Retro Heated Windscreen
 

Hi There,

At a guess this is probably an Ian post, but...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Audi-A8-S8-Fro...1%7C240%3A1318

Has A8parts with a heated front windscreen for a D2 - What would it take to retro-fit....I guess the screen will fit, but is the wireing there, where does the switch go etc ???

Just pondering for those cold winter mornings (now generaly gone for a while, but....)

I also guess once its been fitted, should a stone do its worst, insurers would re-fit heated ?

Ta,
Lee

blank

I cant recall what year your car is, but im pretty sure there weren't heated screens pre facelift, so it would go into a facelift car, but controlling it on a prefacelift car would need a manual switch.

The wiriing is simple, and difficult (!) as its only a few wires, but bsically you have an amplifier box that sits above the battery in the boot. This has some meaty connections that go direct to the battery. Then, there are 5 wires coming from that to the front of the car.

1 wire goes to the climate control panel - Its the climate panel that turns the heated screen on below 5 degrees c. Its automatic, and there is no manual adjust on this.

The other 4 wires to 2 below the front screen, and 2 above roughly a thirs of the way in from the side edge of the screen. The bottom ones in particualr would be a pain to install as they are well behind the dashboard.

But yes, once fitted, should it fail, I would fully expect an insurance company to replace it like for like.

For reference, they're about £1000 to buy new :rolleyes:

HTH

Hi Ian,

Its a facelift d2 - 2000, x-reg.

The wireing wouldn't be there then...Shame.

Automatic....What no button :ROFL:

While i'll be pulling a few bits apart to install the stereo, i'm not sure i'm up to removing the dashboard.

Lee

yeah, its a lot of effort for something you can only test out in Winter, or a cold room, or a foreign country.... !!

A crackin' start to 2010
 

A great start to the New Year.

I've just noticed that my windscreen is cracked. :-(

It's not a major issue at the moment but in the months to come I'll have to make a decision on what to do about it as, wherever possible, I'd rather upgrade than replace.

I like having a front heated screen (used to have one in a Ford Scorpio), but it is a lot of work to install.

I've got a couple of questions.

How many '8's have this option?

I'm assuming it's quite rare so replacements or a retrofit will be an issue.

and

Ian, would you be willing to change the screen as well as installing the wiring, or would it be a case of install the wiring and asking the local windscreen fitter to install the screen?

Thanks

Steve

Hi Steve
Are you certain your 8 doesn't have a heated screen. I had no way of knowing with mine until one frosty morning, I set the climate to auto and hit the windscreen clear button. At this point the amber led on the windscreen clear button started to flash slowly and then, wondrous magic, the windscreen ice, all of it, just turned liquid.
You need your climate to be on auto, the engine cold and the outside temp below about +2.
This, unsurprisingly, is my current favourite on car gadge, and incidentally, unlike the Fords, you can't see any elements in the glass. I guess it must use the screens integral metallic reflective coating
Cheers
Nick

Thanks for the response Nick

I don't think I've even got a windscreen clear button!
Where is it located?
Is it one of the six buttons on the centre dash above the stereo?

steve you would be best speaking to ian about it but when i went to the anual meet i had my boot open. as ian and david walked past they looked in my boot and said i have a heated windscreen. they said it was to do with a vertical cover by my battery and said only 8's with this cover have a heated screen. i am sure one of them will have more details for you +++

Thanks Darren.

I'll send them an email if Ian doesn't post.

Did you put that option in the highest factory spec car for the Christmas comp?