My Wife's car has hardly moved during the last year and is presently only run for a few miles every other week to maintain the battery. It has always suffered a but from condensation as it is 18 years old, however of late it is getting worse. Is there anything that I can put in it to capture the moisture?
Before anyone says it the gullies and drain channels are clear and free from debris.
Have you tried closing the windows?
Is your aircon not as effective? Aircon dries air quite well.
We had a Touran that was a nightmare for misting up - it just seemed from the day we got it (3yrs old) to 7yrs/160k it was a steam room on wheels.
It has aircon, but I don't know how effective it is.
As it only runs for a few minutes every other week during lockdown the aircon isn't really getting chance to do anything.
Have you tried closing the doors?
Windows and doors are shut. It hasn't got a sun roof.
This is interesting, I am having the same problem. I checked the car the other day and it felt very damp inside. A bag I keep in the boot was showing signs of mould. I think it is just the fact it's not being used as there doesn't seem to be any signs of standing water or wet carpets in the car.
Is the moisture specific to one area of the car? I'm having issues with the rear window and believe it is due to water ingress around the rear light due to a perished seal. Previous car had an issue with the radio antenna seal perishing too and letting in water. Have you checked the seals?
[s] Sun roof?[/s]
We use these in our caravan over winter. They certainly soak up the moisture.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/streamline-moisture-trap-1ltr/4159h
https://www.screwfix.com/p/kontrol-crystals-refill-pack-2-5kg/4896h
Can you store it in a dry garage? if not why not get rid of it? get a new one if/when the wife starts driving again and save on tax/mot/insurance.
Air recirculation OFF.
Airconditioning ON.
As it only runs for a few minutes every other week
probably using more battery to start it than you are putting back in...
Having the same issue in our car (14 yr old) as it just isn't being used so I am watching this with interest...
Silica cat litter, inside a big sock, or one of the purpose made ones you can buy that can be dried off in a microwave. I used to use the cat litter in wifes fiat 500, now have a reusable one from Aldi, works pretty good, as the fiat is murder for condensation.
Don't have a garage. Not going to sell it.
Will try one of those moisture trap things.
Check drains - bottom of the windscreen, bottom of doors, etc and make sure water clears as it should.
Search amazon for "1kg silica gel car dehumidifier". Like a massive bag of the little sachets that come with electronics to keep them dry - they'll absorb loads of moisture. If you know it's bad (and you're not going to fix it soon) then get two, one can be drying out on the radiator while the other is in the car.
Is it a VW by any chance?
Take the mats out and check if they're damp.
Take the car out for at least 30 minutes and the air con on or heating up.
In the last few minutes of journey turn heating direction to floorwells. Make sure all vents are closed and down when finished and leave car asap.
Have air coming in from outside once car has warmed up. Try not to circulate already damp air.
Those moisture trap things linked to from Screwfix are a bit risky. They have loose calcium chloride crystals in which will eventually dissolve into thick brine which is easy to spill, and although I'm not a chemist I'd imagine it could be fairly corrosive.
Silica gel would seem to be a lot safer, however I'm not sure how effective it is.
Soooooo...
Check under the car carpeting, the ones on my car felt dry on the top but are 6" thick in places and had an ocean of water in them.
The cause was a loose air con drain pipe so the condensate wasn't going outside but into the carpet out if sight.
I use these and they work very well
Pingi Dehumidifier Car And Home... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N7RVVEE?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Silica gel would seem to be a lot safer, however I’m not sure how effective it is.
They work well, I'm using them. They get noticeably heavier when they're saturated. Got them for days when we go out on rainy days and the car is full of wet boots, coats, etc but there's definitely some water coming in from somewhere. Can't be bothered to troubleshoot until it's a bit warmer.
I've had issues with moisture in the car this winter as well. I think just a combination of a 15 year old car, no AC and not driving it very often. Thankfully drive it often enough that mould doesn't seem to be an issue but there has been times when the seats feel damp and there's water droplets on the windscreen, rather than just condensation
I've pretty much solved it to a manageable level (no more damp seats!) by using one of the microwavable moisture trap bags, which needs dried out in the microwave every week or two, and also keeping a roll of kitchen paper in the car. Any time I get in and there's moisture of the windows, I'll use the kitchen paper to wipe the worst of it off and then bin the paper - previously I just blasted the fans or used one of those demister sponges which takes the moisture off the windscreen but, without AC, it doesn't really leave the car and so condensates as soon as the interior cools down again
For my ageing Focus I got a box of those chemical dehydrator thingies off eBay - similar to that Screwfix jobby but a lot cheaper! Worked a treat. Not fallen over and dissolved a hole through the car as of yet.
