Question regarding the Windsheld defrost

[Fastmover]

Careful you guys. Jeep may catch wind of this latest design, hit you with an order for 1,000,000 and then you'd really be in a pickle.

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[BadAssBumbleBee]

As fall is upon us -- I figured I better get busy and do a little design work and 3D print some vent plugs. Here is what I cam up with: Some are designed to block the airflow, while others angle the airflow to the wings. Thoughts? Anyone want to test/provide feedback for improvements?

If you're looking for a cold weather tester in Canada, I'd be game.

We got our first snowfall yesterday, only about a inch or so, but I'm sure we'll get more in the next week or two

 

[waynegold]

Ok here is the latest. My jeeps dash has been taken apart as you can see and it would seem that that one of the pipes had not been connected and it is now all working. If both sides are not working which seems to be the majority in this forum then i suggest you book it into your local jeep dealer and ask them to source and fix the problem. My work was carried out under warranty but if you need any of the information on my car to assist your dealer finding the solution please contact me. Good luck

 

[joegrasse]

In your case did the middle of the defrost vent work fine, just not the extreme left and right sides?

Ok here is the latest. My jeeps dash has been taken apart as you can see and it would seem that that one of the pipes had not been connected and it is now all working. If both sides are not working which seems to be the majority in this forum then i suggest you book it into your local jeep dealer and ask them to source and fix the problem. My work was carried out under warranty but if you need any of the information on my car to assist your dealer finding the solution please contact me. Good luck

 

[waynegold]

In your case did the middle of the defrost vent work fine, just not the extreme left and right sides?

Weirdly the centre and left were working and not the right hand side, which for me was the worst option with my steering wheel being on the right. The jeep dealer took off the dash and found that parts had been caught during the manufacturing stage and within a couple of hours with no new parts, it was rectified. This is a warranty claim and must have been a poor batch of cars on the production line that had the dash installed while catching a tube of sorts.

 

[iblowatsports]

I 3d printed these. Currently, I printed 2 strips long enough to cover 10 vent holes each. I can go larger on my printer;s bed by a few more holes at least, but the holes seem to taper a bit as they go out past where I have the strips currently. Time will tell if the design works or needs to be tweaked. Also, I printed this with PLA which is not known for high temperature resistance so I also need to monitor if they are affected by the defroster on high heat settings and how they hold up in summer temperatures. The latter wont be able to be tested until next summer but, worst case I can just take them out in the summer. If it can't stand up to the hot defroster temperature, I may be forced to learn how to print ABS which is much more temperature resistant.

Also on another note, you can look into annealing your PLA prints. This actually would give you great temperature resistance if done right, while still being able to print in PLA. I've done ABS printing in the past, and it's not too fun haha

 

[rockadile]

Also on another note, you can look into annealing your PLA prints. This actually would give you great temperature resistance if done right, while still being able to print in PLA. I've done ABS printing in the past, and it's not too fun haha

Unfortunately, short of annealing in salt or sand, this can cause shrinkage which will throw off the tight tolerances.

 

[Dan M.]

I have a 2020 that hasn't seen cold yet. I went for a drive and turned the defroster on. Felt warm air all the way up in the corners of the windshield. Not sure if they did something to fix this in newer Jeeps or if I'm just lucky.

 

[Tapper881]

I've been playing with the design a bit - here is the my current setup -- happily the weather has not provided many opportunities for true full on testing, but from just feeling the airflow, I'm definitely getting more flow to the edges. I'm not a fan of the gap/break in the plugs in the large center section, so I'll likely combine those into one seamless print for a better appearance. (also a big thanks to Dan and BA Bumble Bee for volunteering to do some testing and provide feedback!)

 

[NCIC105]

Design looks good. One piece would be slick also

 

[BadAssBumbleBee]

I want to send a big shout out to @Tapper881 for sending samples of his 3D printed defrost vent plus all the way to Canada, at his own expense I might add! He flat out refused to accept any payment for these, including for the cost of shipping.

What a freaking awesome Jeeper!

He sent me two of each of the three different variations that he created. I'll call them V1 (2 closed and 2 open sections), V2 (4 open sections) and V3 (4 closed sections).

The V1 and V2 plugs all have slightly angled openings that in theory should help move air out to the edges of the windshield. I'm not sure what material Tapper881 used for the printing, so I can't comment on how well they'll hold up to high defrost temps, but the plugs all feel pretty solid while still having some flexibility to them. The V1 plugs felt the most solid. I think that may have been due to a slightly thicker lip (maybe 1 m thicker than the other variations).

All the plugs have a nice snug fit when inserted into the defrost vent, much better than either the original 5/8" plugs that I tried (popped out almost immediately), or the modified 3/4" plugs that I have installed now (had to cut off the fins and use 3M tape to keep them in place).

