Windscreen condensation

[Ranga]

As you may know, it's a bit wet up here in BrisVegas.

Driving home today, the condensation on the inside of the windscreen and passenger windows was that bad, it actually made driving dangerous. I tried everything - air-con on full (what a joke) hot, full cold, demister fan on full cold (again, what a joke), fan on full hot. Nothing helped.

The weird thing is, occasionally something would work, being that the screen and passenger windows would demist, but buggered if I know why. Then, without changing anything, the fog would return.

I've had a gutful of it. This is ****ing 2013, not 1983. Here I am, driving down peak-hour Sandgate Rd, using a micro-fibre hiking towel I happened to have with me, wiping the windscreen like my Dad used to do when I was a kid. I can understand how/why the Brits never needed aircon to keep cool, but how the hell do they demist their windows?

Anyway, I've seen mixed reports about using Fogex, even soap to coat the windscreen, but really, why can't the air-con just demist properly?

Glad I got that off my chest, but after a long trip in a Landcruiser, and the comfort it provided, I am seriously re-evaluating all the Land Rover 'quirks' :mad:

[Blknight.aus]

close the vent flaps, crack open the back windows and turn the heater on flat out with the windshield vents on.

[Sue]

Is your air con working properly?... mine defogs the windows without any problems at all (and it's not even working all that well - booked in for a repair).. :)

[Green Elephant]

Rain-ex anti fog has always worked a charm for me.

The Puma is pretty good though, I leave the drivers and front passenger window down just a tad and only use the heater. If I was carrying passengers I would opt for the aircon route.

As I understand it, its a matter of getting the moisture on the inside and outside relatively the same temperature. This means heating/cooling the glass to a level where it is sufficient to maintain or change temp on both sides of the glass... I hope that makes sense?

Maybe just pick hot, or cold and stick with it for a while, giving the glass enough time to properly change temp. I believe AC works better as its "dryer" air, but the heater has always worked for me.

[incisor]

Glad I got that off my chest, but after a long trip in a Landcruiser, and the comfort it provided, I am seriously re-evaluating all the Land Rover 'quirks' :mad:

what is this national have a sulk day?

man up and stop your whining the lot of you...

you know it's character building, you all beat on about character and you carry on like whimps when you have to face up to some "character"...

try driving a 59 swb you power steering spoilt girlies...

what next?

you got your petticoats caught in that mongrel door catch?

you should be driving a HTFU not a HPCU!






















obligatory smilie follows


:D

:angel:

[Ranga]

close the vent flaps, crack open the back windows and turn the heater on flat out with the windshield vents on.

I'll try this tomorrow. No doubt it'll still be bloody raining!

[Ranga]

Is your air con working properly?... mine defogs the windows without any problems at all (and it's not even working all that well - booked in for a repair).. :)

Yeh, but what year is yours?! :p

[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

[Ranga]

you got your petticoats caught in that mongrel door catch?

Not since I got some X-Trouser catches :p (thanks to TimNZ)

[sdt463]

Driven my 1999 130 without the aircon on when its been bucketting down and no problems. Justin's idea sounds good.
Dave.

[goingbush]

cut a potato inhalf & rub it across your window

let it dry - problem solved.

[incisor]

cut a potato inhalf & rub it across your window

let it dry - problem solved.

remember my old man doing that with the old hillman when i was a lad..

worked a treat....

[Ranga]

cut a potato inhalf & rub it across your window

let it dry - problem solved.

Does it leave a noticeable residue, and if so, do you wipe it off?

[Reads90]

As said rain X is great stuff

Used to use it all the time in the uk for the same thing.

But here I use the A C in the defender which works great on my 98 defender.

[debruiser]

I dont know if this is your problem but I thought I'd chuck in my 2 cents worth.

Used to have a Ford Focus - (yes I know shhhh) anyway when the outside was fogged up i'd just crank the AC! worked AWESOME, except that the AC was too good.... it used to unfog the outside and fog the inside at the same time.... you'd only get maybe a few seconds of clear screen out of it. Solution was just to run the ac slower.

Might be worth a shot since you tried every other setting. There used to be a sweet spot on the focus for unfogging...

[Bush65]

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
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.

[kenleyfred]

I just hit the heated windscreen button. Works very well.
Pushing 5 years with the SVX, I'm realizing that the heated windscreen feature is to compensate for the leaking sunroof over a fully carpeted interior.

Seriously though, air conditioning is best as it removes the humidity.
Kenley

[DEFENDERZOOK]

I used to have the same problem with lurch......when the screen was starting to fog up i would turn the heater on to demist.....and the screen would fog up instantly......
this was very dangerous.....as visibilty was reduced to absolute zero.....
Then I did as Justinc said....... removed the vent of the front guard and cleaned out the water drain for the air intake.......it was full of mud......
I then stuck the hose in there and flushed it all out......

And I've never had a problem since........water was just sitting there and all that humidity was being spread on to the windscreen via the heater and fan......
Now that the water can drain away......I just get hot air which dries up the windscreen pretty quick......

You don't need any more moisture in a defender......they have a built in humidifier when ever it rains or you wash your car.......it switches on automatically.......

[Rick Fischer]

When I have been caught like that in the past ie hot wet bodies in out of the snow - recirc, a/c full on and just enough heat to keep the A/c working.

Up in tropics same same. recirc a/c full with just enough heat to stop me from freezing.

Thinks recirc is the key. Get the water out of the the cab's air.

Why it works then doesn't work. A/c hits temp and switches off.

Works much better if heater and A/c temp controls are separate items :)

Cheers

RF

[Sitec]

As said before, check your inlet drain... If not, the other possibility, check your coolant level (when cold). Is it dropping? If a head gasket is just starting to let go, and your Rad cap is good, the weaker part of the cooling system is the heater matrix.... Had one pop on me, and bought my current 130 with the heater disconnected.. Not something you think to check in summer! You should smell it in the cab if it is the matrix... unless u just have water in the rad!! :)

[Loubrey]

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 (http://defendoor.co.uk/militarysnowcover.html)

Cheers,

Lou

[Reads90]

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.


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

[Ranga]

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

Correct, as usual ;)

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

[inside]

So, yet another design fault with the Defender :(
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.....

[Ranga]

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.....

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:

[DEFENDERZOOK]

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.....


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......

[rick130]

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.