I had a leak in my car, from the windscreen, but it was obvious - after a while, at least. There is also a leak in the boot, which appeared after it was dented and fixed (so not VW's fault this time!) and after rain the spare wheel well can fill with water.
So check carpets, spare wheel well, and other places where water might gather. I reckon misty windows in locked cars usually means a leak somewhere into the interior, or damp stuff inside.
I reckon misty windows in locked cars usually means a leak somewhere into the interior, or damp stuff inside.
Scotland yard missed out on you Molly!
Our cars haven't been moved much. Condensation will be much worse after a period of rain and cold like now. I'm making my car is being run, even if it's just on the drive to cut down on moisture, and it's 19 years old. Get the air con on permanently - it dries out the air - I never turn mine off.
Yeah i've been having this lately with our SMax. it's 12 years old and is not getting used very much. I got in it the other day and the heated windscreen did it's thing for the ice on the outside but I had to wait ages for the water on the inside of the windscreen to dry out before moving.
The previous day it had been really cold and bright sunshine thorugh the windscreen. must have been a bit damp inside from previous use, probably got in wet from rain or something, then sun evaporates it but it then condeses on the windscreen and the freezes over night.
I recon after a good run out it'll be reet again.
Do what car dealers do - wait for a dry day and open the hatchback / windows all day
wifes 06 nissan note is also quite bad for this, carpet/mat was going green and mouldy. she bought one of those microwaveable pad jobbies but doesnt seem to have made much difference.
mechanic seems to think a door seal may be faulty and suggested wiping silicone somewhere (on the seal maybe) but she cant remember. any idea what that advice may have been for a dodgy door seal?
My 10 year old Transit Connect gets soaking inside and the windscreen is huge. The aircon and blowers do an amazing job of drying it out. Does your aircon work properly? Might need a re-gas or a new condenser.
As we have just had our car regassed what is the procedure with AC to dry the car out?
I'd still be looking for a leak. The wife's Corsa had a damp floor and we eventually tracked it down to a leaking seal on the brake pedal assembly. I couldn't see how that much water was getting in but once fixed it stayed dry. Also they take ages to dry if some water does get in. We had to take the mats and carpet out and hang them up as even with the leak fixed it wouldn't dry from normal driving.
Opening the windows a couple of inches when we get a dry day will be as good as anything. And check your spare wheel well isn't full of water - I had a long-standing problem with damp in an old Mondeo and it turned out the 6 inches of water left in the wheel well from an unwise bit of fording a couple of years previously was mainly to blame!
Agree with jam bo too, a few minutes running every couple of weeks won't be doing your battery any favours, I'm surprised it's survived this long.
I think you need to open it up more regularly to get fresh air in there and circulating. Same with a shed at this time of year.
Have you tried replacing the cabin / pollen filter? I've done it on both our last two cars and it's made a MASSIVE difference to condensation.
Focus was a massive pain, FR-V I think it took longer to get the new filter out the packaging and the crap out the glove box than it did to replace.
It should be a service item, but apparently often gets forgotten.
Also as said above, pretty sure turning it over for a few minutes will drain the battery more than it charges.
Can you get these type of window rain guards for your car? I leave the back windows of my 26yr old Toyota truck cracked open 50mm all the time. Nothing else worked properly to reduce moisture in an old vehicle used infrequently.
Have you thought of fitting it with a log burner or a pizza oven?
Have ordered some of those microwavable sachets things.
Car gets driven for 20 minutes (so don't worry about the battery) every couple of weeks.
No damp in boot or footwells. No blocked drainage holes.
It lives on a drive and gets hardly any direct sunlight, so it never gets warm.
Cabin filter. Seriously. If you haven't changed it in the last year or so it'll only cost a few quid.
