Condensation problem

[Otispunkmeyer]

I'm coming up to selling my skoda and recently its been having a very strange problem with condensation

On occasion I will go to use the car and then discover that the windscreen (and sometimes the rear window too, but not the side windows) is almost completely opaque with heavy condensation. Its a really dense coating and when you go to wipe it away you can easily end up with a soggy towel.

Im not sure whats causing it. Its started happening after a recent battery and coil spring replacement and so initially I thought "its that water ingress problem I've seen on the forums!". But Im not so sure it is. I cannot find damp or wet areas anywhere in the car. The boot is dry, seats dry, footwells drive, headlining dry, everything is bone dry. Theres no smell of mould or any other evidence that I have a water/moisture problem. So Im scratching my head.

Now the day before I came to find my car windscreen soaking wet on the inside, I'd been to the swimming pool in it for training and when I got out to go home I put my wet kit on the back seat instead of in the boot (i have a mesh sack will all my pool kit in, like pull bouys, hand paddles, floats etc). I myself will of been a bit damp and also pretty warm ( 2 hours training in a 28 degree pool). I know for a fact if you fill a cold car with a bunch of swimmers fresh out the pool you quickly end up not being able to see out of any windows. So Im wondering, Did placing some damp wet items in the car for the ride home cause my condensation problem? makes sense right? Sunlight during the day evaporates the moisture from the upholstery and then as the sun goes down and the temperature drops (quickly as its winter) the glass suddenly becomes a nice place to condense.

I'm gonna use the car again tonight to go to nottingham, Ill put the heaters on full and really give the interior some heat and then ill vent it out through the windows before I park. See if that cures it.

[dohertyjj]

I'm coming up to selling my skoda and recently its been having a very strange problem with condensation

On occasion I will go to use the car and then discover that the windscreen (and sometimes the rear window too, but not the side windows) is almost completely opaque with heavy condensation. Its a really dense coating and when you go to wipe it away you can easily end up with a soggy towel.

Im not sure whats causing it. Its started happening after a recent battery and coil spring replacement and so initially I thought "its that water ingress problem I've seen on the forums!". But Im not so sure it is. I cannot find damp or wet areas anywhere in the car. The boot is dry, seats dry, footwells drive, headlining dry, everything is bone dry. Theres no smell of mould or any other evidence that I have a water/moisture problem. So Im scratching my head.

Now the day before I came to find my car windscreen soaking wet on the inside, I'd been to the swimming pool in it for training and when I got out to go home I put my wet kit on the back seat instead of in the boot (i have a mesh sack will all my pool kit in, like pull bouys, hand paddles, floats etc). I myself will of been a bit damp and also pretty warm ( 2 hours training in a 28 degree pool). I know for a fact if you fill a cold car with a bunch of swimmers fresh out the pool you quickly end up not being able to see out of any windows. So Im wondering, Did placing some damp wet items in the car for the ride home cause my condensation problem? makes sense right? Sunlight during the day evaporates the moisture from the upholstery and then as the sun goes down and the temperature drops (quickly as its winter) the glass suddenly becomes a nice place to condense.

I'm gonna use the car again tonight to go to nottingham, Ill put the heaters on full and really give the interior some heat and then ill vent it out through the windows before I park. See if that cures it.

Check the left foot well it seems like you have the big problem some times the carpet feels dry but because of the volume of underlay it soaks all the water so lift off the plastic runner strip and put your hand under the carpet another way to check is pull the bonnet and lift the pollen filter cover check under the battery if this area has water in it your in trouble

[mannyo]

Sounds like you have a water leak into the interior, quiet common on the mk1 superb. As sugested by the previous poster check the passenger footwell carpets, and if they are even slightly damp then get the leak fixed ASAP. The passenger footwell contains the ECU which if wet will eventually fail and the cost to fix it will be more than your car is worth.

[Fred Bloggs]

Almost certain that you have a leaking pollen filter seal.

[johannapam1]

I'm coming up to selling my skoda and recently its been having a very strange problem with condensation

On occasion I will go to use the car and then discover that the windscreen (and sometimes the rear window too, but not the side windows) is almost completely opaque with heavy condensation. Its a really dense coating and when you go to wipe it away you can easily end up with a soggy towel.

