How can I tell whether my old beast's air re-circulation button is actually doing anything? It's doing a whole load more "misting up" recently - obviously affected by the cold weather... but it was pretty impeccable last year under similar conditions. Could the re-circ' actually be stuck to recycle cabin air but be lying about it (the switch light works and is turned "off").


Also, would a blocked or dirty cabin air filter affect the mist? My beast is an Active Air, so it has all the air-con' gubbins apart from the condenser in front of the radiator, which has been shot to buggeration by stones (so "Air" is one of the things it doesn't currently do).


Ralf S.

Im having the same issue mate however my condenser is battered and bent like a banana but aircon is still working.

I think having floor mats dont help, they hold damp in these conditions so i may remove them for now.

Hi. Yes the cabin filter does effect it badly, I think when they get dirty they impede the air flow plus they hold the damp more, I took mine out and didn’t bother replacing it I covered 100,000 miles without it no bother at all.
Household window cleaner will make the situation much worse I just use a little washing up liquid in some warm water to clean the windowsnow and finish off with a scrim.

dtimmins1985 said:

Im having the same issue mate however my condenser is battered and bent like a banana but aircon is still working.

I think having floor mats dont help, they hold damp in these conditions so i may remove them for now.

Click to expand...

I looked under my mats (just in case the "misting" was being caused by a lake in the footwell) but the carpets seem bone dry and I don't have any hint that there's a leak anywhere ... boot, seatbelts, under the carpets all seem perfect.

When I lived more out in the sticks, during wet weather I would stick a rubber mat on top of the carpet mats... since in the wet weather they were getting wet and muddy, as you say and that was eventually soaking through to the regular carpet below.

But I wouldn't remove the mats altogether.. the whole point is to keep the regular carpet clean, so seems a bit unusual to remove the mats when you actually need them.

On the other hand, if it's sunny on a weekend I do take all the mats out, to dry them and give the carpets underneath some air. Seems to work/better than nothing..


Ralf S.

cris1117 said:

Hi. Yes the cabin filter does effect it badly, I think when they get dirty they impede the air flow plus they hold the damp more, I took mine out and didn’t bother replacing it I covered 100,000 miles without it no bother at all.
Household window cleaner will make the situation much worse I just use a little washing up liquid in some warm water to clean the windowsnow and finish off with a scrim.

Click to expand...

My cabin filter is a million years old - certainly I've never changed it while I've had the car(although I have a new one ready to go in, if I can work out how to fit it.. it looks like a bit of a wrestle.. )

I might give it a go soon, just to see what's in the chamber. Next year the air-con needs a full repair. This summer I got as far as gassing it up, working out that there's a leak somewhere, tracked it down to the condenser... but that's a bumper-off job and my bumper bolts are all going to snap rather than come undone, so it's a bit of a "project"..

I did remember the washing up liquid tip from my motorbiking days. I'll give the windows a smear and buff this weekend, until I get to the bottom of the other things.

Any idea how I can just check the Recirculation is actually "open" (off) and not stuck on closed? The light goes on and off and I have no reason to suppose it's not working... but it'd be nice to prove it.


Ralf S.

Put heaters on middle setting and operate the switch... you should hear a change in noise and depending on how well the flap is loobed, you may hear it move.

Ralf S. said:

My cabin filter is a million years old - certainly I've never changed it while I've had the car(although I have a new one ready to go in, if I can work out how to fit it.. it looks like a bit of a wrestle.

Click to expand...

There's a guide to replacing the filter here: https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo-guides/55320-pollen-filter-how-remove.html

Ralf S. said:

tracked it down to the condenser... but that's a bumper-off job and my bumper bolts are all going to snap rather than come undone, so it's a bit of a "project".

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You don't need to remove the bumper. The condenser if mounted on plastic cross member held on by 3 bolts. Unfortunately, those bolt also tend to snap. You'll need to jack up the front of the car high enough to lower the condenser out.
.

Hi. From memory I think I used a small length of wood to jam the clutch pedal down to the floor when I did the cabin filter, it made life easier.
I don’t have a fiat anymore but I do seem to remember it was bad for misting up if I didn’t use the air-con.

dtimmins1985 said:

Put heaters on middle setting and operate the switch... you should hear a change in noise and depending on how well the flap is loobed, you may hear it move.

Click to expand...

I'll give that a go. When I get round to replacing the cabin filter, I'll have a nose around in there to see if I can see the flap (?) that controls the re-circ' and whether it moves or not.

I suspect the cabin filter is the main culprit, since I can't see any water/dampness in the car. The fan will dry the windows but only if I have it running on 2 or 3 for a while. "1" works but just doesn't manage it on its own.

I live right next to a river now though, so I think the ambient air in/around the car overnight is probably just more damp than it was and that's probably not helping either..


Ralf S.

I tried mine yesterday, we had a quick flurry of snow and then slush, needless to say my mats where damp / soaked and i had parked up outide the Bradford royal infirmary to visit the misses.

I came out and the car was fogged out... i mean every pain of glass and it was thick... not just a little mist...