I have a big bag of desiccant stuff (it was sold to use in a car to reduce condensation, I think I got it from Amazon but can't see anything similar now), you microwave it once a week to 'recharge' it. It's not really very effective though, I still get condensation (and ice on the inside of the windscreen when it's cold). I've checked for leaks but it's never as bad as obviously damp patches so I think it's just the standard VW group (it's a Skoda) issue a lot of people report (crap seals maybe?).
+1 for silica crystals, I just bought a one kg tub on eBay, filled some old socks / suitable bags with them. Weigh them dry and make a note, then leave in the car. Every fortnight or so, take them out and microwave them until they weigh close to the original weight - do it in stages - then replace them in the car.
There's loads of silica gel crystal options on amazon and eBay - and the posh cat litter too. Take your pick.
My ageing passat had a seal fail where the fresh air inlet was in the bulkhead below the windscreen. A £10 upgraded original vw part fixed it.
It then leaked from one of the rear door seals i think. The car was a daily driver and i took a drain plug out of the footwell on the offside. It made it all manageable but only fixed the symptoms....
Ian
Our '07 Jazz is persistantly damp. There was a genuine leak at the rear which has been fixed so the boot no longer fills up with water when it rains, but there's still some water getting in. Last week I had to deice the *inside* of the car windscreen.
Car gets driven for 20 minutes (so don’t worry about the battery) every couple of weeks.
Don't do that, then? Take it on a proper run somewhere. At that sort of use case I'd be replacing it with a taxi.
My other half's Up! suffers from the same issue, the inside of the windscreen is wetter than the outside of a morning. I've thrown a couple of 'dehumidifier' tubs of crystals in there. Seemed to help last year and they were 69p each.
I don't know why I'm defending our need for two cars but... When not locked down it is a commuter and needed for ferrying the in-laws about. Not much call for either at the moment though.
Sachets of Magic™ ordered. Let's see how it pans out.
Not sure about microwaving the silica - surely in an oven the moisture has nowhere to go? I'd imagine a regular oven with the door cracked open would be better - or an airing cupboard.
I got some of those 1kg silica bags. They do absorb a lot of moisture, weigh them before and after microwaving them, they lose several hundred grams each.
But as others have said, check the door seals etc again. The little 'flap' seal on the top of my door had come loose, not even the main 20mm diameter seal, just the little one that diverts the incoming rain away from it. The carpets were backed with ~4" thick foam in the footwells and they were completely sodden from just a 1" gap in what didn't even appear to be a seal. Had to cut the carpet out with a knife as the alternative was to remove the entire interior to get it out in one piece!
I still keep them in the car even after fixing the seal as they do keep the condensation down on cold mornings.
Even without a leak car's will naturally get wet over the winter, moist air gets in, condenses o the bare metal, soaks down into the carpet, repeat that every night for 6 months and you've got a moldy car.
Another +1 for those drying bags, but remember they only draw out moisture in the air so if it's all on the windows they don't do an awful lot- it needs air circulation and a little warmth.
I suspect mostly what you have is the same water causing trouble over and over, since you seem to have ruled out leaks- so that being the case, a big effort to really dry it out might well do the trick. Stick a small electric heater in it basically, get it warm on a dry day, wipe any steam or droplets off the windows etc.
I don’t know why I’m defending our need for two cars but…
You don't need to justify anything. It just sounds like an expensive boat anchor, is all. Might be more cost-effective to get shut and then replace 6 months / a year / whatever later. If you've got your reasons then fair enough.
Not sure about microwaving the silica – surely in an oven the moisture has nowhere to go?
What sort of crappy microwave do you have that doesn't have air vents?
Might be more cost-effective to get shut and then replace 6 months / a year / whatever later.
Very very very very rarely is that the case.
Unless your renting a new car you'll just be buying someone else's issues at the price point he's likely to get for selling someone his problems -sorry I mean car.
Both our cars are steaming up at the mo. I unblocked the hatch lock drain on mine and also got underneath with a cable tie to clear any bodywork drains, including doors.
Was rewarded with what seemed like a gallon of water from one drain hole in the boot area.
Her car, the roof aerial rubber has perished and cracked. The headlining is sagging from a previous leak where the seam sealer under the roof rail trims cracked. Took ages to find that leak.
