Mrs F's Colt (1.3 petrol '07) gets very steamed up on the windscreen some mornings, and when it does, it's a devil to shift. Even with blowers on full and air con on, the stuff is very reluctant to clear, making the car undrivable for 10 minutes or so.
Took to local (independent) garage yesterday, and they had a good look but couldn't find anything. They said the checks included the blowers were blowing properly, the air con drain wasn't blocked, no sign of any leaks.
However as I was picking it up, one of the guys said it could just be the fact that it's a Japanese car - apparently they tend to have better than average door seals, which means moisture can build up. He suggested keeping the air con on all the time to keep it in check.
Does this sound reasonable? Eg. excuse my ignorance but is it ok to have the air con on with the heater setting turned up? Any other thoughts?
BTW I dropped the car off at 8am, picked it up at about 4pm, and 2 engineers rang me (one early and a more senior one later) to describe what they'd done and discuss other possibilities. The total cost was:
£0
So I'll recommend them again: MoT City in Winnersh.
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 2 Nov 11 at 13:56
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>>Eg. excuse my ignorance but is it ok to have the air con on with the heater setting turned up? Any other thoughts?<<
Yes its fine.
Have you tried cleaning the windscreen inside, some chemicals can affect the clearing effect.
Worth dropping the windows for a few minutes beforehand, see if it makes a difference.
Im presuming the ventilation isnt set to recirculate - my wife had the same complaint until I realised the ninny had it in recirc - doh!
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Thanks Stu.
>> Have you tried cleaning the windscreen inside, some chemicals can affect the clearing effect.
No, but might give it a go.
>> Worth dropping the windows for a few minutes beforehand, see if it makes a difference.
I've tried that even if she hasn't - didn't seem to help.
>> Im presuming the ventilation isnt set to recirculate - my wife had the same complaint
>> until I realised the ninny had it in recirc - doh!
:) Again, on the rare occasions I've been driving and it's happened to me, I know it wasn't on recirc.
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>> excuse my ignorance but is it ok to have the air con on with the heater setting turned up?
Yes, aircon isn't just for keeping the car interior chilled on a hot day.
The heater works by allowing incoming air to pass through a small radiator (called a matrix) carrying hot water - so the air coming into the car is warmed up. Aircon works in exactly the same way but its small radiator is carrying very cold fluid - so the air coming into the car is cooled down.
In a car fitted with aircon the incoming air passes through the cold matrix first, and then the hot one. The cold matrix also has the side-effect of attracting condensation (in the same way as the outside of a glass of chilled wine on a hot day). This takes a lot of moisture out of the air before it comes into the cabin.
By keeping the aircon switched on and turning the heat up, you will benefit from dehumidified, warm air. I find this combination very comfortable, so my aircon's switched on all the time. All cars are different, but in mine using the aircon makes no difference to the engine's power or fuel economy that I can measure.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Wed 2 Nov 11 at 18:41
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>> All cars are different, but in mine using the aircon makes no difference
>> to the engine's power or fuel economy that I can measure.
Thanks Dave. Just as a matter of interest, what engine do you have?
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>> Have you tried cleaning the windscreen inside, some chemicals can affect the clearing effect.
>>
>>
Seconded, a thorough clean with glass cleaner[1] and a wipe with a damp chamois to take the streaks out[2] works best for me. Once clean, a bi-weekly quick wipe with the damp chamois will keep it that way.
Dirty windscreens mist up far worse than clean ones in my experience. I reckon it's probably the small specks of dirt providing a "seed" for larger water droplets to form. The blower clears light misting fairly quickly, but that heavy "wet" stuff you get on a dirty screen is a nightmare to clear.
[1] Like "Mr Muscle" or any of the similar supermarket own brand stuff. Avoid the "goopy" types.
[2] You can get it streak-free with cleaner and careful polishing with a new cloth, but the chamois treatment takes all the effort out of the process. Add the merest hint of car wash or washing-up liquid to the water used to dampen the chamois for best results.
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Presumably they also checked for any obstructions in the inlet or pollen filter.
Worth making sure the screen is clean inside; moisture seems to 'key' onto any comtaminant on the glass. Also check the car is completely dry inside. Mine's steaming up atm because the boot carpet's damp - failed to drain rainwater out of recycling bin before heading for the tip. More of a problem in eveneing though when the car's beein in sun then temp falls after sunset. Will get it out and dry it over the weekend.
Until/if cause is found warm water (as in ice removal) will warm the glass sufficiently to prevent condensation.
