A New Experience

[Thommo]

I have been driving for many years but had a terrifying experience today that had me in some what of a state of panic. It was a first for me but wondering if others have experienced similar!

Adelaide has been a tad hot over the last couple of days with mid 40's temps so the air cond has been getting a good workout. Having mainly owned older cars for the last 30+ years only a few have had air cond (but as I get older I am getting softer).

Had to head of to a First Aid course this morning as the ambient temp was starting to creep up. I cranked up the air con and settled back for a 30 - 40 min drive in the D1V8. After about 30 mins I though I noticed what I thought was smoke in the cabin coming from the dash. With the sun now shining I dismissed it as an optical illusion, but a moment or two later I noticed what appeared to be smoke billowing from the A/C vents. Immediate panic and I pulled over and switched everything off. It then dawned on me that I could not smell anything? Strange! Surely smoke would be the result of some electrical gremlin melting somewhere and there would be the pungent acrid smell of melting plastic and components?

After a bit of searching and fault finding I have come to the conclusion that it must have been some sort of condensation/vapour from within the A/C unit?

Am I right or is there something I should be looking at?

[rick130]

<snip>

After a bit of searching and fault finding I have come to the conclusion that it must have been some sort of condensation/vapour from within the A/C unit?

Am I right or is there something I should be looking at?

Yep.
Actually what happens is that the air coming out of the vents is below dew point (the temp at which moisture condenses out of the air) and as this cold air mixes with the ambient air you will see the vapour you experienced.

[TonyC]

Spot on.
The higher the humidity the more it will happen.

Tony

[Tank]

Scary Eh! pays to have an extinguisher in the car for when it is real smoke, as you would know, everything runs on smoke, everytime you let the smoke out that item never works again, LOL, Regards Frank.

[Davy]

It is very humid where I live.

The only time I experienced it, the evaporator in the dash had to be replaced a short time later as it was leaking and the gas slowly escaped
In my case the "smoke" was the freon escaping into the cabin.

I think a really hot day finally pushed the old thing over it's limit.

Davy

[LWB123]

This sort of `smoke' alarm used be fairly common with my old XF Falcon wagon back in former Riverina days. Basically as a few people have already suggested it seems to be caused by air condensing in the unit or as it is leaving and generally stops after a little while.

The first time was the worst because some little time before real smoke had come out from what seemed on later inspection to be a dead leaf caught in the fan. After that scare, anything coming out of the vents was met with a fair degree of concern.

The advice about carrying a fire extinguisher in the vehicle anyway is spot on.

Cheers,

[PhilipA]

It sometimes happens when the thermostat "bulb" is not positioned correctly in the evaporator and the temp of the evaporator gets down to freezing.
I had a BMW in KL that used to throw slivers of ice at me.
Regards Philip A

[Thommo]

Thanks team :)

I thought I was on the right track but good to know some of you have also experienced similar situations :D

And yes I was very close to using the fire extinguisher, it was truly a adrenaline pumping experience at the time LOL

Thanks
Thommo

[long stroke]

Yep same thing happens here to our 92 d1, usually pretty humid around here so it always comes out of the vents in ours:angel:

CHEERS TIM.