Rear Cargo Area Fuse Panel

[Pylut4]

Hi All,

First post, intro on the 'intros thread'. Nice to be here after reading through for so long.

During the last cold 'snap', the rear windows became misted. As you do, I put on the rear demist and as expected the tail gate window began to demist. However, the 2 rear windows, with heating elements, failed to demist as expected.

On investigation as to whether a possible fuse failure was the problem, things became awkward. The fuses for the rear demist are located at the rear left of the cargo bay. Fuses 37 & 38 are on the bottom right of the board, totally inaccesible without removing the board from its holder and moving it into the access panel area. It is possible to remove the board from its holder, but being able to move it rearward and therefore able to get at the fuses, becomes a test of faith as to whether or nor something will break if you try to force it past the trim.

Is there a 'method' that those here with a bit of experience could help me with or as the dealer says, "it should just be a case of pulling it rearward".
Don't you love the word 'SHOULD'? Must be worth quite a bit for the spares department!

Thanks in anticipation,
P4

[bircham]

Hi P4 and welcome to the site,

I might be wrong but I don't think the wires on the two rear windows are heating elements - I believe they are for radio reception.


Jon

[Pylut4]

Thanks for that Bircham,

You could be right. The handbook refers to the rear demist button being only for the rear window and rear view mirrors.
It seems that the elements are thicker in the side windows than in the rear window, which leads me to believe that they are for the aerial as you say.

It would be easy to phone up a dealer and ask, but then I wouldn't get to post questions like this, which someone else might want to know the answer to, at some silly hour of the day or weekend when dealers are shut.

Besides, they are no good on the original question of getting the fuse board out!

Thanks again,
P4

[cosworthy2000]

Yep, the wires you see on the rear quarter windows are indeed the radio aerial.
Make sure you don't damage them, they are stuck on the inside of the window and your radio will not work well if they are broken..

[GrahamJW]

Thank you gentlemen - or ladies (the user ID's aren't conclusive...)

Having recently acquired a 2005 XC90 - and despite a fairly thorough attempt at reading the manual cover to cover - I was asking myself this very question on the drive into work this morning. (BTW - Happy New Year)

I had assumed (as do many others by the look of the interweb) these were additional de-mist elements and was about to go hunting for a fuse problem.

In lieu of powered demist, any tips on optimising the many ventilation settings front and rear to keep the windows clear are very welcome...