I don't listen to the radio often, but the other morning I turned it on and also turned on the rear window defogger due to morning dew. The radio sounded like the station was too far away and couldn't be pulled in. Tried a few other stations that I knew had good reception, and the same crummy reception. I turned off the rear defogger, and all signals were clear as always. I've owned this car for 9 years and never experienced this. Any idea why the rear defogger is now creating interference, and how to eliminate it?

Thanks for any hints to a solution.

 

This is really common across many different cars. Most likely a fault in the defroster wiring/circuit.

If there’s a break in the defroster wire, or ground fault, the draw and EM field will change and interfere w/reception. Check the defroster wires/ground for corrosion, look over the etched/applied wires in the glass for a continuity break. There are repair kits for that so you can “paint” a new wire in place to repair it.

Most of the time, this is physical damage to the defroster grid. If you have lines in your defroster that aren’t defrosting as quickly or at all, start with tracing those.

 

I'm pretty gentle when cleaning the inside of my rear window, but you may be right. I'll take a hard look at all the wires and connections this weekend.

Thank you for responding.

 

It’s not necessarily YOU. It happens from heat, time, imperfections in manufacturing. Good luck.

 

There is a filter specifically for this issue maybe it went bad although I doubt it.
https://www.japan-parts.eu/lexus/us/...r/2?pnn=86011C

More likely your alternator is causing the issue.

 

Are you suggesting 86011C may be the culprit? I don't have a 2006 GS300. I do have a 2007 US version RWD GS350 and that PN doesn't come up as a PN for my car from what I can tell. Am I reading this right?

 

Your car has a filter as above will likely be 90980-05368 but I'm skeptical it would go bad.