All steamed up!

[dlspoo]

Yesterday was the first time that I have driven my lovely S2 in the rain. But I had a bit of a problem when the whole car steamed up and I could not see out any of the windows and I even had wafts of steam coming out of the heaters! :yikes:

I turned the heaters on full blast but this made it even worse and it was quite scary on the motorway not being to see anything.

Does anyone else have this problem and is there anything I can do about it?

Thanks
Louise

[GreenV8S]

That isn't normal. It's possible that some water has got into the heater somehow but if so it ought to dry out fairly quickly. The other possibility is that the heater matrix itself has sprung a leak. Is the car using any coolant?

[doddze]

assuming it is just moisture from the air and not anyhting else as per Pete's message re loosing coolant you could try using rainex on the inside of the screen and always leave the windows slightly open when driving.

[Kentish]

I just posted this reply in this thread (not the other) but it can't be seen for some reason

Anyway, here goes again.

Louise, I wouldn't worry too much.

If you do fear a leak from your heater matrix just lift your mats and check they and the carpet are not damp both passenger and driver side of the car (heater is MGB incidentally). This is fairly uncommon in an S.

In the summer air is less dense and more moist and even more so during and after rain. Therefore, your screen is likely to steam up.

It is very common for the screen to steam up with the blower on, the only thing that will help is switching aircon on to dry the incoming air but that's not much help in an S since we don't have any aircon.

My daily hack is a BMW and that also steams up (this time of year) until I use a/c up the screen. Certainly doesn't have any coolant leaks either and I have experienced the same thing on pretty much every car I've owned.

Could drive with the roof down



>> Edited by Kentish on Tuesday 26th July 13:46

[Le TVR]

Unfortunately fairly normal.

The heater is just recycling the air in the cabin, it doesnt have a fresh air intake to the heater. So these things happen when the air inside is humid.

IIRC someone once wrote an article in Sprint about modifying the air intakes via the heater to avoid this problem??

[Podie]

1) Use an anti-fog product (Halfords own or Rain-X for example)
2) Ensure fresh air is coming in from outside (central vents or window slightly ajar)
3) Get a few packets of silica gel and leave them in the car.

It's quite common... cold(ish) outside, warm air inside, bit of moisture and some lovely condensation...

[dlspoo]

Ok, thanks guys.

I will have a go at some of your suggestions and see what happens.