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I was going to say, run the aircon all the time. It is good for it and uses no engine power if it is not cooling and it does dehumidify the cabin air. If the car has a pollen filter it could be blocked and changing it may be a tricky job, location wise, but they don't tend to be costly.
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>>run the aircon all the time. It is good for it and uses no engine power if it is not cooling
You don't get owt for nowt. If the air-con's running, then it's driving a pump. That pump's going to need power. Whether or not it's cooling makes no difference.
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>> You don't get owt for nowt. If the air-con's running, then it's driving a pump.
>> That pump's going to need power. Whether or not it's cooling makes no difference.
I know in our old Honda Accord (V reg) with the air con on there would periodically be a 'thump' as something kicked in and performance would be down a bit until whatever it was stopped. Perhaps the pump stopped when it wasn't cooling.
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 2 Nov 11 at 14:26
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More to the point, if it isn't cooling it isn't going to make the evaporator cold, which then won't condense moisture out of the air.
Rendering the whole exercise futile......
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Pollen filter clogged up?, carpets or underlay got damp under the rubber mats?, spare wheelwell wet?
Volvo trucks suffer with this problem too, you have to keep the aircon on at all times otherwise you'll be on fast tickover running the pto and all of a sudden every single window is thick with condensation.
Once it gets like this only full power maximum heat will shift it, i daresay some aircon designs have similar problems.
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Regarding the pollen filter, I did mention this as a possible cause in the first discussion with one of the engineers, but to be honest I forgot to ask explicitly before picking up whether they had checked this or not. Might give them a call back.
They did say they had checked for leaks, and it doesn't feel damp inside.
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Forgot to add that its worth checking all drain holes are clear in the bodywork, esp below the windscreen ( not familiar with the Colt but most cars collect leaves and dirt there at this time of year ).
Id also check spare wheelwell for moisture.
Its it JUST the windscreen or are other windows affected? I say that because the windscreen alone would be more likely a ventilation issue, if all windows affected, id say its water ingress somewhere.
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>> excuse my ignorance but is it ok to have the air con on with the heater setting turned up?
Yes, it's how climate control systems work. I leave my CC on all the time when I'm driving the car as that's when it's at its most efficient.
Pretty sure most handbooks suggest using the AC in conjuntion with the heater as the quickest way to clear mist and condensation from the windscreen.
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The vectra air con has not been off since the summer and a new pollen filter fitted last week but still come to it after a few hours and it's all misted up and have to sit there for a minute or so before i go. :-( Crap design i think...................
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Only time I've ever had the windows mist up in both of my Vectra-C's is if I'm parked up and sat in the car with the engine off for a period of time. Come to think of it, I never had a problem in my Vectra-B either.
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>> Only time I've ever had the windows mist up in both of my Vectra-C's is
>> if I'm parked up and sat in the car with the engine off for a
>> period of time.
Should this be in the back seat thread..;)
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>> The vectra air con has not been off since the summer and a new pollen
>> filter fitted last week but still come to it after a few hours and it's
>> all misted up and have to sit there for a minute or so before i
>> go. :-( Crap design i think...................
>>
I've not had mine off since summer, on all year round - however when I 1st switch on the fans, I must have a mist function becasue all of a sudden the window will mist up. until it starts to demist again/
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>>I've not had mine off since summer, on all year round - however when I 1st switch on the fans, I must have a mist function becasue all of a sudden the window will mist up. until it starts to demist again/
I'd suggest you RTFB. Mine states you should switch off the A/C before the end of your journey. Condensation (and even ice) can collect in the ventilation system whilst A/C is on. If you park the car up when the A/C's still on, then the condensate will remain in the system and be ejected at the next time. That's the cause of many of the smelly problems associated with A/C - bacteria growing in it.
I've read advice that you should run the heating at maximum high for a few minutes at the end of each journey. Difficult if the temperature's in the high twenties!
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In my experience once you use the aircon one day you will need to keep using it at the start of the next day as the switched off aircon exacerbates the condensation problem until you turn it on again. You could try not using aircon for a few days to see what happens. When was your pollen filter last changed?
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During the winter she wouldn't normally use the aircon at all, except to try to demist the windows. Perhaps it became a self-perpetuating problem as you describe.
Not sure when the pollen filter was last changed, but certainly not in the last 6 months; might be over a year. I did mention the pollen filter to the guys at the garage, but they didn't change it. Given that they seem pretty thorough, and presumably they would have been happy to have made some money out of it (they didn't charge me anything for the day the car was there), I would be surprised if that was the problem. But I'm only guessing.
At the moment I've told her to keep the aircon on all the time to try to keep the moisture levels low. No demisting problems yet, but it might not be the 'right' weather for it to happen.
