Hello,

Have a question or two. I have only one trace on my rear window defogger that actually works. I plan to get a conductive paint kit to repair it.

What's the best one to buy? Has anyone had any good or bad experiances with any particular brands?

How does one get the rear seat headrests out of the rear deck? I'd like to remove them temporarily for more room to work.

This is a 1990 240 Sedan.

Thanks,
Mark
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1993 Volvo 249 Sedan 114, 000+ miles. I love to drive it when my kids let me.

I used Permatex Kit 15067, and it worked fine. Has a litle mask to keep the conductive paint in bounds, but the repairs are still generally wider than the original trace. If you are fussy, after you have each trace working, you can go back with a razor blade and thin down the repaired section until it looks right.

Have you located all the breaks in the traces? Some are hard to see. One approach is to turn on the window heat and then use a voltmeter, measuring the voltage against ground at successive points on each inop trace. On each trace with a break, the voltage should stay steady at about battery voltage until you reach the break in the trace, then drop to zero on the other side (or vice-versa -- you don't care, so long as you can see where it happened). On the unbroken trace, the voltage will reduce smoothly along the trace, which is one way of checking your repairs as you go.

Remove the rear headrests from within the trunk. There, on the back of the rear seat, you will find a pair of rods extending down from each headrest. Release the clips holding the rods, one pair at a time and simultaneously push up on the affected headrest; having two people makes it easier.

Good luck
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jds

Thanks for the tip. I'll get some Permatex today and I use the voltmeter method.

How does the clip work? I wasn't able to figure it out and I don't want to crack it.

Mark
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1993 Volvo 249 Sedan 114, 000+ miles. I love to drive it when my kids let me.

OK, I looked at my '82 sedan. The rear headrest clips in it were transplanted from a later model. The clips are white plastic, and they are located at the bottom of each of the vertical pipes within which the headreast rods slide.

You release the clips' hold on the rods by gently pulling the lower ends of the clips back toward the rear of the car. The clips will spring back in place when released, so you need to have one person hold a pair of them released in the trunk while another in the car pulls the released headrest up and out.

Good luck.
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jds

Sven's Maintainer probably has it right, but it may be that those clips actually need to be pulled rather than pushed. I will check when I get back to my soon-to-be-gone '82 sedan this evening.
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jds

I presume the clips are the same as on front seats, which I have worked on.
Clip is on rear side of headrest post (towards the trunk). Press on it pretty hard, that does it. I can't remember how it's shaped; I just remember that if you press hard it releases.
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Sven: '89 245, IPD sways, electric rad. fan conversion, e-codes, 28+ mpg - auto tranny. 850 mi/week commute. '89 245 #2 (wifemobile). '90 244 (spare, runs).

Hello,

You hit the process right on the head. I will just add to be prepared to fix grids that you repaired earlier. What happens is that once the grid is fixed and begins to carry current, new brakes start at some weak electrical points. I had to re-due one grid three different times in three different places in a months period. Mine has been working for about a year now once all was corrected. Good luck.

Mario