[desthemoaner]

My 13 plate Zetec B Max has a heated front windscreen. Last night it was extremely cold here in North Wales, and when I came out to start the car this morning there was a thick coating of ice on the front screen. Our 2007 Focus had an absolutely brilliant Quickclear setup which would thaw the front screen of ice within a couple of minutes, so I expected the same. Not a bit of it: took ten minutes, maybe more, for a combination of front screen heater and demister to clear the majority of the ice.
Are those forum members who have used the front screen heater happy with its performance? Maybe my expectations have been over inflated by the brilliant performance of the screen heater on our Focus, but this thing is seriously inadequate in comparison. Or faulty, perhaps.

 

[Willow]

Normally takes about 2 or 3 minutes. Keep lights, heater and fan off.

 

[desthemoaner]

Thanks for the response.

Tried it again yesterday with a much thinner coat of ice on the screen: absolutely useless, so its clearly broken.

I found another thread on this forum in which people were complaining that the screen either didn't work at all, or only cleared on one side, and at least one B Max owner had the windscreen replaced to address the problem.


Using a scraper and/ or demister to clear the screen is a slightly more laborious but perfectly acceptable alternative to chasing Ford for a new screen, so I'll just learn to live with it.

 

[number6]

Thanks for the response.

Tried it again yesterday with a much thinner coat of ice on the screen: absolutely useless, so its clearly broken.

I found another thread on this forum in which people were complaining that the screen either didn't work at all, or only cleared on one side, and at least one B Max owner had the windscreen replaced to address the problem.


Using a scraper and/ or demister to clear the screen is a slightly more laborious but perfectly acceptable alternative to chasing Ford for a new screen, so I'll just learn to live with it.

A faulty heating element in the windscreen is quite common on a Bmax, maybe other similar Fords, which can only be fixed by replacing the screen. Mine was replaced under Warranty.
I did have to go through a laborious process of deliberately steaming up the screen and turning the element on and then taking a photo of the one sided clearing. How you do this with a failure of both sides, I'm not sure.

 

[Gremlin]

there are a couple of fuses and relays for the screen heaters, worth checking, but I doubt will help.also, I did see one thing that said there are wires and connectors near the wiper motor/mechanism that can fail, so an inspection there is also worth doing

 

[desthemoaner]

Thanks again.

The "power on" indicator lights up when the screen heater button is pressed, but there's clearly something awry between that point and the heater itself. I will check fuses, relays,cables etc but given the advice that there does seem to be a tendency for these to be faulty, I don't hold out much hope of a quick fix.


Car is out of warranty from anything other than the gearbox, and I really don't see any point in paying what would probably be hundreds to have the screen heater fixed. Shame, because as I said earlier, the Ford Quickclear screen as fitted to my old Focus was superb.
.

Edited by: desthemoaner

 

[Jilly456]

For info....my BMax heated front screen stopped working just before the 3 yr warranty was up. It would only demist/deice the passenger side half exactly up to the windscreens mid vertical line.
Fortunately dealer checked and was faulty screen so Ford agreed to replace it free, so they know about the fault..
Dont be fobbed off a replacement by your dealer saying its fuses or wires.

 

[Hadrian1]

I think there's quite a few of us had this problem. It's not just the BMax, but all Fords.
I don't know if they still bother to fit them ?

 

[Hywel S Wales]

Had mine replaced too, just before warranty ended. Driver side was fine, passenger side "stripey" before eventually clearing.