Im not sure whats causing it. Its started happening after a recent battery and coil spring replacement and so initially I thought "its that water ingress problem I've seen on the forums!". But Im not so sure it is. I cannot find damp or wet areas anywhere in the car. The boot is dry, seats dry, footwells drive, headlining dry, everything is bone dry. Theres no smell of mould or any other evidence that I have a water/moisture problem. So Im scratching my head.

Now the day before I came to find my car windscreen soaking wet on the inside, I'd been to the swimming pool in it for training and when I got out to go home I put my wet kit on the back seat instead of in the boot (i have a mesh sack will all my pool kit in, like pull bouys, hand paddles, floats etc). I myself will of been a bit damp and also pretty warm ( 2 hours training in a 28 degree pool). I know for a fact if you fill a cold car with a bunch of swimmers fresh out the pool you quickly end up not being able to see out of any windows. So Im wondering, Did placing some damp wet items in the car for the ride home cause my condensation problem? makes sense right? Sunlight during the day evaporates the moisture from the upholstery and then as the sun goes down and the temperature drops (quickly as its winter) the glass suddenly becomes a nice place to condense.

I'm gonna use the car again tonight to go to nottingham, Ill put the heaters on full and really give the interior some heat and then ill vent it out through the windows before I park. See if that cures it.

I'm not so sure it is automatically the dreaded pollen filter causing this. I have had issues with this for some time when the weather temp changes over night. I seem to remember somewhere on this site someone said that leaving the vents open so that cool air can enter the car overnight can cause this. However how do you turn theser off or is it you just close them up?

[ap0gee1978]

Closing them up will close a butterfly valve in the plenum chamber as well as the vents you can see in the dash. This used to be the recommended solution to problems with the interior alarm sensors on early MkIV Golfs. I have heard turning the air con OFF a few minutes before you get home can help as it allows the air con evaporator to dry off.

HTH

[Fred Bloggs]

But in 5 years of Superb ownership I would have experienced this too if that's all it was? And why would anyone suddenly start to get this if it hadn't done it for several years previously? There is a water leak, for sure.

[ian0x0r]

Mines started doing this since I spilled a bottle of water in the passenger footwell, which has now also killed my interior lights again :( . Self induced water ingress, typical.

[BOYCARP]

Dragging snow in on your feet over Dec and the mats not being able to 100% dry out is what is causing mine, could be the same for you.

[oh_superb]

Dragging snow in on your feet over Dec and the mats not being able to 100% dry out is what is causing mine, could be the same for you.

Exactly. For that reason have the heater on fairly high blow wherever you go and 24 degrees and make it point to the floor. The open the door for a minute before parking up and going up to the office to get rid of the vapours.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Right, it did it again this morning, however it coincides with a very abrupt weather change. Its been quite mild here lately and then last night temps dropped like a stone in a pond. Enough to leave my car with a thick crust of frost + ice all over. Every window was steamed up, though not as baddly as last time. The blower was starting to clear it, but as the car is an old diesel lump it was taking ages to get warm and I had to get going so I just wiped it with a towel.

Ill have a good look in the footwells again, under the plastic trim and ill have a look around the pollen filter area. What is it exactly with the pollen filter? a blockage or a seal going duff?

Fingers crossed its just something trivial, like the abrupt change in weather, dragging snow and ice into the car over winter or this vents thing. I think i nearly always leave the climatecontrol on, or at least I have been lately so if its had the AC on for whatever reason and then ive just switched off and left the interior vents wide open then moisture from the AC will get inside. Will try shutting the climate control down after my trip home today and then check in the morning to see whats what.

Should also note that this behaviour also coincides with a distinct change in use of the car. I was in South Africa for 3 months and the car didnt get used much, but when I returned I also quit my job and the long commute went with it. The car now only see's occasional use and shorter trips.

[Fred Bloggs]

The seal on the pollen filter housing to bulkhead joint fails. Every few weeks, I look at this area since I have found that the gap that the water runs down between the edge of the pollen filter housing and the wing panel gets crudded up. If it gets crudded up then all the water running down the wind screen and past the pollen filter housing can't drain away freely and it then gets past the crappy pollen filter seal and into the car. I take a 1" wide paint brush and I brush the build up of crud away from that area before the trouble starts. You also need to check that the drains in the bottom of the battery plenum chamber (all the water runs into there, it is an unbelievably crap design) are not blocked by leaves and crud.

