Not a complaint but a bit of advice.

Some people have complained that the 500 fogs up easily. I've never had any problems with this until today when I had to demist the windows with the aircon and then made the mistake of not switching off the air con a few minutes before stopping. Got in the car tonight and as sure as a sure thing the moisture which condenses on the evaporator had evaporated and then condensed on the windscreen.

I'm 99.99% sure that this is the cause of most of the "I got into my car and there was ice on the screen" or "my car always fogs up in the morning and my old car never did that" posts that have been on this forum.

Dan,

It could also just be the weather,

If your 500 is like my Panda it will steam up with the damp conditions.

I don't have the luxury of AC so it is not all down to that.


Trev

Get a bag of cheap rice and an old sock.

Fill sock with rice, tie the end, and chuck it under a seat.

That should absorb all the excess moisture.

Steve 75 said:

Get a bag of cheap rice and an old sock.

Fill sock with rice, tie the end, and chuck it under a seat.

That should absorb all the excess moisture.

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Great Idea - Thanks Delia (Steve) - I will remember this one. I had this same problem with my byDiesel.

Regards
Carl

A friends boyfriend has an 09 plate 1.2 Lounge & for months he found all the windows & fixed glass roof would run with water, not just abit of steam, full on dripping wet.

He put it down to a design fault of some sort, and the fact that the weather had been very cold & damp. However a few weeks ago he discovered that the spare wheel well was full of water & on investigating, realised the rear window was leaking.

He returned the car to the dealer & they re-sealed the rear screen & cleaned the carpets, seats & wheel well as they'd all been marked by the water/damp.

Now there's absolutely no problem with excess moisture inside, so it might be worth a few of you checking your spare wheel well. It wouldn't be the first time a number of Fiats are affected by identical problems & seems easily solved if it is the same.

I've never had my air con on yet (damn this weather) but I have had the heater on a bit and I've noticed on colder days the rear window steams up very easily

Hannikins said:

I've never had my air con on yet (damn this weather) but I have had the heater on a bit and I've noticed on colder days the rear window steams up very easily

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Well the air con is the best way of demisting so you should use it. If you don't use your air con for a long period of times the seals will dry out and the refrigerant will leak out and come summer your air con won't work.

I'm probably being a bit thick here but air con is only for cold air right? In my last car cold air tended to freeze up the windows rather than clear them?

No - air-con also dries the air, which is why it's great for de-misting your windows in the winter. (so long as it's not too cold for the system to kick in - mine switches off once the outside temp. falls to around 2 degrees - this stops the system freezing up)

You can use the air con with heat to de mist windows. Very effective! It dehumidifies the air in the car.

I still think they fog up because you sit on the car, not in the car with the factory seats. When I had the Corbeau race seat fitted last week and my head was lower and further from the screen the fog never happened. Yesterday and today it kept happening. Face, windscreen, close = bad for fogging.

Steve 75 said:

(so long as it's not too cold for the system to kick in - mine switches off once the outside temp. falls to around 2 degrees - this stops the system freezing up)

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I think the dehumidifier part of the system works regardless of the outside temperature, it's only the actual cooling that cuts out when it's cold outside. But I could be wrong!

Nope, the cooling IS the dehumidifying process.

306maxi said:

Nope, the cooling IS the dehumidifying process.

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I bow to your superior knowledge. I was going by the fact that in my Vauxhall Cavalier the cooling part of the air-conditioning system stopped working (due to a refridgerent leak) but the dehumidifier continued to function. Also in the manual for one of my cars (not sure which) it explicitly said that cooling would not function below 12 degrees celcius but dehumidifying would. I made the mistake of assuming all systems were similar!

I believe there is a dehumidfying unit in the aircon system but that is for the aircon gas rather than air into your car, to remove any trace water that may be present in the gas and oil.
Most of the removal of the water in the cabin air is due to its cooling on the aicon coils which if there is a blockage drips into the car.

grrr double post

well you learn something new every day, next time is fogs I'll give the air con a go

Steve 75 said:

Get a bag of cheap rice and an old sock.

Fill sock with rice, tie the end, and chuck it under a seat.

That should absorb all the excess moisture.

Click to expand...

Does an old sock absorb more moisture than a new sock?

YouKnowWho said:

Does an old sock absorb more moisture than a new sock?

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I'd imagine sweaty crud is less absorbent

Hannikins said:

I'd imagine sweaty crud is less absorbent

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Sorry, read out of context