I put the blowers on after running engine for a few mins and hit the recirc switch... after a few seconds the blower noise changed in a big way... it sounded like a turbo jet or something down in the passenger foot well below the lower glove box... it worried me as it was at a really deep fast bellow... i turned off ricirc and it was normal again so it does do something and to be frank, i have not used recirc for about 5 months since it caused me to mist up whilst doing 70 in the rain on the m62! It wasnt pleasant...

Anyhow, i have used it twice since the other day and all i can say is it does work when stationary, we have had snow and rain latley and today car was fogged again (not misted) had the same deep noise again and sounded stronger than when not using recirc, the passenger side of the whole car fogged much quicker... i need to do pollen filter and check everything as its not blowing as strong on drivers side (foot well also) and I can hear a squeaky bubbly noise near the fuse box area of the dash when the heaters are on (like a little critter is in there somewhere) its not electrical noise.

Oh the joys

I've had a good listen to the beast when I turn the dibber-dobber on and off and I can't hear any difference in tone, as you might usually hear (although I never really listened out for any difference, so I don't really know what it would sound like).

How does the switch work? I suppose it must actuate a motor that opens a flap or vent..?

Does anyone have an exploded diagram, so I can work out how to check/inspect what's going on? The ePer doodah isn't cooperating at the moment.

Ta,


Ralf S.

Oh shoo...

Ill take a video of mine if you want.

And as for a diagram, i have no access to the computer right now, also remembered my MES licence runs out tonight and i need to update doh!.

Ill dig up a diagram for you tomorrow, as far as i know it stops air from outside coming in and blows the internal air around. Or thats that how dad explained it many years when flicking the lever in his ford Orion 1.8D whilst strumming down the motorway and outside it stank of horse ****! Lol

Aye! Somewhere in the there must be some kind of electric motor (since the recirc' is a switch, rather than a rotary dial).... and that presumably opens and closes a shutter flap to stop air coming in from outside.

Eper was up long enough the other day, so I tried having a look at the parts but the whole heater matrix doodah looks like it's just an integrated big box.

I couldn't see any detail of what's inside it and how it all works, so it suggests that if the shutter flap is stuck or the switch or motor (?) is FUBAR'd somehow, that it won't be an easy fix. I'm surprised..

If anyone has a heater matrix handy and can have a poke about/take photos of it outside the car, then it will be useful to understand where the shutter flap is.

I'm hoping that when I swap out the cabin filter I may be able to see the shutter flap and reach it ... so if it isn't opening and closing properly I could open it, at least. I could live without a recirculation option, as long as the flap is stuck in the open position.


Ralf S.

hi Ralf, I have a non-aircon 1.6 2004 so not sure my help is spot on but i'll give it a go.

Had the same issue as you, button lit up but nothing changed in terms of noise or steaming up. The car was new to me so wasn't sure, tried removing the pollen filter but no change.

I eventually took of the panel in the passenger footwell (mine are held on with a bodge so wasn't difficult, not sure how hard they are normally). With the upside-down head in the footwell thing with a strong head-torch on I could quite easily see the flap, its at the lower rear of the "unit" and you can get your hand up to it without too much issue. There's an actuator (lots of similar ones all about) and I was wiggling it when the flap suddenly flipped into the open position. I tried the button but nothing doing. I also decided swapping the actuator was going to be very tricky in situ. As it was now in place and the button did nothing I closed it all back up and all was good for a day, but then I got the steaming up. Checking again, the flap had closed, so this time I wedged a folded fries container so that it couldn't open again and I've been fog-free for a year.

Mytheroo said:

hi Ralf, I have a non-aircon 1.6 2004 so not sure my help is spot on but i'll give it a go.

Had the same issue as you, button lit up but nothing changed in terms of noise or steaming up. The car was new to me so wasn't sure, tried removing the pollen filter but no change.

I eventually took of the panel in the passenger footwell (mine are held on with a bodge so wasn't difficult, not sure how hard they are normally). With the upside-down head in the footwell thing with a strong head-torch on I could quite easily see the flap, its at the lower rear of the "unit" and you can get your hand up to it without too much issue. There's an actuator (lots of similar ones all about) and I was wiggling it when the flap suddenly flipped into the open position. I tried the button but nothing doing. I also decided swapping the actuator was going to be very tricky in situ. As it was now in place and the button did nothing I closed it all back up and all was good for a day, but then I got the steaming up. Checking again, the flap had closed, so this time I wedged a folded fries container so that it couldn't open again and I've been fog-free for a year.

Click to expand...

Ah splendid! That's very useful actually. :thumbs:

I'll use my next-door neighbour's 8 year old lad.. he's quite good for stuffing into confined spaces to see what's going on.

I'm guessing the re-circ' flap is either stuck shut or is partially stuck shut, in which case I may be able to open it up to the atmosphere.

It sounds like the car might also open and close the flap itself (e.g. when it starts up?) so it's a good tip to check the flap after a few days in case it managed to close and then couldn't open again.

Let me see how I get on.


Ralf S.