Heated windshield: A Midwesterner's dream!

[14Accent]

Anyone else here owned a car with a heated windshield? Not the grid for the wipers, the entire glass.

My new-to-me 1995 Cadillac Seville is the first vehicle I've owned with this feature, and now that's we're getting some snow I've been able to test it out. For those who don't know: the windshield contains a layer of metallic film sandwiched between the glass which is powered by an AC-DC converter under the hood. The converter is fed 3-phase AC directly from the alternator which is converted into 50-85v DC to power the windshield heat layer.

The feature draws so much power that engaging it raises the idle to 1200 RPM while it's operational. The owners manual also advises to keep ALL other electric items off while using the de-ice function. Let me tell you: BOY does it work!

 

[supton]

I’ve got a defroster… and an ice scraper.

Seems like quite the beast. Wonder why they bothered with converting to DC, just tickle the exciter just like the regular alternator, and use ac. The “wire” is thin and I wouldn’t think the frequency would be high enough to have skin effects. Maybe it was for radiated noise, DC is a bit easier to filter. Or maybe it was easier to regulate… oh, I bet they measure the resistance and regulate temperature by that, that would be easier with DC.

 

[eljefino]

Think Ford had a similar technology, it tapped into the unrectified side of the alternator. Many ford alts will have that mysterious connection-- it's not really for diagnostics, it's for this.

 

[Kira]

How cool (no pun intended)

I remember them coming out and I recall seeing the "bronze color" of some windshields.
Then I recall recognizing it on aircraft windshields...because of its use in cars.
Now, with the OP's post, I have my first hand report of this option working.

How many miles on your '95? ...and what kind of oil do you plan on using?

 

[Kruse]

Think Ford had a similar technology, it tapped into the unrectified side of the alternator. Many ford alts will have that mysterious connection-- it's not really for diagnostics, it's for this.

Not sure what era you are talking about, but a very few upscale Ford products had this decades ago, me thinking the early '70s.
Before the technology of manufacturing a 150-amp alternator was readily and cheaply available, some of those Ford products actually had TWO alternators. One was a regular alternator to keep the battery charged, the other was a 90ish-amp alternator that put out an AC un-rectified sine wave to defrost the glass.

 

[andrew_j]

VW used in the Golf EV. The comical part was if range was low it would go into turtle mode and only driver part of windshield and only allow driver seat to heat shutting down cabin heat and all other heated seats.

 

[Propflux01]

Like the NESA windshields on a plane

 

[2009Caraman]

VW used in the Golf EV. The comical part was if range was low it would go into turtle mode and only driver part of windshield and only allow driver seat to heat shutting down cabin heat and all other heated seats.

I thought Golfs were always in turtle mode?

 

[Alien]

I recall having it on the original Ford Taurus (late 1980's) or perhaps a 1990's era Lincoln Continental. I lived in Chicago and thought it was great! It would cook the ice off of the windshield in no time!

 

[skyactiv]

I assume many of the people that bought a 95' Seville new were older folks that parked in a garage and never needed the heated windshield function.

 

[14Accent]

How cool (no pun intended)

I remember them coming out and I recall seeing the "bronze color" of some windshields.
Then I recall recognizing it on aircraft windshields...because of its use in cars.
Now, with the OP's post, I have my first hand report of this option working.

How many miles on your '95? ...and what kind of oil do you plan on using?

My windshield has that very same "bronze" look to it. Another neat "by-product" of the metallic film is that it supposedly rejects a ton of IR heat, which has kept the dashboard from warping as it common on this generation Seville.

As to your question: it's got just over 68k miles on it. I picked it up from my local Copart auction a couple weeks ago for $525, and it's been running flawlessly. I did an oil change as soon as I got it, it got a Fram Ultra filter and 7.5 quarts of ST 10w30 HM FS. A peek down the oil fill shows this engine to have been extremely well taken care of, the aluminum doesn't even have a gold "tinge".

 

[JohnnyG]

I remember when Lincoln was advertising those. I had a 1999 Seville, which was a fantastic car, especially after I installed a front strut tower brace from an Eldorado ELC. I didn't have that option though.
How's your Northstar holding up?

 

[wings&wheels]

Rover does it, but with very, very fine wires in the glass. Almost invisible except for on a cold day when you first turn it on you can see a slight distortion for a few seconds. I miss this feature.

 

[14Accent]

I remember when Lincoln was advertising those. I had a 1999 Seville, which was a fantastic car, especially after I installed a front strut tower brace from an Eldorado ELC. I didn't have that option though.
How's your Northstar holding up?

So far, so good. This is my 5th Northstar-equipped car and I've never had any major issues with any of them. Prior to this, I owned:

1994 Seville STS Z-rated
1996 Olds Aurora
1999 Seville STS
2003 Seville STS Sport

And now the current '95. This one is by far the lowest mileage of any of those, next was my '94 that had 100k when I bought it but that was 15 years ago now. My Aurora had over 200k miles on it when I sold it and still ran like a top with zero cooling system issues.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

I forget what year it was late 80's or early 90's, but mom's Grand Marquis had the heated windshield. It worked very well.

I also blocked radar sources so the Escort didn't work for crap. I remember installing I think a BEL remote version behind the grill for dad.

 

[JohnnyG]

So far, so good. This is my 5th Northstar-equipped car and I've never had any major issues with any of them. Prior to this, I owned:

1994 Seville STS Z-rated
1996 Olds Aurora
1999 Seville STS
2003 Seville STS Sport

And now the current '95. This one is by far the lowest mileage of any of those, next was my '94 that had 100k when I bought it but that was 15 years ago now. My Aurora had over 200k miles on it when I sold it and still ran like a top with zero cooling system issues.

I still miss my 99 STS! 70 -100 was like 2 seconds!
Keep that coolant changed and the air eliminator hose clear (from the throttle body) and you should be fine.

 

[Finklejag]

I rented a Kia Xceed in Iceland and it had a heated windshield.

 

[14Accent]

I still miss my 99 STS! 70 -100 was like 2 seconds!
Keep that coolant changed and the air eliminator hose clear (from the throttle body) and you should be fine.

No heated throttle body on mine, so I'm good there! I'll likely be doing a coolant spill-n-fill this spring, but what's in it looks very clean. It also appears to have a new(er) water pump and belt, plus the Carfax shows it had a coolant service not 5k miles ago. Even better, it was the last year GM used green coolant, so no Dex-Cool issues to worry about.

Engine temps have been rock solid: 207-210 cruising which is perfect for a N*.

 

[BobsArmory]

Had a Buick Park Ave Ultra that had one of those. Absolutely amazing. Only drawbacks was it did draw a lot of power, radar detectors didn't work well and the cost of replacement was astronomical. I wish they still offered them.

 

[cb450sc]

My '21 Kia K5 has a heated windshield. It is a God-send in the Great White North in the winter