How to sort out a wet car interior

[Baryonyx]

Evening all.

Just had a bit of a carry on getting to work in the Audi. There has been a bit of moisture on the windows the past few days, nothing major but I have used a chamois sponge to clear the screen down before driving.

Tonight when I went out to my car to drive to work I found the inside of the screen was iced over. I managed to get to work (just) by scraping the ice off and slowly driving out of the village where I live with the vents directing warm air to the windscreen.

I've managed to get some of the water out f the car by scraping the ice off the screen and scooping the shavings out with paper. Whilst I was driving along with the interior warmed through I put the O/S window down a touch to try and equalise the humidity (warm, wet air out and cold, dry air in).

I can get to a 24hr Tesco tonight to get some supplies. I plan to buy some microfibres cloths, windscreen cleaner, some rice and socks (to make cheap dehumidifiers) and some more kitchen paper. I hear the kitchen paper is a las resort though as it gives the screen a static charge, so dust sticks to it and attracts water.

Anyone got any other good ideas? I'll remove the carpet mats in the morning to dry them and just keep driving with the air con on and the windows down to try and dry the interior out. Hopefully I'll get home on time...

[Sf_Manta]

Get some dry cat litter, and put 2-3 trays in the car overnight.
My friend discovered this by chance when storing a car, he left a open bag of cat litter, and the car was bone dry inside, but the cat litter was useless

Should dry out the interior though

[NateWM]

Sounds to me like you have a water leak somewhere if there is enough moisture to ice the inside of the screen.

Have you checked if the carpets and sound proofing are saturated?

[JakesterUK]

Lift the mats in the front and feel the carpets, are. They sopping wet? If so then your heater matrix in leaking/gone and this is where the moistures coming from.

[Baryonyx]

It could be a leaky heater matrix. The blower motor works intermittently so I suspect the car is struggling to dry itself via air con. I'll check around for some leaks tomorow though. I plan to have the heating sorted out soon, either by buying a new motor myself or just taking it to a garage.

[JackDaniels]

JakesterUK said:

Lift the mats in the front and feel the carpets, are. They sopping wet? If so then your heater matrix in leaking/gone and this is where the moistures coming from.

Or it could just be a badly fitted pollen filter. (If its got one)
Seen that happen more than once.

[vrsmxtb]

Dehumidifier and a small heater for a few hours worked wonders for me after I wet-vacuumed my seats. The heater was one with a safety off tilt sensor, so no danger of accidents!

[james280779]

over here in the wet season we have these little boxes of dehumidifiers we put in the car to keep them dry. Its so wet out that car interiors will go mouldy inside a few days if not properly looked after.

If you want some posted more than happy but will take a week to get to you. Don't think you can get them in the UK but the car will be bone dry within two days

[Steve H]

vrsmxtb said:

Dehumidifier and a small heater for a few hours worked wonders for me after I wet-vacuumed my seats. The heater was one with a safety off tilt sensor, so no danger of accidents!

This is the easy way. If you have a small fan heater just put it in the car on a dry day and wind the windows down a couple of inches.

[Triumph Man]

Do the A8s suffer the same problem as the A4/A6/Passats? I.e. water leaks in through, as said, the pollen filter housing due to blocked drainholes in the plenum chamber.

[Baryonyx]

james280779 said:

over here in the wet season we have these little boxes of dehumidifiers we put in the car to keep them dry. Its so wet out that car interiors will go mouldy inside a few days if not properly looked after.

If you want some posted more than happy but will take a week to get to you. Don't think you can get them in the UK but the car will be bone dry within two days

I will bear that in mind, thanks for the offer! I may get in touch if my problems persist!


Anyway, I went to Tesco and bought my supplies, ready to do battle. Got a late finish from work this morning, so I was expecting a real faff on. That said, it was actually pretty warm this morning (5'C compared to 0'C last night). There almost no water inside the car. Seems like I scraped a lot out when it was ice!

I'll be checking over the car today for any blocked drains causing leaks. I have a feeling this may be the case if it's not just down to me dragging moisture in and driving everywhere with the windows up. But it looks like I'm on top of it for now!