Ice on inside of windscreen - no leaks

[Howard-]

Hi all,

This morning I noticed there is ice on the inside of my windscreen. I am 99% sure there are no leaks into the car. I don’t use it that often at the moment, and I last used it for a relatively short journey last Thursday.

Is it understandable that lack of airflow and temperature changes while it just sits there unventilated can cause this?

Do those moisture absorbent pouches help?

Thanks!

Edited by Howard- on Tuesday 16th January 08:29

[markymarkthree]

Howard- said:

Hi all,

This morning I noticed there is ice on the inside of my windscreen. I am 99% sure there are no leaks into the car. I don’t use it that often ant the moment, and I last used it for a relatively short journey last Thursday.

Is it understandable that lack of airflow and temperature changes while it just sits there unventilated can cause this?

Do those moisture absorbent pouches help?

Thanks!

Are you defo sure that none of your carpets are wet ?
As the only times i have had ice on the inside, i also had a wet carpet.

[Howard-]

markymarkthree said:

Howard- said:

Hi all,

This morning I noticed there is ice on the inside of my windscreen. I am 99% sure there are no leaks into the car. I don’t use it that often ant the moment, and I last used it for a relatively short journey last Thursday.

Is it understandable that lack of airflow and temperature changes while it just sits there unventilated can cause this?

Do those moisture absorbent pouches help?

Thanks!

Are you defo sure that none of your carpets are wet ?
As the only times i have had ice on the inside, i also had a wet carpet.

Positive. I fixed a couple of the common mk3 Focus water ingress points last year and it's been bone dry inside ever since.

[Pistom]

I assume you're in the UK?

Cars over time absorbe a lot of moisture, it takes ages for them to dry out, even in the heat of summer unless you leave the windows open.

Just the moisture from the air will condense on the glass, add moisture carried in on shoes, passed into upholstery from damp clothes and you end up with ice inside the car.

[Miocene]

As above really.

I had a similar problem so put a dehumidifier in the car for a few hours and it's been fine ever since.

[PlywoodPascal]

Normally this is the first clue you are in a lotus elise.

Those bags of moisture adsorber do help.

[Pistom]

Miocene said:

As above really.

I had a similar problem so put a dehumidifier in the car for a few hours and it's been fine ever since.

This is the great advice. The absorbant bag things are OK but a domestic dehumidifier will be much faster and probably do a more thorough job.

[smallpaul]

If you have air conditioning then leave that on all year round.

The second function of A/C is to dry the air in the cabin.

[DaveCWK]

+1 to sticking a dehumidifier in the car for a day. I try and do it once a year and it does make a difference.

[budgie smuggler]

When i had this problem I had a small leak in the boot, barely noticeable but apparently enough to make the air damp when the car warmed up during the day and subsequently freeze overnight.

[Glassman]

I don't think it's normal to have ice on the inside of your windscreen, not unless there is moisture or water inside the car.

You say it's a Focus; Ford are notorious for bonded glass issues.

[Alex_225]

I had very similar on a MK1 Clio I owned many years ago. The heater matrix was blocked so the car never warmed up, even on a really long run (until I flushed it all through).

That not only got ice inside the windscreen but also under the mats and yet there was no leak. I put it down to just never really getting warmed up properly and airing out the moisture.

Could try one of those absorbent silica gel bags in there, if you drive the car infrequently.

[LeeM135i]

Keep a bag of the moisture absorbing stuff in each of the cars and microwave them every few months in the winter. This really helps keep them dry, you can also run the A/C which dehumidifies the interior.

[Howard-]

Glassman said:

I don't think it's normal to have ice on the inside of your windscreen, not unless there is moisture or water inside the car.

You say it's a Focus; Ford are notorious for bonded glass issues.

How can I tell whether there's an issue with the glass bonding? There's no damp in the carpets and no sign of any moisture around the inside of the windscreen when it rains.

[was8v]

Is your AC broken? Ac dries the air, you should leave it on all the time.

[Howard-]

was8v said:

Is your AC broken? Ac dries the air, you should leave it on all the time.

It isn't, and I do. It doesn't operate when it's this cold outside anyway.

[VeeReihenmotor6]

Does point to excessive moisture inside the car. I had an issue where the rear tailights were leaking inside the tailgate on an estate car, most of it drained out but it was enough to cause excess fogging and ice in the winter. I'd owned the car from new and the issue presented itself at 9 years old and was obvious to me that something had changed so went looking for the problem.

[Pica-Pica]

Howard- said:

was8v said:

Is your AC broken? Ac dries the air, you should leave it on all the time.

It isn't, and I do. It doesn't operate when it's this cold outside anyway.

It should do, it dries the air whatever the temperature.

[Liamjrhodes]

as said you must have a leak or moisture somewhere.

I just used one of the moisture absorbing bags in a couple of my older cars

[Countdown]

Does anybody have a link to the moisture absorbing bags?

Ever since we moved to our current house (about 8 years ago) all the cars parked on the driveway seem to have condensation on the inside windows first thing in the morning. It seems to dry out in direct sunlight as the day progresses. There are absolutely no leaks anywhere. In my wife's previous car there were a couple of occasions where she had ice on the inside of the windscreen.

If it was just one car I'd suspect a leak but happening to 4 different cars seems very odd.