Nissan note owner... Check your high level brake light the foam gaskets toss....
HTS
Change the pollen filter 1st. Also check the air box cover as they distort.
Also bang an oil fired rad in with a window down a smidge to get it properly dry and warm
On a decent journey (none recently) when the car is up to temperature I spend a few minutes with the air blower on full at max heat. Then, while still moving, I open all the windows and purge the humid air from the car. Windows closed. Up to temp again? Purge! I keep going until I am well done/bored/at my destination.
I used to have Clio that was a proper swamp. It was so damp that the water used to freeze in small icicles on the inside of the sun roof. When I was driving to work on an early shift I had two options.
1. Leave windows open and heating off the whole journey so the ice didn't melt. Required down jacket, hat and gloves.
2. Choose some heat but have to wear full waterproofs, including hood up and waterproof trousers as it was like rain when when they started melting.
2 moisture absorbing bags and swap every 2 weeks. Change pollen filter - that can reintroduce moisture when hot. On a dry day leave the windows open. My car gets very humid as I often forget to take we t gear out of it and have found the above works.
Most likely just some trapped damp from lack of use and air flow through the car. If it’s just lots of condensation on the windows get a couple of the moisture absorber thingys so you can have one in the car while the other is drying out at home.
Try and go for a decent length drive to get the heater up to temp and air con running. See if you can save up a couple errands and do it them all in one longer driver rather multiple smaller ones or maybe take the long way to the supermarket for shopping. Should be fine after a couple weeks. Keep at it a few more times even one the car appears to be dry to really make sure the humidity has dropped.
If it’s having no impact on the dampness in the car then I think you probably have a leak somewhere.
mechanic seems to think a door seal may be faulty and suggested wiping silicone somewhere (on the seal maybe) but she cant remember. any idea what that advice may have been for a dodgy door seal?
well it looks a little more serious now than a microwave sachet....
just found a veritable lake of water in the rear footwell and the spare wheel cutout, a good few inches. drained it and currently trying to dry it out but its not the time of year for that malarkey :-/
rather than a door seal, my gut feeling is rear washer pipe as just a dribble comes out when the levers pressed, whilst the front is fine. but.....what do i know, could be a seal still :-/
cant really find anywhere to check the pipe, i dont know how its routed and there doesnt seem to be anywhere to access it.
any suggestions?
thanks
cant really find anywhere to check the pipe, i dont know how its routed and there doesnt seem to be anywhere to access it.
any suggestions?
Food colouring in your washer reservoir to rule it out?
Food colouring in your washer reservoir to rule it out?
good thinking, not sure id be able to tell in the rear footwell as its carpet, but i would in the spare wheel bit. not sure how long itd take to get more water in there but yes, worth a try thanks.
What sort of car is it? Is the jet blocked? On Golfs etc it's pretty easy to remove the rear jet from the outside.
06 nissan note. ive just had a needle up there and no difference. havent got any food dye at present but just thoroughly dried spare wheel well and tried the rear washer for a good minute or so, no water appearing anywhere that i can see and no splashes or anything in the well. baaaaah.
Obviously not a Nissan Note, but Ford Focus Mk2's had a common fault where the exhaust vent under the rear bumper would come loose (all that air the fans blow in has to go somewhere), which let rainwater run into the boot/spare tyre well, then overflow into the rear footwell and onto the front footwells. First you noticed was when the front carpets (and the several inches of foam under them) were soaked through.
Unlikely to be exactly the same but gives an idea of how a trivial leak can seem to end up completely filling the car with water.
If it's the washer fluid, would you not smell it?
Thing is, you're not worse off now, before you were stuck with a problem and no obvious causes, now you've got a lead. It's totally progress.
Check for wet carpets, door membranes are often leaky.
Don't waste your money on anything else.
Couple of bags of Cat litter sliced open will keep it dry.
Take it for a proper drive now and then.
If you don't need it sell it.
Food dye may leave you with a permanent stain. What about neat washer concentrate? That way your nose can lead you.
Probably best to get it really dry and then start tracking down the source.
I had a Panda that used to fill it's spare wheel well. I added a drain hole with a small pipe and then just ignored it.
