Ice on inside of windscreen

bosseyed

Anyone got any tips on reducing condensation in the car?

Its driving me mad, the car is only just over a year old and in every spell of cold weather like this the inside of the screen steams up something chronic, even when it hasn't been driven. Last night there was ice on the inside of the screen :eek: I haven't had ice on the inside of a windscreen since my battered old leaky maestro many years ago.

So I'm assuming some damp is getting in somewhere and making the air inside moist enough to condense - I took it to the dealers (Nissan) back in January to complain and they sprayed it with water dosed with some manner of dye, ran a black light over the interior and pronounced the whole thing water tight. Theres nothing wet stored in the car to be making the air moist so I'm stumped.

So anyone got any clues or ways to fix? I'll raise it with Nissan again but surely something can't be right?

anotherbaldrick

Lift the carpets and feel the underlay all round in the footwells front and back and in the boot and the spare wheel well . If water was getting in to that degree they would be quite wet

jonatron

Check to see if your pollen (cabin) filter is wet. It could be that water got into it somehow and now wet air is being blown into your car

bosseyed

Good ideas both, thanks. I will check (Or get Nissan to check, heh).

My thinking is if its getting wet enough to drip water on the inside of the screen then there has to be a leak or something somewhere.

vikingaero

Check to see that your air recirculation button is off, or if it's a lever make sure it's set so fresh air enters the car.

bosseyed

vikingaero wrote: »

Check to see that your air recirculation button is off, or if it's a lever make sure it's set so fresh air enters the car.

Yep, its always set to bring fresh air in. A/C is generally on too to try and keep the air dry.

vikingaero

If I leave my Mazda for a few days I find ice on the inside of the windscreen. I think that sometimes it's due to where it's parked. It doesn't see sunlight until the late afternoon and then the sun seems to warm the metal and glass up and cause the condensation.

Also is your a/c working. Hard to tell at this time of the year as a/c systems in cars will switch off close to 0C, even if the light is illuminated, it does so to prevent ice from entering the a/c compressor and damaging it.

I've found that in cars where there is an a/c leak or no refrigerant then the condensation problems are far worse, possibly due to some form of water vapour entering the cabin.

Nilrem

vikingaero wrote: »

If I leave my Mazda for a few days I find ice on the inside of the windscreen. I think that sometimes it's due to where it's parked. It doesn't see sunlight until the late afternoon and then the sun seems to warm the metal and glass up and cause the condensation.

That's about what happens with our car, it's got no air con (it was either that or ABS when I bought it), so it tends to get condensation which due to where it's parked means it doesn't thaw until late afternoon.

What I've found helps is giving the inside of the windscreen a good wipe with a proper glass cleaner to remove oils etc every now and then, and to try and dry the car as much as possible with the heater on full and the windows open a crack to let the moisture that evaporates from the cold car escape.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

AC won't work in these temperatures. Its a simple problem, the inside of your car is wet. You drive it, that wetness because warm, when you park the car overnight the warm moist air settles on the coldest parts of the car, and freezes. Its just like having a shower in your bathroom, with the windows shut.

Put simply, you need to dry the interior of your car. The easy way of doing this is to park it up, and bung a low-power electric heater in there. Or go on a drive for a few hours.

forgotmyname

Turn the heating down and/or open the windows as you near the end of your journey. If the
air temperature inside the car is similar to the air outside it should not ice up.

Inactive

Good advice on opening the windows, I always have my drivers window slightly open , it allows the air to circulate.

I have to say it was very cold today, but still better than having a screen misted up.