Technical Steaming Up Problems

[Gordy10088]

Hey there .
I have a 98 S 60 and soon as I turn on the heaters on hot within a few min the whole car steams up, apart from the rear window and it will not clear. I don't think its a rad leak since I'm not having to top the water up often and hot air is being blown out. Sometimes when give my windows a really hard wipe some black stuff comes off. I've used window cleaners and they come off clean . What could it be?
Cheers.
Gordy

 

[5abr3]

Hey there .
I have a 98 S 60 and soon as I turn on the heaters on hot within a few min the whole car steams up, apart from the rear window and it will not clear. I don't think its a rad leak since I'm not having to top the water up often and hot air is being blown out. Sometimes when give my windows a really hard wipe some black stuff comes off. I've used window cleaners and they come off clean . What could it be?
Cheers.
Gordy

What intake have you got selected (it's the horizontal slider under the 3 radial controllers)

 

[Gordy10088]

I have it bringing in clean air not circulating it. Is this what you mean? I'm useless when it comes to cars

 

[custard]

go round all the carpets feeling for wet.
i would start with the boot inc checking the spare well

 

[5abr3]

I have it bringing in clean air not circulating it. Is this what you mean? I'm useless when it comes to cars

yep that's what I meant

time to start looking for carpet damp

 

[Gordy10088]

No damp at all. Just a bit of condensation on the spare and windows apart from that its all dry as a bone. I'm guessing the spare has condensation cause the car is still steamed up and its not been used since Friday afternoon.

 

[eddiegi686]

Does closing any vents get rid of the steam? e.g. set airers to point at windscreen, turn off all vents and push the nob forward on the top two vents to point air at the windscreens. Do you get cold air when you change the temperature?

 

[Gordy10088]

Do you mean the air vent that’s controlled by that slidy thing under the 3 dials (Sorry I know very technical lol) or the actual blowers at the front of the dash e.g. the centre 3 blowers above the dials?
Yeah the knob is set to my windscreen and the screen blowers work.
I do get cold air if I turn the heater to cold.
I'm sorry if I'm confusing everyone

 

[T14086]

What intake have you got selected (it's the horizontal slider under the 3 radial controllers)

I done this today, drove 60 miles before I realise the windows were steamed up because I had heater on recirculate:doh:

 

[Gordy10088]

Haha! Thats something I would do lol, but nah they are deffo open. I double checked when I checked for damp spots.

 

[alby]

i have the same thing on my punto,some time ago i was told it was the heater matrix,but like you the floor is dry,needless to say its still the same,funny though sometimes its ok,but when it steams its bad

 

[Gordy10088]

I'm glad its not just me . I've been reading other threads and they have all said its the heater matrix , but I cant see how since its seems to be working fine. Yeah it can be pretty bad at times. When you wipe the screen to get rid of it does it leave like smudge marks?

 

[5abr3]

The best thing I can suggest is to give the screen a damn good clean then.

I first used a common glass cleaning product used on house glass (not sure which one exactly) but that made a horrid mess of it, the Auto-Glym Fast Glass stuff however has made a huge improvement to the situation

 

[Gordy10088]

Cheers I'll get some tomorrow and try it and let you know if its helped.

 

[Gordy10088]

I got that cleaner its worked a right treat. It still does it a little but another clean might help.
Thanks for all your help everyone.

 

[5abr3]

I got that cleaner its worked a right treat. It still does it a little but another clean might help.
Thanks for all your help everyone.

You may notice the way you clean it sweeps vs small circles etc can make a large difference, not had chance to experiment though!

 

[Gordy10088]

Hey
To carry on from where I left off. The clearner did work for a short time a couple of days, and now its as bad as ever again. It's that bad that my windows drip, and it's hell to drive. I've had the grill at the bottom the windscreen off and cleaned under there since it was full of gunk. While it was off we checked the air flow and its drawing in air fine so there is no blockage. All the vents are working correctly. Its stumped everyone I've asked :bang:. It's getting to the point that I want to move the car on and let some else have the pleasure of the mobile steam room. Evil I know lol. Do any of you know what could be doing this?
Cheers
Gordy

 

[smokeme]

most common problem is a leaking heater matrix, mine was like that when i got it.. I only noticed it was leaking when i took the dash apart to pass some wires, i never had leaks on the carpets..

 

[Gordy10088]

Cheers. My a mate of my Dads agrees with you. I've put some RadWeld in hoping this will fix it. If no is it expensive to get a new heater matrix?

 

[smokeyjoe03]

THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH MK1 PUNTO'S AND IT MIGHT NOT BE YOUR HEATER MATRIX

I had this probel with my 55s when I had it. Do these steps to solve it.

Pour water down your windscreen

Take off the black plastic trim on the outside of your car at the bottom of the windsceen, (where your window wipers connect.

You will see the water has collected in there, this is because your drainage pipes are clogged.

You can find these if you look under the bonnet right at the back at the top.

Squeeze them and clean them out and then wash out the bit under the plastic panel you removed earlier.

Put the plastic cover back on and your done.

My car was blowing water from the vents, steaming the windows up and had a funny smell, these are all 'symptoms' of a faulty heater matrix so its easy to mistake it for that and end up paying for something you don't need. Check it 1st

See this thread