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I think VB is right, it's just one of those things with certain vehicles fitted with aircon, once you've used it you have to keep doing so.
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>> it's just one of those things with certain vehicles fitted with aircon, once you've used it you have to keep doing so.
And vehicles fitted with climate control probably don't experience the same thing because most owners leave the CC on all the time.
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That's what the garage guy was saying when I picked the car up.
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Read the handbook about changing the pollen filter and check it yourself.
10:1 it's blocked.
I leave Yaris aircon on all year - minimal effect on fuel consumption and no misting problems despite it being "Japanese with good seals"..
You may find of course that changing the pollen filter is a real pia--- which answers another question...
I find after 10k miles, it's black and full of leaves - we live in a rural area with tractors , straw, horse and cow manure on roads and trees.
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Horse and cow manure on trees? Not this fella is it?
twitter.com/#!/weirdhorse
:)
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Thu 10 Nov 11 at 18:40
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>> You may find of course that changing the pollen filter is a real pia
Not according to puravent
www.puravent.co.uk/filters/display_filter.php?id=198&part=M2264
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>> >> You may find of course that changing the pollen filter is a real pia
>>
>> Not according to puravent
Thanks - might have a go at that.
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We have CZ1 but it does have optional a/c and the car mists badly all the time if the a/c isn't used. I think the particular issue with Colt is the screen vent is rubbish - just one in the middle.
I don't know how people who own Colts without a/c go on - some say only cars with a/c will mist up but it makes no odds on ours whether its been used on the last journey or not. And of course it's a real nuisance in near-freezing weather as the a/c won't work then.
I don't think there's any problem with through-flow on Colt - the ventilation system will blast out air and it must be going somewhere.
Wife's Jazz is exactly the same, except that clears very quickly.
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We have a Colt 1.3 CZ2 automated manual. The air con has never been the most efficient, but that is design as far as I am concerned and the original salesman stated that "It was not the best in the world". However it does a sterling job of clearing the glass when required, but for cooling it needs to be on blower speed 3 or 4 to achieve the desired result which, if on the latter, could result in deafness............pardon.....................I heard that...
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>> We have a Colt 1.3 CZ2 automated manual. The air con has never been the
>> most efficient, but that is design as far as I am concerned and the original
>> salesman stated that "It was not the best in the world".
That's odd - I'd say in ours it works fine. Agree the fan is noisy on higher speeds, but if you open the face level vents and direct the air to them it absolutely blasts through even at low fan speeds.
Last edited by: Bill Payer on Fri 9 Nov 12 at 22:53
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>> Not according to puravent
>> www.puravent.co.uk/filters/display_filter.php?id=198&part=M2264
Perhaps we could ask Vauxhall to use this as a guide for all future models?!
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>> be the fact that it's a Japanese car - apparently they tend to have better
>> than average door seals, which means moisture can build up.
There must be somewhere for the air to escape. If the air can't escape it can't come into the car via the heater ~ unless of course the interior or the car becomes pressurised, in which case eventually the interior pressure will defeat the heater blower!
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Virtually every car built since the Mk.1 Cortina in 1963 has some firm of throflow ventilation-frequently thro' vents in the bottom of the doors.The car should demist on redirc.-the evaporator in the A/C is where the moisture is removed and being the same air going round and round,it should demist quicker.
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The Vectra is garbage it has condensation all the time when left parked up rubbish design i drive with air con on and cabin filter (pollen filter) is clean no leaks they all seem to do it.
All i do is leave the window slightly open still not good.
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>> The Vectra is garbage it has condensation all the time when left parked up
Are the scuttle drains clear?
Are the flaps in the boot area (under the parcel shelf supports) clear? Also make sure the cubby holes in the boot corners aren't too full of clutter else the boot vents I just mentioned won't get much air through them.
Occasionally I get the inside of the rear window of the hatch misting up, when parked, but that's it. The rest of the windows don't mist up unless I'm sat in the car for any length of time with the engine off.
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Yes scuttle clear pollen filter new this year, will check these flaps, the r/h side is full of clutter but no water in spare wheel well.
Front screen and rear mist up bad after 12hrs this week had ice on the inside front screen.
Car has never spent anytime under water! it's rubbish there's other vectras in the car park the same, though never garaged either to dry out.
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>> The Vectra is garbage it has condensation all the time when left parked up rubbish
>> design
I've never owned a Vectra but I've never had a Vauxhall with a demisting problem.
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Mitsubishi Colt 3-door - demisting problem - Stuu
