Ice on inside of windscreen :(

[bigarn]

More Ice on the inside of my windscreen than the outside this morning !

Have searched the forums and it seems that some of the Fabias are having this problem too.

Any ideas why a 5 month old Octy might be suffering>

Thanks in advance for any soultions ideas. I was wondering if sitting a dehumidifier in the car for a couple of hours might help?

[mannyo]

You may have a small water leak into the car interior. The water is condensing on the screen and freezing. A common leak point on the octavia is the pollen filter where the cover has not been put back on properly. The recent heavy rain also suggests this may be a possible cause. Check the front passenger footwell carpet for dampness.

[stevenh]

I had this on my mk1 last year, turned out to be water coming into the boot from 3 places -

rear lamp cluster, missing washer behind rear bumper (car had taken a whack there previously) and rubber gromet around rear wiper (little trickle of water on the inside of the tailgate when you lift it).

I had it back to the dealers 3 times before they fixed it properly, had ice on inside of front and rear screens, interior mirror misting up, instrument binnacle, etc. was a nightmare but all sorted now.

You must be getting water ingress from somewhere - check behind the side panels of your boot trim, lift your mats and check your carpets (especially passenger side due to pollen filter), check door seals, if still nothing, remove door panesl and check they are not damp behind as the plastic sheeting on the doors can be cut and let water in when it should run down the outside.

Plenty of info on here about this as it is a COMMON problem.

Good luck!

[cheezemonkhai]

Also check that you don't have damp carpets, small amounts of water in them or particularly wet inner door seals.

The Octy II has the same leak potential on the door carriers as the Fabia :(

[sms]

woolworths do one of those condensation pot things that you fill up with crystals and it sucks the condensation out of the air. worked well on another car i had to get rid of the dampness but needed emptying daily for the first few days.

[bigarn]

Thanks for all the ideas folks.

I have lifted the carpets and have found no problems, i'll check the door seals next time it rains.

I think i'll also try sitting a pals dehumidifier in the car for a while. Bit like what smstext suggested.

Hope it clears soon cause it's a right pain.

[Exhausted]

Part of the problem could be down to you and your passengers introducing water after entering the car during rain. Your clothes are wet and this evaporates into the car.

Secondly I find that, with the sun being low in the sky, it depends in which direction your car is parked. For instance if you park such that the sun is shining on the rear of the car then any evaporated water will naturally condense on the windscreen as it is cooler. This is more likely to show on a sunny day and cold evening and the condensate is then likely to freeze there.

[darrenw]

I'm having the same issue with my 06 Fabia. A real pain when finishing nights I can tell you.

No sign of water ingress in the front or boot, carpets dry (gave them the Bounty treatment) no other obvious source. Tonight I have taken the pollen filter out to see if that improves the situation.

[darrenw]

Very curious. After taking the pollen filter out, I returned to the previously frosted inside about 90 minutes later. Not a trace of frost or condensation. OK, it has clouded up and was a little damp outside but given it was thick with damp earlier a miracle appears to have happened.

Will see if it continues. Good job not much pollen in December.

[Richierich32]

I have the same problem in my Octy II vRS. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is perspiration. Being more generously proportioned then most, after walking up the very steep hill to our works car park I find that by the time I get into my car I myself am usually leaking (never mind the boot seal..)

Sweat itself is warm and will initially evaporate in the air. And seeing as at this time of the year you dont have your window open, the moisture has nowhere to go and instead condensers in the cool air and settles in the cabin of the car. Then, if like me you generally use your car for commuting you wont use your car until the morning, at which point you will be greeted with moisture or sometimes ice on the inside of your car.

I have found opening the window at the start of my journey then getting the aircon on around 22c to warm up the car generally works

[Leadsolo]

I've just posted a reply to the same problem for the Fabia in the Fabia thread. I'll put it here as well. Hopefully it'll work for you as well as it seems to have worked for me.

1. When you park up, just before you turn the engine off, turn all the blowers to the fascia vents.

2. Close the vents tight. There will be a hissing as the air tries to escape.

3. Turn the engine off.

When you start up in the morning, turn the blowers to "feet only" and run it on that for a moment or two. After a few minutes, you can switch it back to whatever you want and open the fascia vents as well. I tend to keep the heat up in winter as well, partly because it seems to help keep everything dry and partly 'cos I'm a wuss when it comes to cold. Ranulph-Fiennes I am certainly not.

Anyway, since I started doing this, I have had only two occasions when I have had condensation/ice inside. Normally it would be almost every cold/damp morning. I don't know exactly why it works, but I think it's because the car gets warm and dry and then sealed against the outside world when I turn it off.

Anyway, have a try and let me know if it works for you.

For the record, I have a Fabia Elegance Estate 1.9TDi and I keep the air-con on all the time.

Happy motoring!

Jonathan

[Tom_vRS]

I've never had a problem with an icy windscreen, and I sweat LOTS!

My a/c is always set to auto.

TBH, I think condensation on this kind of level has to have something to do with water getting into the cabin, by a door seal, a/c drain pipe or similar.

