Steaming Up

[jwepjb]

My C4 has started to steam up inside.

After about 10/15 min the inside windows start steaming up, i have to open the windows to clear them. My air conditioning would do the job but its not working. I have covered 170000 and am thinking of changing my car maybe in 2019, when i retire. I had the aircon re gassed earlier this year but it didn't work.

 

thanks in advance

[paul.h]

If it is below about 6°C the air con is prevented from working so in this cold weather it would not help. Make sure the air flow is set so it comes in from the outside and is not recycling and set to hot and the flow is set to the windscreen (then check it does go there). Also check the air con drain is not blocked and the pollen filter has been replaced in the last year and also it is not blocked with leaves/dirt. You can also check if the carpets are wet.

 

If it smells inside of anti freeze (a bit like burnt curry), then the cabin heater may be leaking.

[CCC8]

I just traded our C8 for C4 Picasso. The C8 was misting quite badly and was hard to clear, particularly on the morning school run. The clearscreen setting cleared some but not all. A year ago it worked as it should. I put it down to heavy rain combined with a bad seal at the top of the windscreen - some drips were rolling down the inside of the screen and I could feel damp were the headlining joined the windscreen however Paul's mention of anti-freeze odour rings familiar. It started last November after a routine service so I put it down to a spillage or similar at the shop but it persisted to the point where I was reluctant to leave our toddler strapped and sleeping in the driveway with the blower on. The "white noise" of the car would put her over and allowed her an hours sleep but I became wary of the odour. The heater would blow - stop briefly - blow and I thought it may have been self regulating to reach or maintain a temperature. The backlight for the heating settings panel also worked intermittently meaning I couldn't always see the heating info at night. I used microfibre cloths to help clear the screen which was fine in daylight but come night time it caused dazzle problems with oncoming traffic. The car was regulary serviced but the pollen filter wasn't replaced. Prior to the odour and intermittent blowing the heater was capable of dealing with the misting caused by wet mats/prams/bikes and kids drinks spills. BTW I didn't trade in on this issue alone. Hopefully I won't encounter the problem this time round but if I do my first suspect will be the cabin heater.