn’t resist. I will need to have it painted and buy a few pieces, but besides that it is perfect.

Except…. There are two wires for the window defroster that are not connected to anything. There are also two connectors attached to the frame. I am guessing that the wiring harness was removed. I would think that the two pieces that attach to the window are the positive wires and the ones that are attached to the frame are the ground. From there I would run them down to the driver’s side where they plug into the car.

I found a posting on the Pelican Parts forum that addressed an aftermarket top that didn’t come with the rear window defroster wiring. It only had a male flat plug coming from the window. The posting explained how to make a simple harness and stated that O’Reilly’s sells a pigtail that will plug into our cars.

Thoughts?

KevinH1990 · 12-17-2015, 06:12 PM

It looks like someone removed your defroster wiring. I think that for some of the early aftermarket tops that the defroster wiring was an extra-cost option. Maybe the previous owner was trying to save a few bucks by dual-purposing the wiring.

Another possibility is that someone took the top off without first detaching the defroster connector and yanked it off where it connected to the window. They may not have noticed that they did it.

Either way, I think I would retrofit it using the Pelican instructions.

Good luck.

Steve Tinker · 12-17-2015, 11:29 PM

Chuck, before connecting anything, I would multimeter across what you describe as the positive connection and the ground connector. Set the multimeter to ohms and read the resistance.
If the reading is zero, the circuit is open / broken.
If you see a resistance value, don't connect to the car yet but connect up to a battery with say a (~15 amp) fused tail and see if the heating element warms up.
At least then you can see if its operational without compromising the cars electrical system.

RedTele58 · 12-18-2015, 03:42 AM

Chuck - I have the factory schematic of the hardtop. PM me an email address and I'll send it to you when I get home this evening. It should be able to help you sort everything out.
Rick

Chuck W. · 12-18-2015, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedTele58

Chuck - I have the factory schematic of the hardtop. PM me an email address and I'll send it to you when I get home this evening. It should be able to help you sort everything out.
Rick

Very cool. Thanks. PM sent.