Windscreen condensation

Some "unexpected" deep wading back in the UK with the heater on full tilt (300 Tdi) had smelly, muddy water being blown onto the inside of the windscreen.

Yes, I know complete numbty move on my part, but it was freezing outside and I knew the ford well enough (I thought).

Fog up every time I used the heater for the rest of that winter. Sounds like trapped water/ moisture to me as well.

This contraption might be worth a look for you guys living in the near permanent wet...:D

Military Snow Cover for Defender - Defendor Toomich

Cheers,

Lou

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Originally Posted by Bush65

Further to that, the issue is the water entering the duct, not being drained away so ending up distributed across the inside of the windscreen.

I recently read a thread on a UK forum about mods to the heater. One thing that was found to help a lot was fitting a hood over the cowling. Not only reduced the rain water ingress, thereby less screen misting, but the heater core became more effective at heating the air, because less heat was lost to water in the air.

The other thing that worked well was a recirculation duct from the passenger foot well, and a flap under the inlet cowling that could close off the fresh air.

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Yeah they are called snow covers and designed to stop snow going in.

But I had one on my 90 to stop water pouring in when wading.

Ali

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Originally Posted by justinc

99% sure you have a blocked fresh air inlet drain. reach in under the plastic duct that feeds the heater box/ fan from the lh guard, and there is a duckbill like on an airfilter. it will probably be blocked. i actually remove them as it is a pain when they get old and won't drain anymore.

jc

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Correct, as usual ;)

Thanks mate, I'll try it out tomorrow. So, yet another design fault with the Defender :(

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Originally Posted by Ranga

So, yet another design fault with the Defender :(

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Or lack of maintenance. Your 130 is pushing 20 years, stuff like this is going to need attention. I'm not trying to make excuses but a blocked drain in 20 years is not unusual but then again probably wouldn't go wrong on a Toyota.....

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Originally Posted by inside

Or lack of maintenance. Your 130 is pushing 20 years, stuff like this is going to need attention. I'm not trying to make excuses but a blocked drain in 20 years is not unusual but then again probably wouldn't go wrong on a Toyota.....

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I'll compromise with both design fault and lack of maintenance. Admittedly, quite easy to unblock, but the fact even mechanics end up removing the offending rubber part says it all.

Methinks it's just the last straw in a few frustrating issues that's got me considering alternatives... :eek:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by inside

Or lack of maintenance. Your 130 is pushing 20 years, stuff like this is going to need attention. I'm not trying to make excuses but a blocked drain in 20 years is not unusual but then again probably wouldn't go wrong on a Toyota.....

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mine had the same problem when it was only a couple of years old......ive cleaned it out back then and it hasnt done it again since.......

03 fender......

FWIW it's become a bit of a habit (when I remember !) to pop the inlet screen off and clean out the duckbill drain.

It's amazing the amount of crap that gets stuck in there, I probably did mine last June when I replaced the heater core, should check it again.

I'd really, really like to get a heated windscreen but am scared of the $$ involved.