rear window heating - where's me power?

[tim]

Winter's here again and reminds of all the jobs we should have done when it was warm and sunny. The Red One has no power to the rear window element; it should have 12V and has nowt though the meter does move off the stop a tad, suggesting something there. Also, the switch on the console has no light. Firstly, any ideas on where the fault is likely to be? The lack of a light suggests a lack of power to the switch. And how exactly do you remove the console switch? They all seem to have two plastic dogs to hold them in place, but how to unlock them? When we stripped the scrappy I tried the 'obvious' of slipping a thin screwdriver down between switch and case, but this simply cracked the flimsy switch case without disengaging the dogs. Maybe thin pieces of metal sheet?
There is power to the fuse so something has gone amiss beyond that. Getting the switch out to check if there is anything getting to it is the first item, I guess, so removal technique appreciated.

[citsncycles]

The switch light has 2 feeds, as it comes on dimly with the sidelights. If it doesn't come on at all it may just be the bulb.

I do remember prizing one of these out, but can't remember exactly how.

Another thing to check is the wiring into the tailgate - the supply goes in through the LH side, and can eventually crack

[mat_fenwick]

I've always just used a thin screwdriver, but it helps to remove the upper switch first (can't remember if the HRW switch is top or bottom). Make sure you don't prise against the moveable section of the switch but poke deeper onto the switch body itself.

If there is some voltage reading at the HRW it may suggest that the switch/relay is OK but you have a voltage drop under load. Unplug one of the connectors from the HRW and see if the voltage goes up to close to 12V when not under load.

[tim]

The feed wire itself is OK, as far as I can actually see, otherwise I'd simply splice in a new section. When we stripped the scrappy I took particular note of where the wire goes - up through the tailgate into the roof, the over the doors and down the front pillar. If it comes to it I could replace the whole length but in my experience 90% of wiring problems are based either on a switch or the actual connector so I'm hoping to be able to pin it down once the switch is out....Mat. the upper switch has the same fixings as the heater switch so I'm just as likely to break that aren't I? We've got the scrappy console in Andy's shed so I'll experiment and let you know.