Was this car designed for the winter???? (rant)

[Spanner]

Am i the only one who gets more of a frost inside the car than outside? I now spend more time waiting for the inside of the windscreen to defrost than scrapping the outside. And before people say, its not the rear doors, its the boot! Apparently its normal for the boot seal to get wet and for the wetness to get past the actual join, according to the dealer:confused:

I've had so much moisture on the rear window at times over the last month or so its rediculous and with it being colder and having the heater on it just seems to stay damp. Oh and dont get me started on the heater, It only does cold or hot there is no inbetween, one notch up from cold and its blower hot that then just mists up the windows!

In this weather i'm really getting cheesed off with this car. I dont think i can last another winter with it like this.:(

[skodaw]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I suspect you are suffering from leaking doors - a very common Fabia issue - the door anciliaries carrier seal fails and allows water to run inside the car - usually causing the rear carpets to get soaked.

To fix you need to remove the door trims, dry out the carrier seals by pushing the carrier and then copius amounts of silicone sealer applied around the lower 3/4 - then smoothed out with a water/fairy liquid mix.

HTH

[andy2407]

And before people say, its not the rear doors

I suspect you are suffering from leaking doors

[devonutopia]

heater not stuck on recirc mode is it?

are all the doors sealed?

It might be worth re-sealing the boot, or at least checking it out.

opening the windows first thing will help as equalising inside/outside air temps lessens misting up. Just use hat & gloves for a short time

temp of heater is driven by a sensor in the venting. If it's cold and you put up to say a couple of notches to 18 it will try to blow in hot air until 18 is reached. Not that is it?

[dfullb]

Have you checked your Rear Door carrier Seals ??

Sorry Couldn't resist

I must admit, It does really p!$$ you off & makes you want to get rid of an otherwise, very good Motor. For these reasons i will be glad to see summer, Lets just hope it's a Dry one ...

Dean

[ric04vrs]

just to confirm , its not only the rear doors that leak water in , the fronts leak also

use a good tea-towel to dry the glass as best as you can , everytime its wet

[Kaiserb_uk]

You can 'reset' the heater by slowly turning the control from cold to hot and back, leaving it a second or so on each click. I think you're supposed to do it with VAGCOM connected to check that the values are changing, but it works for me all the same.

[roo]

Apart from the doors, I always found leaving the air con on all the time did this too. Using the normal fan and heater for the last few miles normally sorted it out for me.

[Spanner]

Well, thanks for the responses guys. I dont believe the heater blows out air based on those numbers at all. If it was blowing air at 18 deg it wouldnt be so bad, but i'm having to drive along in a T-shirt in this weather, it gets that hot! So i have been trying to get that hot air out before parking up again.

I have trying turning the temperature knob around the whole scale but it doesnt seem to help. And when i'm playing around with the other knob to change the vents used the recirc light does go off, but then i do have the v154 VAGCOM errors anyway but it does seem to still work.

Resealing the boot?? do you mean replacing the rubber seal?

Any idea where the temp sensor is for the heating?

With it being this cold its not too bad the heater does help, before christmas when it rained it was a real pain. If i tried and switch the AC off before getting home the whole car instantly mists up.

[TriggerFish]

I had the same on my heater. Next to the controls there r 2 vent like things. The one on the left on mine was clogged with dust and so was the sensor behind that. I just pulled the panel out, blew the dust out, put it back together and it's a HUGE amount better. Hope this helps someone! Think that is where the temperature sensor is for the heater.

[Phil9]

You've probably checked this already but when i had the same problem (caused by the doors :P) i had also noticed water on the top of the boot seal. When questioned the dealer said it was leaking from the washer pipe and to be fair i havn't seen a repeat since they rectified the washer pipe

[Brutality]

I'd check and change the pollen filter. You have no idea how clogged up they can get and then they obstruct all movement of air. Nasty!

[TokyoPhil]

Could the moisture be leaking in past the rear lights?

[markyvrs]

I've not experienced this ussue, but a problem i have is that when it's REALLY cold (last few days), the 'low coolant' alarm and light come on. After a few miles i have to do a switch off and restart to get rid of it.

This is the first time it's happened, though we haven't had a winter this cold since i've had the car

[VRSFAN]

My doors are all sealed, done by soda while replacing both rear door cards.

Also, four weeks ago, both rear lights are replaced since there where full of water .

Now, after a couple of days, i find again water in the rear light housing!!!. Pulling away the side cover and looking behind it, i find both sides of the "C" column wet! I assume, when the light is switched on, water condensate inside the rear light housing?

But how is water getting there inside the C column in the first place? The boot seems to be dry- the carpet is dry, the spare wheel is dry. So, where is the water coming from in the C column, behind the rear wheel casing. Is there a way from the rear wheel casing, where the water is able to leak into the Car on a wet day? I find also the windows fogging up easier. The aircon is still doing the job, but it is not comfortable. I rather try to find the leak and seal it and have a dry Car in the first place

Any advise here? :confused:

[stuart_hatch]

How do you change the pollen filter?

(edit)

Just looked at it, its bone dry, as are my carpets and i did the rear door seals myself a few months ago, so defo not those

Edited 13 January, 2009 by stuart_hatch

[WW_VRS]

IIRC (it has been a while) I did a few things that helped.

1. Turn off aircon about 5 mins before arrival and turn up the heat a bit

2. Put the direction dial to the left (think that was the half on window, half to feet)

3. If it looks particularly 'damp' outside (like rain LOL) flick on the recirc just before turning off the ignition.

I used to always have aircon on. The other points mentioned are definitely worth checking too though, pollen filter and the water not being able to get out due to blockages etc, plus the leaks, can happen.

[Captain Sisko]

I had the rear window on my Favorit misting and condensing really havily on the day I bought it.looked in the spare wheel well and it had a fair amount of water in there.cleaned all that up, cleaned the windows and haven't had a problem since.I also noticed thr rear cluster had condensation in there. But all seems well for now. Does your car have a sunroof?

[Vandango]

I feel like a rant myself and wish to high heaven I had a garage to put the car in at night (maybe that's the only solution!)

If it makes you feel a bit better Spanner, the list of problems I have is growing weekly. I too have a misting problem which only started two weeks ago. I read around and the only problem I can see is that there is water getting behind both rear door seals. Doesn't seem enough to cause all that condensation though. I thought it might have been the rear wash hose, but that's split underneath the engine compartment. I checked for damp carpets but all dry. :confused:

Amoungst the rest of my niggles are the rear brakes - were stuck solid a few days ago, so I leave her in gear now.

Good luck to all Skoda drivers braving the winter, I just hope Spring comes quickly...

[vrs-k-n]

i have this problem too but no wet carpets! is it a day with some sealer and the door trims off then?

[MoggyTech]

A car can be bone dry inside and still suffer from condensation due to other factors.

Changes in relative humidity will cause it. People getting into the car with wet clothes and shoes will cause it. Failure to use the air conditioning can also make it a lot worse.

Obviously, if the door seals/carrier plates are letting water into the car, it will be a constant struggle to keep condensation at bay. It's not just Skodas that are effected either. The entire VAG range has always had problems with door seals, but they are easy to fix.

Keep the plenum channels clear, open rear doors everyday to allow any trapped water in the seals to drain out onto the sill. It will only spill onto carpets if allowed to accumulate over a period of time.

[WW_VRS]

Well said