Fabia 3 Monte Carlo Condensation misting up problem

[pauldazzle]

We are having serious condensation problems with our Monte.
 If the temp drops below 4c while driving all our windows are misting up within a minute or so to the point that it's absolutely impossible to see out. Blower on full & on windscreen demist seems to be having little to no effect. It's quite scary as it mists up so quickly.

Tonight we actually had to pull up & partially open the front windows with the heater on full blast & just sit there for 5 mins until it eventually cleared the screen. Never had any of many cars do anything like it before, & wondering if  the large of expanse of glass of the Panoramic roof is playing a part!

Anyone else having this problem?

 

[eiggol]

I had problem with misting and put on windscreen and rear screen demist and blower full on and it cleared straight away.Maybe as you suggest the roof factor could  be the problem.

Suggest you contact Skoda assisst for advice.

[chieflordy]

I had this problem back in the autumn, there were a couple of threads with similar woes I recall. I improved the situation by putting some dehumidifying bags around the car, still a more noticeable problem than in any other car I have owned, but no longer dangerous in the way you describe. Interesting theory about the glass roof, maybe you are right!

Re Skoda Assist, am I wrong? I thought they were the breakdown service we can utilise (AA) rather than a general advise line? Happy to be corrected if I have the wrong end of the stick, won't be the first time

Edited 24 January, 2017 by chieflordy

[Octy09]

Whilst I've not noticed it being quite as bad as you describe, the demister is definitely very poor in the Fabia compared to other cars I've owned. It almost seems to be a Skoda or VAG trait, rather worryingly. Even directing airflow onto legs seems to cause the windows to mist rapidly. Perhaps it's the glass roof as you suggest. I may try shutting the sunblind to see if that makes any difference. 

[Jedispooner]

I have the same car @pauldazzle I tend to have morning mist quite bad inside but if I put the windscreen/feet setting at 9 o'clock on the dial to medium heat at 3 o'clock it clears with full power on the blowers in about 2 minutes.

 

What I have noticed is that the windscreen seems to clear in small circle patches right across the windscreen around the area where the wipers are first, it might be designed to melt ice to free the blades first? Then the screen clears on the drivers side twice as fast as the passengers.

 

Once mist clears from a cold start it never comes back no matter the car internal temperature. Maybe get your seals checked by the dealer?

[Gripper]

No problems like this with ours, one of the better cars I've had tbh. 

[pauldazzle]

This continues to be a serious problem. My Wife & our 10yr old were travelling back from Birmingham on the M5 last night with a completely clear screen & windows when the low outside temperature warning goes off, within a minute or so all the windows mist up to a point where she's trying to see out of letterbox size section of clear screen!! Trying desperately to clear the screen with the heater blower (tried hot & cold AC on & off) & opening front windows all to no avail she had to pull up onto the hard shoulder for several minutes to clear it. Dangerous place at the best of times never mind on a dark wet night!

Scared the **** out of her so today she has decided the Fabia has to go. We'll stay with VAG as always, but sadly it looks like the end of the road with the Fabia! 

[vc-10]

That sounds like there is something actively wrong with your car, I've never experienced anything like what you've described. I'm wondering if there is a dodgy seal somewhere which is letting water into the car, meaning the interior is always very humid? One way to test would be to get a cheap silica gel dehumidifier bag. Certainly cheaper than changing cars!

 

The other thing I have noticed (not a Fabia thing, but in general) is that if the windscreen is dirty on the inside then it steams up a lot quicker, and takes more time to demist too. My old Polo had problems with a leaky back light and used to steam up really badly, but keeping the inside of the glass clean helped a lot. 

 

Incidentally- you should put it on hot with A/C to demist. Hot air has more capacity to hold water vapour. This is how the A/C dehumidifies the air in the first place- it cools it, so the water condenses out of the air (and then should drop out the drain on the bottom of the car). By then heating the cold, dry, air you can have a lot of water evaporate into the air. 

[thamestrader]

For such a rapid condensate deposit on the windows the "air" inside your Fabia must have been quite warm and laden with water vapour. Do you have your heater intake vent set to recirculate rather than external? as this will cause the air to be very damp. Also have a gentle but continuous flow of external air (heated if required) over the screen usually prevents sudden misting up.

