demisting??

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

michael brockley - 28 Jan 2004 00:18 GMT

a further mystery...
the only way i can prevent the windscreen from misting up is by driving
around with the window wide open. the blower only seems to make things
worse.

should there be some fresh-air ventilation somewhere? whereabouts, as i cant
find any at all. also could it be a leak inside the blower which means it is
blowing damp air onto the glass??

advice much apreciated, especially as we are suffering from a particualrly
cold spell at the moment!

cheers,
jason

Reply to this Message

Steve - 28 Jan 2004 12:57 GMT

> a further mystery...
> the only way i can prevent the windscreen from misting up is by driving
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> cheers,
> jason

This is usually because there is a water leak from the heater matrix. Do you
have to top up the radiator at all? Is there a smell of anti freeze when you
put the heater blower on?

Signature

Rgds
Steve
steve@dsnclassics.co.uk
www.dsnclassics.co.uk

Reply to this Message

michael brockley - 28 Jan 2004 16:15 GMT

steve,
this is a possibility, but it is defintely not leaking a great deal. how
about the issue of fresh air ventilation? im sure there is meant to be
some - but where??

jase

> > a further mystery...
> > the only way i can prevent the windscreen from misting up is by driving
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> steve@dsnclassics.co.uk
> www.dsnclassics.co.uk

Reply to this Message

Steve - 28 Jan 2004 16:42 GMT

Is the car fitted with the round 'eyeball' vents at each end of the dash?
These are the only direct fresh air ventilation. The push-pull control on
the switch panel is to open and close the heater tap to control flow of hot
water into the heater matrix.

Signature

Rgds
Steve
steve@dsnclassics.co.uk
www.dsnclassics.co.uk

> steve,
> this is a possibility, but it is defintely not leaking a great deal. how
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
> > steve@dsnclassics.co.uk
> > www.dsnclassics.co.uk

Reply to this Message

michael brockley - 28 Jan 2004 22:58 GMT

steve

no there aren't any vents, but im assuming thats just due to the home-made
dashboard. what i really want to know is where do the vents normally source
their fresh-air supply from? there are no holes in the bulk-head or anywhere
else for that matter.

could they have been welded up at some stage??

and are the dash-vents normally 'open' at all times, or are they
adjustable?

cheers,
jase

> Is the car fitted with the round 'eyeball' vents at each end of the dash?
> These are the only direct fresh air ventilation. The push-pull control on
[quoted text clipped - 46 lines]
> > > steve@dsnclassics.co.uk
> > > www.dsnclassics.co.uk

Reply to this Message

Ben Harris - 28 Jan 2004 23:20 GMT

> steve
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> cheers,
> jase

If your mini started life (or possibly still is) a CITY variety, then it may
not have had the fresh air vents.... or at least, mine hasn't! You'll see
that there are a couple of metal circular blanking plates on the far left
and right of the dashboard (would be behind the wing), about 5" diameter. I
imagine a trip to the scrapyard would source you a couple of vents to
replace these blanking plates with. I'm not sure if there's any kind of
ducting that runs inside the wing to suck the fresh air through?

Ben.

Reply to this Message

michael brockley - 29 Jan 2004 00:39 GMT

it is indeed a city, and yes i have those blanked off plates under the dash.
do you suffer from similar misting up problems and corresponding
window-constantly-open syndrome?
jase

> > steve
> >
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
>
> Ben.

Reply to this Message

Ben Harris - 29 Jan 2004 09:32 GMT

> it is indeed a city, and yes i have those blanked off plates under the dash.
> do you suffer from similar misting up problems and corresponding
> window-constantly-open syndrome?
> jase

Yes.... I know exactly what you mean.... although I quite like driving with
the window open a bit, so don't mind too much. My mini leaks quite a bit
though, and the carpet is often damp which doesn't help matters in my case.

Ben.

Reply to this Message

Dan Baker - 29 Jan 2004 13:46 GMT

> it is indeed a city, and yes i have those blanked off plates under the dash.
> do you suffer from similar misting up problems and corresponding
> window-constantly-open syndrome?
> jase

The fresh air vents themselves do very little. I'm not 100% sure about
the passanger's side, but on the driver's side there is some ducting
running down inside the wing, which then comes out just in front of
the coil and is connected to a big black "scoop" type device. As you
drive along, the air goes into the scoop and is forced into the duct
for the fresh air vent.
HOWEVER, I wouldn't imagine that they're going to do much good for the
misting up (you cant really point them towards the windscreen).

The heater SHOULD (and I'm only descibing my mini here, which is an 87
city E) have a big duct coming out of the right-hand side, which runs
behind the tops of the pedals and on to a big hole that comes out
inside the drivers wheel arch. It's this duct which feeds fresh air to
the heater. I took the ducting off mine once while fitting a new brake
master cylinder and forgot to refit it. Come the winter I REALLY
noticed the difference. As you described, the heater was doing
absolutly nothing to demist the window. As soon as I put the fresh air
duct back on, it was working fine again.

As suggested, all the bits you need should be cheap from any good
scrappie.

HTH,
Dan

Reply to this Message

fraggy - 29 Jan 2004 14:42 GMT

hiya
yep there are ducts and a scoop on both sides only the one on the rad side
is lots smaller.

Try a trick I use when diving to stop my mask misting up. We spit in our
diving masks to stop the misting ( no really) so save up your spit and use
it to clean the inside of your windscreen. If you dont want to do that try a
potato, cut it in half and smear the juice on the screen then buff with a
rag.

fragged

> a further mystery...
> the only way i can prevent the windscreen from misting up is by driving
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> cheers,
> jason

Reply to this Message

Steve - 29 Jan 2004 15:15 GMT

Or there are proprietary products if you prefer! I seem to remember using
something that came in a yellow bottle. Claimed to be used on the space
shuttle! But I can't remember the name of it. Maybe Rain-X? I found it was
brilliant on the outside of the rear doors on the van. Stopped the windows
getting filthy at the slightest hint of rain. No idea if it is still
available though.

Signature

Rgds
Steve
steve@dsnclassics.co.uk
www.dsnclassics.co.uk

> hiya
> yep there are ducts and a scoop on both sides only the one on the rad side
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> > cheers,
> > jason

Reply to this Message

splam - 29 Jan 2004 22:55 GMT

> Or there are proprietary products if you prefer! I seem to remember
> using something that came in a yellow bottle. Claimed to be used on
> the space shuttle! But I can't remember the name of it. Maybe Rain-X?
> I found it was brilliant on the outside of the rear doors on the van.
> Stopped the windows getting filthy at the slightest hint of rain. No
> idea if it is still available though.

I've used Rain-X on the outside, and the same company's anti fogging stuff
on the inside, probably called Fog-X or something dumb like that.

It worked very well, and I didn't have to use much at all.

Reply to this Message

fraggy - 04 Feb 2004 18:38 GMT

hi
yes its probably just potato juice and spit in a bottle for ?5.99 :-)

fragged

> hiya
> yep there are ducts and a scoop on both sides only the one on the rad side
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> > cheers,
> > jason

Reply to this Message