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Kraty1

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I got mine today and put them in.... trying something different... left the 2 middle ones openthen working my way to the side, blocked 3 then 4 open, blocked 3, then 4 open, blocked 2 then the last four open.... will see how this performs.... if not...I will go with every other one blocked.... but I did notice a difference in air volume at the ends....
16139319624388161746177937170582.jpg
Mine is very similar, more on the drivers side as I’ve changed them over the years as needed.
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JEEPIDON

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I really don't get what you guys are talking about. I'm here in Missouri and we just got through 4 below zero weather and I had absolutely no problems with the defroster. And yes, the car sat outside. A year ago I was in upstate NY and didn't experience any issues there either with temperatures around 0 for 3 days. Mine is an early 2018, did they change the diffuser after the 1st week of production?
 

four low

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I've recently attended to the defroster fix, using the 5/8" plugs frequently pictured in this thread.

Wanting to experiment a bit, I installed the original set of 8 plugs whilst the vehicle was in the garage. I carried the second set with me, intending to pull over whilst the defroster was warm and running, putting the additional plugs in place to further refine the airflow. I did just that. However,...

When inserting the 9th and 10th plugs, etc., they didn't seat correctly as the original 8 did. Rather, the new ones began to fall through the square defroster vent holes. I immediately stopped the installation, allowing them to stay cockeyed and stuck, and carefully extracted them when I arrived back home.

I'd posit that the heated air (the temperature knob was turned fully to the right) was sufficient to allow flex in the plastic vent openings. By extension, the action of pressing the plugs in place was concurrently sufficient to disallow proper seating of the plugs, now that said flex was introduced into the equation.

So...take proper care here, in the event that any of you experience something similar. I hesitate to think about the difficulty of retrieving a plug that fell down into the defroster duct.
I received my bag of 10 today, and was disappointed that the first one I installed went right through the opening. That one is lost forever, I gingerly tried others from the bag, all too small.
The build date on my JL is October 2018...waah!

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Yogi

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I really don't get what you guys are talking about. I'm here in Missouri and we just got through 4 below zero weather and I had absolutely no problems with the defroster. And yes, the car sat outside. A year ago I was in upstate NY and didn't experience any issues there either with temperatures around 0 for 3 days. Mine is an early 2018, did they change the diffuser after the 1st week of production?
It's not the cold that is the problem, it's the snow. In a heavy snowfall in cold weather, the snow that hits the windshield turns to slush and gets wiped to the left side of the windshield where it freezes and gradually works its way inward. Same happens on the right side where snow melted from the center of the windshield gravitates out to the right and once outside the path of the wiper blade, freezes. The defroster does not push enough heat out that far (the outside edges of the windshield) to melt away that snow/slush/ice.
 
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Tdurden032

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Here is another set of 5/8 caps for less and they are available right now:
Check this out at Amazon
OGC (10 Pack) - 5/8 Inch Square Tubing for Plastic Plug Cap Cover Tube Durable Chair Glide Insert Finishing Plugs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BMXS3RM/ref=cm_sw_r_u_apa_fabc_04STEY3BHT429NG1WPTX
I bought these as well - it took all of 2 minutes to put them in, but I will say I’ve seen a few pop up from “flush” when parked in the sun. Maybe this will fix itself over time but defroster seems to be much more effective.
 

MrMischief

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If Jeep doesn’t correct this in the 2023 mid cycle refresh I am completely giving up on the wrangler and I’m going to keep my 1997 jeep TJ as long as I can
Really it's not an issue. I suspect some here don't know that there is a front defrost button or you can select it in the touch screen. Instead they're leaving it on auto and that isn't going to work as it doesn't know when the windshield needs to be thawed out. Now with that said heavy snow will build up on the driver side edge, just like the TJ did in the same conditions. Full defrost seems to melt that for me, however then my face is on fire and my feet are cold. Same thing happened in my TJ. I bought the plugs and installed them to see if this will help. But truly, I had the same "problem" in my TJ, I have it in my Prius today, I've had this "problem" in every vehicle I've ever owned.

Another tip that I have used for years is to run the heater in AC mode with heat on running the pump taking moisture out of the air. Older vehicles used to have this happen automatically when defrost mode was selected.
Modern vehicles, including the JL, still do this. Even my TJ did this. In my Commander it seemed to kick on when the windows would start to fog and the climate system was in auto. I haven't had a situation like that happen in my JL yet, but my Prius seems to do it as well.
 

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I need to keep this bookmarked for the future.

I dont know if this is a common issue but at least you dont have the issue my Subaru has, which is on some cold nights my entire windshield freezes from the inside. :CWL: If I am in a hurry I use a credit card to scrape the inside of the windshield and get ice shavings everywhere.
 

WranglerMan

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I received my bag of 10 today, and was disappointed that the first one I installed went right through the opening. That one is lost forever, I gingerly tried others from the bag, all too small.
The build date on my JL is October 2018...waah!

Jeep Wrangler JL Windshield Defroster Fix D6B75C5C-F506-4A42-A4EB-41341BE06D6E
just purchased two packs of these, not sure I will need more than (10) of them but my OCD needs to keep things even and I will have extras if needed, if they don’t fit well I will send them back to Amazon
 

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RoadiJeff

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I really don't get what you guys are talking about. I'm here in Missouri and we just got through 4 below zero weather and I had absolutely no problems with the defroster. And yes, the car sat outside. A year ago I was in upstate NY and didn't experience any issues there either with temperatures around 0 for 3 days. Mine is an early 2018, did they change the diffuser after the 1st week of production?
I also live in Missouri (St. Louis area) and I did this mod to my wife's Recon recently. She says it has helped with melting frost off the side areas of her windshield. I bought a bag of 10 squares and evenly distributed them every other hole, starting at the center of the windshield.
 

Uhdinator

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The problem is there is a center duct to the defroster vents and the vents are not angled to disburse the flow of air to the both sides. So you get a strong flow in the center where the ducting is located only. I lay my gloves or a stocking cap in the center and it forces the air out the sides. If the vents had 30-45 deg angle to the sides it would probably work much better. Poor engineering /design.
 

zxd9

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dpike

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i tried a few different of the plastic caps and i wasn't happy with the fit of any of them, they don't seat all the way or jiggle out of place. these silicone ones are the keepers for me, they fit snug, and the caps sit nice and level.

from the other defrost fix thread


*edit*
added photo..
swyfbAc.jpg
 
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Kilroy1941

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