He is the one. I bought them from him before I knew of this forum. His is well put together. I don't frequent the other forum anymore as there is little activity over there. Seems like a cool bunch here willing to chat and share info when asked.

To the OP. You'd be surprised how that little bit of corrosion can cause such a big deal. Free fix to clean those and see if it helps. If not, you can continue to look for the gremlin causing you grief.

I have a grounding kit and my RPM's don't drop either, and I use my rear defrost every day up here in the winter. I push 2 buttons after starting my car in the winter, rear defrost and VDC Off.

I also have an SBD kit, and while it works quite well, I think SxExCx's overall wire layout is cleaner than SBD's. But Sean wasn't shipping them when I bought mine. One of my cables is a little too short and one of the junctures has too many wires in too small of a space. I'm considering getting a set from Sean and replacing/relocating most of my kit. I'll leave the 5AT wire in place, as well as the Batt-AWD-ECU cable, but replace all the others under the hood.

this is gonna be funny if its determined that grounding kits fix the problem

an added marketing pitch

I'm curious to see as well.

I have been meaning to crawl under the car and at least ground the 5AT and the engine better. I've always added supplimental grounding to my engines in project cars (never did trans cuz i had manuals) so i know it does help, but i run 1 wire...not the 8+ or so i see in a lot of kits.

I'm just here scratching my head wondering why people think it's a big deal that the rpms drop fractionally when the rear defrost comes on? My wife's 98 Legacy GT does it, my 96 Maxima did it, and my 94 Z28 did it. That tells me it's rather common and tells me it puts a decent amount of draw on the alternator. It is a heat electrical grid after all. Most of us that see rpm drops are currently in the middle of winter and sub 30 degree temps. It can make a difference.

Yeah, this rear defroster thing has taken a life of it's own, haha. I'm not concerned about the rear defroster in and of itself, but only if it is indicative of an overall grounding problem.

I did get the BB grounding kit on yesterday. It certainly has made a difference in the shift quality of the 5AT. The shifts are noticably quicker, especially the 2-3 shift that was giving me a shudder before. It's not perfect, but much better. Also, the when putting it in D, the initial engagement of the trans is also noticably quicker. Again not perfect, but much better. Makes me want to do some additional grounding directly to the 5AT to see if I can get any more improvement out of it.

I'm withholding final judgment on the rear defroster. The "issue" was 90% gone yesterday, but it was also 60 degrees so it didn't need to work as hard as it did in the 30s last week. I could get it to barely nudge the RPMs once and then subsequent engagements did not move the tach at all. I'll check it again later this week after the car sits outside in the 30s all day.

Random thing I noticed, the windows seem to move a little quicker, but could also be the warmer temps. Will check again later. If for nothing else other than the 5AT shifting, I am happy with the grounding kit. Just may add to it.

The 2-3 shift shudder is something in the valvebody. I had the same issue develop on mine a few weeks after buying the car. I took it to the dealership and they swapped out my VB. Problem went away.

Temp shouldn't matter. The defrost works through resistance across the conductive grid. Resistance is what creates the warming heat. If anything, warmer temps increase resistance, however 30 degrees would not affect it really. You could hit your defrost on a 90 degree day and the current draw would be the same as when it was 20 degrees. If anything you might notice a tiny bit more current as the resistance of all the wires in the car will be a tad bit higher.

Mine goes down. If I turn it off, it doesn't go back up and if I press it again it doesn't go down again. I have a grounding kit.

That's what mine is doing now, where before without the grounding kit it would go up and down as I pressed the button off and on. I don't know what that proves, but there it is

Checked mine last night. Dropped ~100 rpms on the gauge. I have a ground kit as well. But they go back up after turning it off.