[Leadsolo]

Well I wondered, but the dealer swears there's nothing wrong with the air con and the carpets have been dry every time I've checked. I did find sitting in the car one cold morning without starting the engine caused it to start misting very quickly...not that I'm known for heavy breathing ;-)

[ham888]

Hi

Just got a new 4x4 estate.

I have not had ice on the inside of the windscreen.

But, I have noticed on cold mornings the inside of the windscreen mists over quickly especially if you immediately turn on the heated screen and does not clear until warm.

Also, I put re-circ on during driving and the inside started to mist, I didn't think that should happen with air-con / climate, put on the heated screen button and it cleared.

I think its a 'quirk' of the car whereby some moisture is retained in the heating system some how or forms when the car cools, stange but no big problem.

If you have ice on the inside then in my view there must be a proper leak.

[Ray_Green]

If its a cold night, just getting in the car and breathing is enough to freeze the inside of the windscreen.

I open the front door windows before setting off and keep them open for a few minutes, its cold but it seems to help:eek:

[ged.fi]

Also, I put re-circ on during driving and the inside started to mist, I didn't think that should happen with air-con / climate, put on the heated screen button and it cleared.

Perhaps it was cold enough, so that the aircon wasn't running? Under such conditions, putting re-circ on is not a good idea, as you will quickly raise the moisture level inside the car.

I think its a 'quirk' of the car whereby some moisture is retained in the heating system some how or forms when the car cools, stange but no big problem.

Any aircon unit will retain some moisture after shutdown, and it's most obvious when you fire up the car again a bit later - the first few seconds will be very moist air.

[Leadsolo]

Certainly I have noticed the re-circ can sometimes hinder rather then help. But I'll stand by the advice I gave above. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's noticed the tendency to ice/mist up while you're just sitting there on a cold morning. I was also intrigued to see the bit about the air con not working in low temperatures.

Interestingly, I was running this problem past a friend who has a Jag. He has a similar problem with his car...although it does demist quite quickly.

[Merckenzie]

Two things to look at. My Octavia estate rear washer pipe dislodged slightly by the cd changer dripping water into the spare wheel well...hey presto condensation and ice on a cold morning. (My Seat Ibiza and Mercedes A-Class all did the same thing). The other was covered by a previous post, turning the aircon/heater control to feet only just before you park up so that you do not get a possibly cold, or warm damp blast up your screen overnight. Hope this helps.

Merckenzie

[Ray_Green]

Has anyone tried 1 of those £20 12v electic heaters to clear the screen on a cold morning?

Does it work?

Cheers

[Ray_Green]

Has anyone tried 1 of those £20 12v electic heaters to clear the screen on a cold morning?

Does it work?

Cheers

Any answers on this yet, would welcome the feed back. If these heaters are any good I'm up for one. I see that you can get a 200w heater (Hopeful that wont blow the fuse)for about £16.00 now.

[harveys]

I've spent the last two years trying to get a resolution on this. My petrol VRS has suffered chronically on this since I got it ! ...and yes it's back again for the winter. I've tried using the old Autoglym Glass Cleaner again, which seems to give some respite!

The dealer claimed to have checked all the common problems listed on here...but it's never been resolved.

I've never had a car with a misting problem like this...and I've had a few real dogs of cars!

Whatever you do, don't use the RainX Anti Fog wipes...they are awful !

[cheezemonkhai]

I've spent the last two years trying to get a resolution on this. My petrol VRS has suffered chronically on this since I got it ! ...and yes it's back again for the winter. I've tried using the old Autoglym Glass Cleaner again, which seems to give some respite!

The dealer claimed to have checked all the common problems listed on here...but it's never been resolved.

I've never had a car with a misting problem like this...and I've had a few real dogs of cars!

Whatever you do, don't use the RainX Anti Fog wipes...they are awful !

Ask them to seal the door carriers (If they want a charge you can buy the sealant from them and DIY it) and also change the pollen filter for a new one.

The first lets lots of water into the car when it rains and the latter reduces air flow such that it doesn't clear very quickly.

[Lowflyer]

Any answers on this yet, would welcome the feed back. If these heaters are any good I'm up for one. I see that you can get a 200w heater (Hopeful that wont blow the fuse)for about £16.00 now.

I bought one of these a few years ago and it was pretty useless. The time it took to start melting the frost was about the same time as it took to go round the car scraping the windows. Even then it was only melting about 10 inches wide (5" either side of centre) of where it was positioned at best, so nowhere near wide enough to the do all the windscreen. Also the AC is much quicker at clearing condensation.

The only slight positive was that, if left on when driving, it did speed-up warming of the cabin temperature, especially with recirc on, as the TDis are very slow to warm on a cold morning.

The reason for the poor performance is simple (with hindsight), 200 watts is not enough for rapid heating. Initially it just turns very cold air into cold air, it takes a couple of minutes before warmish air is coming out on a cold morning.

I binned it after a couple of weeks.

[mannyo]

My car doesnt mist at all, nor ice up on the inside of the screen so there must be something wrong somewhere.

[Stormchaser]

Mine doesn,t either.No hint of damp or any moisture on windows.