Edited 18 January, 2011 by Fred Bloggs

[rotodiesel]

As an absolute minimum on any RHD B5.5 you must remove the plenum chamber drainage bungs (push the one in the servo recess downwards about 1" as there is a pipe running through it) AND re-seal the pollen filter housing to scuttle joint with mastic strip. The original open cell foam seal is useless.

If you don't do this, these cars will all eventually leak - with expensive consequences.

Other leak points in the area are the ECU box to scuttle seal which is similar but not so vulnerable and the bonnet release cable grommet.

Leaking heater cores are not unknown on the B5.5 either - look out for a glycol film on the inside of the windows.

rotodiesel.

[OddJob13]

Had a quick read of this topic.

It's of interest as my sons 53 plate Superb is infested with mould, it's been stood for about 10 weeks in snow and rain.

So I'm looking for a complete new interior (any pointers here appreciated as the mould is imbedded into the cloth seats, the carpet is sodden.

Other than replacing the interior, (easiest option I figure) we will also need to prevent it recurring,

if it's such a common problem, is there some retro fit solution.

Thanks

OddJob.

Anyone with a Skoda Superb interior on offer, please pass a note .

thanks

[Otispunkmeyer]

This morning, windscreen looked like it had been rained on, but on the inside!!!

Got a guy valeting it at the moment however.

How do I get to the pollen filter then? is that vast expanse of plastic hard to take off? put back on? Should I just take it to a skoda garage to have a look at? I dont really wanna spend that much on it because its a cheap car, its seen a lot of miles and owners and Im wanting to sell it soon, but I cant sell it if its gonna keep doing this. Whoever buys it will be back round my house in no time!!!

[Fred Bloggs]

It's really easy to get to, takes 20 seconds. If you look at the sticky in this forum that is all about water ingress, you'll see how easy it is to look at the pollen filter.

[rotodiesel]

Removing the plenum chamber drains and changing the pollen filter holder outer seal is much more than a 20s job - but it's not difficult either. Use the Forum search to find out how to do it.

rotodiesel.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Ok and if things need replacing? Will a decent skoda garage stock the parts in their spares dept?

[rotodiesel]

Skoda dealers have no stock of spares - my local dealer couldn't even supply a rear interior light bulb.

VW dealers have the lot and provide an excellent service. Find a Passat badged B5.5 of the same year and with the same power train as your Superb, get the VIN and reg numbers and use it as a "ghost" vehicle when you go to VW for spares. It works every time. The model year is the 10th digit in the VIN.

Why VAG don't openly organise a common parts and service system is beyond me - the part numbers are all common.

For your job you need mastic strip AKD 497 010 04R 10 - this is the part number for a roll of the stuff. It's 10 mm dia mastic strip with a paper backing. Any decent dealer will give you a bit.

rotodiesel.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Hopefully gonna give this a stab this weekend. Theres a VW dealer 5 mins from my house so i'll check there tomorrow for the mastic strip stuff, see if they sell it. Would a VW dealer actually do the work on the car just out of curiosity? I'm usually all for trying things my self but various haynes manuals of the past have taught me that nothing is as easy as it seems. (nearly all haynes manuals make out like changing a head light bulb is about as easy as breathing..... yeah if you have flipping dwarf hands maybe, but a normals mans hand a) wont fit in the space and doesnt twist in that way!). Are there any particular tools I will need if doing this myself? screw driver type/size? sockets? ( i dont have any tools, so I will have to pop over to halfords or B&Q).

Found the official VW letter regarding the fix, here

http://briskoda.net/forums/blog/18/entry-62-superb-mki-water-ingress-cure/

So I could maybe print that out to help or help explain the poor sod behind the counter that, this is what needs doing. Curiously it has labour time codes at the bottom of that. Anyone got any idea what they equate to?

Cheers for the help rotodiesel

I hear the MK2 also has similar problems, I've been reading in TG mag that their Superb lifer vehicle also had issues with the inside of the windscreen freezing over during winter. Hinting at moisture in the car, though as others have pointed out it could easily be all the snow they trudged into the car.

Edited 31 January, 2011 by Otispunkmeyer