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Traffic film/condensation

coopertrooper2001

Well-known member
Joined
7 Oct 2013
Messages
196
My car is steaming up periodically i.e. its been fine for a few weeks but has started again yesterday and today.
It starts like traffic film, mainly on the windscreen which I can wipe off with a cloth, but it comes back. Then after a little while turns to condensation.

I have had the air con checked and all is apparently OK, but it struggles to clear the glass even on mega hot and directed to the screen and side windows, or even just on the screen.
Re-circ is off and ice symbol on. I can hear pump kicking in and revs drop accordingly.

I have cleared out the bulkhead drains, but there was no standing water.

I do not have a sunroof or soft top.

I am assuming a leak somewhere. I have felt the bottom of the door cards - all dry.

I am guessing next step is to lift the carpets. Hoping for some advice here as I tried driver and passenger foot wells. Found the carpets glued down. I did pull away a little on the sidewall, but could only get my hand part way under. It did however feel dry.

Could it be the air con drain hose? Should I see a puddle, even in colder weather?

Any advice appreciated, its ruining my daily drive and making me want to see an otherwise perfect motor.
 
Probably just the time of year and the damp weather. My car does it too but so do my Mondeo and my wife's Celica. Keeping them in a dry garage would probably help but mine's full!
A good run with the aircon will help dry things out. Opening the door or windows to get rid of moist damp air after using the car also helps a lot.
 
Couple of things you can check:

1. When was pollen filter last changed and is it dry, clean and in good nick?

2. Is aircon system gassed?

3. Has the AC drier canister been changed recently?

Normally one or all of the above is seriously neglected and this dosent help with seasonal misting up.

:thumb:
 
stuff to check

Is the pollen filter the one directly under the passenger side windscreen? If so I took this out and checked - clean and dry.

System re-gassed last week, checked again and is holding the right amount of gas.

Receiver dryer never changed as far as I am aware.


Are water leaks common? I read about ICE installs creating bulk head breaches, but I have a standard setup.

Keen to rule out a water build up somewhere. Have had this on cars in the past, but the misting is nowhere near this level, yet.
 
You don't use one of those e-cigarettes do you? One of my clients was telling me the other day he spent a fortune at the garage trying to establish why his car kept misting up. Turned out to be the e cig. It was leaving a vapour on the windows which was causing the car to keep misting up. As soon as he cleaned all the glass and stopped vaping in car the problem never came back.
 
Not sure how changing the dryer would help the situation?
 
It sounds like a water ingress problem to me. I would lift the carpets front and rear to check.

MC
 
Coopertrooper 2001 do you have a rear wiper fitted ? I too suffered with condensation, water was working its way in through the rear wiper arm shaft grommet a smear of silicon has cured the problem
:thumb:
 
Water leak possible culprit. Check carpet in both front footwells and rear footwells.

With the recent cold weather the AC cuts out (I think at temp below 4C - but check in the manual).
 
Responses

Thanks for the thoughts all.

1. No smoker
2. Yes I have a rear wiper. WIll check that out. Rear shelf area feels dry at the top level.

Keen to lift carpets and inspect underneath. Rears are dry, but cant find an easy way to lift the fronts - any advice?
 
Last time I had something like that it turned out to be the heater matrix but it was in a BMW. Starts with a windscreen that does not clear and keeps misting up and progresses to a wet carpet in the footwell.

Getting your hand under the carpet just means you will spot the problem earlier but hand on top will do. Once it gets wet it's wet.

Best of luck

Pip
 
Further investigation

This weekend I had the carpets up in both the front and rear foot wells, checked the door cars and stripped out the entire area under the rear window.
All dry as a bone.

Checked the pollen filter. Bone dry and reasonably new (service was June 2016).

Cleaned the windows again yesterday and then drove in today and the film/light condensation started up again within 5 miles.

Can anyone direct me to the location of the air con drain tube and the heater matrix?

I will get the aircon system checked again this week to detmine if it is not working correctly and therefore not venting the cabin properly.

Reasonably happy the car appears dry, but this is really starting to spoil my driving experience. Any further thoughts welcomed!!!
 
Is the recirculation switch functioning OK?
 
It really sounds to me like water is getting in there somewhere. I have old cars with no air con and even in the winter they are nothing like as bad as what you describe. I don't think a fault air con would cause these issues.

MC
 
Update

Good shout on the re-circ button, hadn't thought to check that. Appears to work OK in that fan speed increases when turned on and decreases when turned off.

I am going to start calling it a film rather than condensation. Its as if the screen is still dirty and any moisture is clinging to it. Cleaned the screen yesterday morning (3rd time in as many weeks) and after half an hour of driving the film was back. It creates like a smokey effect on the inside of the glass.

Even with the blower on full, it does not clear. I have to wipe it off...

I am confident its not a water leak as water will generally find the lowest point and collect there and everything was dry, even higher up points!

I also checked the door drains and they were clear.
 

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