richsmells 2 Posted January 24, 2006 (edited) This winter the car has been aweful for condensation on the inside. It really annoys me and makes me just want to get rid of the cold, damp s*it box and buy something slow and warm. Once the car warms up (10 mins of driving) the windscreen will be properly clear but it takes ages to clear the side windows and the rear window. Sometimes condensation runs down the windscreen in the morning! Does anyone have any tips or checks to make on how to dry it out? Edited January 24, 2006 by richsmells Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jonmurgie 2 Posted January 24, 2006 To dry it out fully you would have to remove the carpet and all the sound padding that would have soaked up any water that has leaked in... not an easy job but worth it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
danGTI 0 Posted January 25, 2006 Find somewhere that sells silica gel granules and leave it in the car overnight. I did this once upon a time when I had a leak which was causing condensation. The good thing is when you've used it you just have to leave it to dry for the rest of the day and put it back overnight so you can use it again and again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ryan 99 Posted January 25, 2006 (edited) Make your own dehumidifier. Fill a 2-litre coke bottle with water and put it in the freezer. Then once frozen hang it in the car with a bucket underneath. Moisture in the air will condense on the frozen bottle and drip into the bucket. It's surprising just how much water you can get even in a supposedly dry car. Alternativly leave open bags of rice or a few old newspapers as these will also absort quite a bit of moisture. Edited January 25, 2006 by RyanMoore Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PumaRacing 1 Posted January 25, 2006 This winter the car has been aweful for condensation on the inside. It really annoys me and makes me just want to get rid of the cold, damp s*it box and buy something slow and warm. Once the car warms up (10 mins of driving) the windscreen will be properly clear but it takes ages to clear the side windows and the rear window. Sometimes condensation runs down the windscreen in the morning! Does anyone have any tips or checks to make on how to dry it out? Cars that do that, and I've had a load of em and hate it too, always have water inside somewhere which means there's a leak. Feel the carpets for damp patches and look inside the loggage compartment. Any sign of damp or water and you'll never get rid of the condensation until you cure the water ingress. A common cause is ripped moisture seals behind the front door trims which then leak into the footwells. Worst car I ever had for that was a 1990 Mk3 XR2i a few years ago which looked reasonably sound and went well enough but always had soaked carpets, a faint smell of mushrooms and windows running with water, or frozen solid with ice, every winter which drove me up the wall. I found the cause when we had that really heavy rain and floods about four or five years ago. Coming home down the country lanes one night I got blocked by this huge lake across a dip in the road. Not sure how deep it was I drove in very tentatively and all seemed to be going well until I heard this gurgling sound and had a distinct impression we appeared to be listing to port. It being pitch black outside, and inside of course, I had no idea what was going on until I switched on the interior light to find the passenger side of the car already has 6 inches of water in it and the drivers side is only staying dry because there's a tranmission tunnel type affair between the two sides of the car. With the ship going down at a rate of knots I reversed back out before we sank and drove home by another route at about 10mph so as not to slosh water onto my side of the car and then bailed the bugger out by torchlight with a tupperware container. Next day I pulled up the carpet on that side and the passenger footwell resembled a colander with holes rusted right through it. Given the car was only 11 or 12 years old I was mightily unimpressed but it seems Mk3 Festers are renowned for that sort of behaviour. A friend took it for spares or repair but when the carpets came out he found the floorpan was so badly rusted everywhere the entire handbrake mechanism would have ripped out of the car if you pulled it on too hard and the seats would probably have gone straight through the windscreen in a crash taking the occupants with them. He salvaged the engine and box and then a nice man from the local scrapyard squished the bugger flat and hopefully it's now doing something more useful like being beercans. I now have a luvverly dry, warm 2001 Focus which always starts, never goes wrong and only gets a trace of condensation on the screen if I don't drive it for several days. I wouldn't go back to driving knackered old nails, oops I mean classics, if you tortured me with bamboo slivers under the fingernails. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jim205GTI 3 Posted January 25, 2006 yer the mk3 fiestas are notorious for rust my bro's one was virtually a cheese grater so many hole underneath another thing to use is fill a bowl with dishwasher salt and this absorbs the water aswell!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
