Gladiator and Defrost

[Lunentucker]

Hope these pictures help!

Very much so! You're just blocking the middle to force more airflow to the sides.
Good to know.
Thanks.

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[Badunit]

Those are the best.... wipers banging away like mad when you are sitting at a stop sign idling, then they drop to a slow creep across the windshield when you hit the gas. Drove a late 50's Willy's pickup for several winters and remember this vividly.

I'm a little late to the party on this thread but my dad's '55 Chevy was like that, sometimes stopping mid-windshield. You learn to momentarily let off the gas to get a wipe.
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Back on topic: If I recall from reading this thread a while back, or maybe it was another thread, someone said that the squares they bought smelled bad when the defroster was on. The plugs may be made of vinyl or polyethylene. I assume vinyl ones would be smelly when hot. That may be the difference if no one else is complaining about it.

 

[Scotty mac]

Also, please feel your Defrost vents when it is running. You get air out the left and right side or just the middle. Every gladiator I have Tested are all the same...just out the middle

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I live in Northeast Ohio and my Gladiator defrosters only blow in the middle. My windshield wipers are always caked with ice and the outsides do not get any defrost action. I'm thinking of making a deflector or something to put up there but I'm not sure how that'll work. It's a safety issue on the way back between Youngstown, Ohio and Philadelphia. I went through 2 gallons of washer fluid and had to stop several times to clean off my blades

 

[AmishMike]

Almost 6 years and 100K miles in central Pa. No problems here. Is it the best defrosting system, nope but it’s fine. Sometimes we expect too much from things.
Sometimes you just have to put your window down and catch the wiper then let it snap back onto the windshield and knock the ice off.
Growing up in the northeast with a car with no blower motor and no washer pump you learn how to go on. Heck, I drove that car for 4 years like that.
My next was a Toyota HiLux that would blister your leg from the heater. Even still, I can remember a wet snowstorm where the snow and ice built up from the edges of the windshield and over the wiper sweep. The wipers worked perfectly and carved a cove below the building ice. Every half an hour we had to stop and break up the ice. Had to crack the windows open because it was too hot trying to keep things from freezing up.

 

[Apuszczalowski]

I had noticed this issue too with mine and though something was wrong.

The heat only blows through the middle third of the vent, even though theres alot of vent on both sides of the top of the dash that dont have air coming out. Seems like an issue Jeep should have addressed so it defrosts the entire windshield either by having some fins in the vents to direct the air to the sides, of blocking some of the vent in the middle (like the caps proposed earlier)

I don't think it is an issue that will lead to deaths, but it can be an issue limiting your already limited vision through the smaller windshield of the jeep. I do also think its something that shouldn't be an issue on a $50k+ vehicle.....

 

[ArcticDreadnought]

I sent my information to Jeep Cares, hopefully they work the problem before it gets someone hurt.

 

[Hootbro]

Been 5+ years. Jeep is not going to get around to fixing this.

 

[AKDrifter]

Been 5+ years. Jeep is not going to get around to fixing this.

Splitting hairs I know, been 8+. People been complaining about it on the JL since it was released in late '17. Obviously same system. I think you're assessment is quite accurate lol.

 

[IamPro2A]

Actually, thanks for bumping this thread. I noticed the freezing up along the outside edges the other day, and kinda wondered why my new JT does this when my '21 didn't. This thread reminded me I put those plugs when it was brand new.

So I guess before I go out and clean last night's snow off to look, do the vents in the '24+ JL/JTs still use the same 5/8" plugs, or has the vent design changed at all with the rest of the dash?

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