Driving C4 Plus 1.6Hdi In The Rain Is Very Annoying

[arak81]

I feel it very annoying and difficult driving through rain especially at night time. My inside windacreen gets covered by mist and outside gets smear while wiper working..to speak about side windows,they are covered fully by mist or fog whatever u said..i tried to use demister for both front and rear . it clears the front but sound for the front one gives me headache..i turned the aircon on. It doesnt help at all.my air con gas needs to b filled. My previous cheap car glasses was excellent for the visiblity and clearing up the mist with aircon used to work like magic. Could anyone advice me what to do..do i have to learn to live with it or there are some tweaks or tips!

[Johndouglas]

If your wipers are not wiping sufficiently well, probably the blades need changing. I find they begin to leave a smeary windscreen after a couple of years use.. Also if your aircon system is low on gas, it's not going to keep the atmosphere in the car dry. I keep my aircon switched on fulltime and it's an indicator that when the mist is slow to clear, the gas is starting to get low.

[paul.h]

Also make sure the air flow is not set to recycle so that outside air comes in to the car and have the heater set so the air is warmed up since this will reduce the humidity of the air so it can absorb more moisture from the windscreen.

 

You may need to check the air con drain is not blocked and filling up with water.

 

Despite all these things, I used to find our 2008 C4 was prone to steaming up when it rained so would need to use the air con.

[arak81]

Booked for an Aircon Recharge with Kiwk Fit on this Saturday. hope they will check everything. if they don't i will try to manually check the drain. thanks for the advice though. 

[paul.h]

You may find a Citroen dealer will cost similar to a fast fit place. Last year I had our C5 recharged at my local dealer and it was £50. Beware that a fast fit place may advise that your brakes, shock absorbers and maybe tyres need replacing.

 

To properly check the drain probably needs the carpet and trim removing in the driver's footwell and the drain hose removing and checking it is clear as well as the drain hose connection, so I would not expect it to be checked unless you ask for it as additional work (and cost). However, if it is not blocked, once the air con is working you should see water dripping out of the drain on to the floor under the driver's footwell area.

[alfsc4gp]

If your car is misting up inside then it could be that some water getting in via the heater fan.  Do you hear a sloshing sound when going round corners after or during heavy rain?  Then it's a cinch one or both of your screen gutter drain boots are blocked.  I had this problem and after speaking to mechanics at my local Citroen dealer they said this had became such a common fault for Citroen mechanics that the official response is to now remove them and throw them in the bin!  I did just this and I have never had the problem since. :)  My car doesn't mist up inside like before either as it stays drier inside.  

Problem is, before I had a chance to remove the offending boots, some water from the gutter got into the fan controller, blowing it...I had to spend over 150 quid getting a new replacement!   I would remove the screen gutter boots and throw them away ASAP before the same happens to you!...It will also stop water getting to your car by preventing the gutter from being over-filled after rain, and therefore will help reduce or even stop your car from misting up.