 

Our Fabia doesn't do this and the screen demists in less than 2 minutes if misted up when parked.

 

The Touran is notorious for misting up (although again I don't experience this very often) - a number of owners keep a plastic container with cat litter under a seat to absorb the excess moisture (having just seen vc-10s reply silica gel is probably what I meant). The problem in the Touran is often caused by water ingress due to a badly sealed windscreen. Whilst the windscreen may not be the cause with your Fabia, have you checked that carpets etc are not damp that there is not a source of water within the car that is being evaporated and condensing on the windows.......

 

Edited 6 February, 2017 by thamestrader
say vc-10s reply

[vc-10]

That's a good point- especially true about having a constant flow of fresh air into the car in the winter when people get in with wet clothes and shoes. I leave the blower on '2' most of the time, directed at the feet and windscreen (I have regular A/C, not climate control), and only turn on the recirculation in the summer to cool the car ASAP with the A/C. 

 

If you've ever woken up in the morning with water running down the inside of your windows you'll know just how much water vapour the average human with breathe out too! Over a long journey, with the car sealed and no fresh air coming in, this could massively raise the humidity inside the car to the point where the windows steam up. 

 

Incidentally- cars with Climate Control have a sensor behind the rear view mirror that senses for the windscreen misting up, and if it's set to Auto it should automatically start demisting it. 

[pauldazzle]

Tried Silicone bags, cleaned all inside windows several times, AC on full hot full demist, never use recirc setting in Winter. Pretty much tried every setting possible. No signs of water ingress ingress, & all the carpets are dry.

There are reports of other Fabia III owners complaining about poor ventilation & demisting so it's not just us.

To be honest I'd probably struggle on with it, but the missus has had enough.

She had a very serious Motorway accident a few years ago, & needs to feel safe & confident, which at the moment just isn't the case in the Fabia.

[pauldazzle]

We have the Standard AC not Climate Control. Never experienced a problem like this in any of our previous VAG cars owned both AC & CC equipped cars

[JoePeddos]

Had this problem when I first got the car in April 2015 as did quite a few owners. I have tried the following putting a bag of water absorbing crystals on the dashboard, cleaning all the inside glass with Auto Glym glass polish, got a front set of Skoda rubber mats for the winter and a recent suggestion was to set the air to auto and set the temperature to 24 which I have tried all seem to help and I only get occasional misting problems and then usually at startup. I have only ever pulled off the road once due to misting up when court in a torential down pore on a very warm day Joe

[pauldazzle]

I presume the Panoramic roof is bonded into position, & I'm wondering if it isn't sealed correctly. Anyway just booked it into the dealer for investigation of the problem & it's first service so we'll see.

Wife has booked a test drive on an Audi A1 1.4T FSI S Line this weekend which I'm looking forward to.

[rum4mo]

Audi A1 1.4TFSI S Line, nice car, I warned my wife away from wanting an Audi as they look to be a good buy until you settle down and start loading them up with the options you expect in a car, that has a very bad effect on the factory price!  So I just went for another Polo when she needed a new car, got an SEL which I had always said I'd never do for a car that does the bulk of the running about, and added a few extras, though I'm sure that she would have missed a lot of them if I had added them in!

 

I think my master plan/reason to avoid the A1 was, it and the Ibiza have a slightly wider body than Polo or Fabia - and that would cause problems in a double garage!  That was my plan and I stuck to it!!

[Gripper]

1 hour ago, pauldazzle said:

I presume the Panoramic roof is bonded into position, & I'm wondering if it isn't sealed correctly. Anyway just booked it into the dealer for investigation of the problem & it's first service so we'll see.

Wife has booked a test drive on an Audi A1 1.4T FSI S Line this weekend which I'm looking forward to.

It's certainly a strange one as we haven't encountered anything like this, I hope you get to the bottom of it. We looked at an A1, liked it but the boot size is truly awful. 

[chieflordy]

10 hours ago, pauldazzle said:

I presume the Panoramic roof is bonded into position, & I'm wondering if it isn't sealed correctly. Anyway just booked it into the dealer for investigation of the problem & it's first service so we'll see.

Wife has booked a test drive on an Audi A1 1.4T FSI S Line this weekend which I'm looking forward to.