I ended up cutting both the V2 and V3 plugs in half to create more V1 plugs (2 closed and 2 open sections) because I thought that variation would work the best at moving air to the sides of the windshield while still defrosting the center of the windshield. I also left in the modified 3/4" plugs that I installed with 3M double sided tape because they're still holding strong and I didn't want to mess with removing them.

After I installed the new plugs, I turned the defrost fan speed up to 5 and didn't see any movement at all from Tapper881's plugs.

I did feel air all the way at the edges of the windshield, but I think I still have too many open sections between my 3/4" plugs, so I'll try to fill in a few sections and see if that helps move even more air to the edges.

I think a V4 plug that covers 8 spaces in total would be ideal and would look really clean. Ideally that plug would have 2 closed sections, 2 open sections, 2 closed sections, 2 open sections.

 

[NCIC105]

I want to send a big shout out to @Tapper881 for sending samples of his 3D printed defrost vent plus all the way to Canada, at his own expense I might add! He flat out refused to accept any payment for these, including for the cost of shipping.

What a freaking awesome Jeeper!

He sent me two of each of the three different variations that he created. I'll call them V1 (2 closed and 2 open sections), V2 (4 open sections) and V3 (4 closed sections).

The V1 and V2 plugs all have slightly angled openings that in theory should help move air out to the edges of the windshield. I'm not sure what material Tapper881 used for the printing, so I can't comment on how well they'll hold up to high defrost temps, but the plugs all feel pretty solid while still having some flexibility to them. The V1 plugs felt the most solid. I think that may have been due to a slightly thicker lip (maybe 1 m thicker than the other variations).

All the plugs have a nice snug fit when inserted into the defrost vent, much better than either the original 5/8" plugs that I tried (popped out almost immediately), or the modified 3/4" plugs that I have installed now (had to cut off the fins and use 3M tape to keep them in place).

I ended up cutting both the V2 and V3 plugs in half to create more V1 plugs (2 closed and 2 open sections) because I thought that variation would work the best at moving air to the sides of the windshield while still defrosting the center of the windshield. I also left in the modified 3/4" plugs that I installed with 3M double sided tape because they're still holding strong and I didn't want to mess with removing them.

After I installed the new plugs, I turned the defrost fan speed up to 5 and didn't see any movement at all from Tapper881's plugs.

I did feel air all the way at the edges of the windshield, but I think I still have too many open sections between my 3/4" plugs, so I'll try to fill in a few sections and see if that helps move even more air to the edges.

I think a V4 plug that covers 8 spaces in total would be ideal and would look really clean. Ideally that plug would have 2 closed sections, 2 open sections, 2 closed sections, 2 open sections.



Let me know when your are ready to sell these!!!!

 

[Moreace]

I've been playing with the design a bit - here is the my current setup -- happily the weather has not provided many opportunities for true full on testing, but from just feeling the airflow, I'm definitely getting more flow to the edges. I'm not a fan of the gap/break in the plugs in the large center section, so I'll likely combine those into one seamless print for a better appearance. (also a big thanks to Dan and BA Bumble Bee for volunteering to do some testing and provide feedback!)

Looks like you're making great progress. Keep up the great work. Thank you for spearheading this initiative to help keep us all safe out there!

 

[tts42572]

Just chiming in on this thread as I picked up a new 2021 JULR last week.

One thing I checked right away was this defrost issue. Sure enough, heat blasts out of the center like there's no tomorrow but next to nothing on the edges of the defrost panel on the driver or passenger side. And sure enough, when you put something over those middle holes, it forces more out out the sides.

Blows my mind that Jeep has not addressed this issue when it goes back years and so many people have complained about it in this thread. There's no way they aren't aware of the problem.

Sadly, it'll probably take a major accident and some kind of lawsuit before they fix the problem.

I've purchased these socket rail plugs which seem like they'll work pretty well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B3YFZXT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Will probably watch this thread for other solutions.

 

[waynegold]

Just chiming in on this thread as I picked up a new 2021 JULR last week.

One thing I checked right away was this defrost issue. Sure enough, heat blasts out of the center like there's no tomorrow but next to nothing on the edges of the defrost panel on the driver or passenger side. And sure enough, when you put something over those middle holes, it forces more out out the sides.

Blows my mind that Jeep has not addressed this issue when it goes back years and so many people have complained about it in this thread. There's no way they aren't aware of the problem.

Sadly, it'll probably take a major accident and some kind of lawsuit before they fix the problem.

I've purchased these socket rail plugs which seem like they'll work pretty well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B3YFZXT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Will probably watch this thread for other solutions.

Even more mental that the right drive versions that come from the same factory that are being exported to England work fine.