I'll be interested to know the outcome, I am still experiencing the same but not quite as severe as your wife. It is certainly prone to misting up, much more than any other car I have ever owned. Puzzling how it only seems to be a problem for some of us. If the panoramic roof wasn't sealed correctly I'd expect some evidence of water ingress?? So I don't think that could be a contributing factor at least in my car.

[numptie-boy]

No problem on ours thankfully. Must be a fault somewhere. I would suspect a leak in the system somewhere. Even the tiniest pinprick can cause serious misting. It's finding the bloody thing though!

[Bollinge]

We bought a new Fabia 3 Colour edition in October. No sunroof. Manual A/C. We have done around 1800 miles and have problems with misting, hence my Google search and ending up here.

 

We ran it on A/C from the start - no recirc - and it misted up. The first problem was that the windscreen had not been cleaned properly during the PDI which made matters worse.

 

To get the windows demisted involves constant juggling with the heater knobs, and the rear door windows stay steamy even with just the driver in the car.

 

I turned the A/C off, and it seems marginally better. Will report back but I still think there’s a problem.

[Ootohere]

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/442540-internal-misting 

[pauldazzle]

Update.

Back in the Summer our windscreen mysteriously developed a 10cm crack from the bottom edge on the passenger side, which quickly grew to about 45cm long. Had a new screen fitted 3 days later, & the misting up problem has completely stopped.

Guessing that there was a fault with the screen or it's fitting from new?

[BryanH]

I have had two Fabias in the last 4 years. One was with SE L trim, and my current one is SE trim. Both automatic gear boxes.

Both have demisting problems in the winter. One Skoda salesman told me that the car is very well sealed, which means

that it is more likely to mist than a car with leaky seals! The main problem is that the UK Fabia is built as a left hand drive

car as all Fabias are. The conversion to UK standards is the minimal that Skoda can get away with. The pedals, steering wheel,

light dipping and one or two other changes are made. The bonnet lever remains on the wrong side. The demisting air stream

remains as a LHD car, consequently my passenger side windscreen demists fairly quickly, while my driver side has to wait longer.

As my car has to be parked outside, (no garage), it is bound to collect moisture in the car. I have just ordered a dehumidifier bag

to see if it will help. My previous Fabia was in a garage every night, but the differential demisting was still evident then.

One has to balance these negative points against the positive. The quality of the build and the outstanding performance of the Fabia.

Even so I will be thinking twice about having another one. This latest version has more negatives than the earlier ones. To change

the nearside headlight bulb requires the battery to be removed! Within a few weeks of taking delivery I had to buy brighter bulbs

and pay Skoda to change them. Twenty years ago it would have been a two minute job. The old glove box arrangement was far

more useful than the new one. When considering another make of car, the first thing I will insist on seeing is the instruction book.

The Skoda book is a disgrace.

[glosrich]

The Fabia and all modern cars are designed to be left and right hand drive from the design stage, its not some bodge job done on the cheap. There are other right hand drive markets they sell in, India, Australia, Japan etc.

 

The whole bulkhead panel is different to allow the pedals and steering and brake servo on the right etc.

 

The heater unit is primarily behind the glovebox, so no different to a left hand drive.

 

All cars get damp in our climate this time of year. You just have to run with the AC on hot all the time and dry them out as much as you can.

 

I

 

 

[Bollinge]

Surprisingly, now I have turned the A/C OFF! There is no misting, even with four passengers. But we have not had the sub-zero temperatures from last week and before Christmas.

 

Can’t work it out. A/C incorporates a dehumidifier and a receiver/dryer unit to remove moisture from the ambient air, which is why you have a water “leak” under the car in Summer under the car which is actually “condensate drain”.

 

All our other cars, (some departed) have the air on on permanently, Summer and Winter, and never mist up, except if we leave a hot damp dog inside for half an hour!

[rum4mo]

Receiver/dryer is not in the cabin air loop/system, it is in the R134A system and is only needed/used by the fridge plant for its own benefit.

 

The dehumidification effect is just a by-product/feature of a chiller system where certain zones are "a bit cold" so drop out some of the air borne water vapour (warm air can hold more water vapour than cod air).

Edited 2 January, 2018 by rum4mo