Google says leaking seal on high level rear brake light is a common fault. If not that, then the boot seal or rear light clusters:
https://www.noteownersclub.co.uk/threads/water-in-the-boot-of-my-note.2245/
See my reply ref high level brake light on the note yesterday🤔
I had an Astravan years ago, it was a work van and they were tight with expenses, so I'd topped up the screen wash with water. I'm assuming that the plain water freezing is what caused the rear screen wash hose to split when opening the rear hatch.
Obviously, everytime I used the rear washwipe it dumped water in the back.
So maybe check the in the flexy bit that feeds the wires and hose to the rear hatch.
I fixed it with half a bic biro iirc.
Obvs Check the high level brake light first.
Yep agree definitely progress as you know if a leak now just need to find the cause. Try and follow and area of dampness to help lead you to the source. eg right rear carpet might be wet. Feel if the seats are wet too, then follow it up the headline trim to see if thats wet so then you know its something around the rear windscreen area.
Try and get it as dry as you can, attack it with hairdryer if you can get the car close enough to the house to power it. Then use hose pipe or watering can externally keeping the water in one area and check for any ingress of water. If dry move on to another patch and repeat.
@duncancallum yes i did thanks mate (and also backed up by others, thank you) but ive only just twigged i misunderstood it. as the passenger well is left hand side, i thought 'high level brake light' was referring to the brake light up top on the LHS. i took the cluster off earlier, thought naah, that doesnt make sense, no seals etc, then realised you meant the light at the top middle.
too dark now to have a look but ill certainly have a shufty tomorrow, if i can work out how it comes off🤷♂️
It’s totally progress.
Yep agree definitely progress
it doesnt feel like progress as i look at the mould starting to grow underneath the seat with no idea where its come from, but yep, youre probably right.
cant shake the feeling that as theres o rear washer water that theres a problem there too, so maybe two leaks? one from the pipe into the passenger footwell, and the other maybe from that brake light.
bahhhhh, cars eh?🤬
thanks for all your suggestions, appreciated.
@sadexpunk Its held in by 2x 10mm nuts from memory.
When you change the bulb the foam gasket never goes back.
At one point Nissan didn't do the gasket separately.
Run a hose on it and sometimes you'll see it track down the glass.
It's a shit idea and we had loads in under warranty cost Nissan a fortune till they released the gasket separately.
Our ’07 Jazz is persistantly damp. There was a genuine leak at the rear which has been fixed so the boot no longer fills up with water when it rains, but there’s still some water getting in. Last week I had to deice the *inside* of the car windscreen.
My Civic was like that, the door seals were trashed (could hear and feel the air leakage) which didn't do it any favours.
Have you tried closing the windows?
Funnily enough when that car got laid up I solved the damp problem by keeping the windows open by a couple of cm. It had those air deflectors so you couldn't tell but it was as dry as a bone by the time it moved on. Bit dusty but a quick vac sorted it right out.
When you change the bulb the foam gasket never goes back.
At one point Nissan didn’t do the gasket separately.
so i spose in a way im hoping to take the light out and not find a gasket? thatll prove its shoddy enough to leak?
and do they now sell the gasket separately? or should i splodge some silicone around it and let it dry before replacing? i say let it dry as im thinking if i just put the light back onto wet silicone it might never come away again?
thanks
Girlfriend's mx5 was damp inside the cabin and the boot. Hadn't been used for months due to lockdown and a new job (3km on the bike rather than 75km one way in the car).
I dumped half a (big!) sack of kitty litter into the boot and spread it about. Used two of those silica sacks, left on the dash so that they would dry out again in the sun.
PITA. But, don't want to get rid as it's so much fun.... Just got it back from the garage and despite the hardtop on still had a nice, smiling drive home.
Sorry gasket compresses n never goes back right.
You can get them now. I'm sure Ebay have them.
Silicone isn't always the best
@sadexpunk fling the silicone on if you need to. That was the fix for the previously mentioned Focus light issues. It will pull off if you need the cluster off again, just make sure everything is nice and clean first.
Its held in by 2x 10mm nuts from memory.
been raining fairly heavy through the night, just been out to look and spare wheel well is still dry. bah. just had a look for those 2 nuts, ill take the light off later for a check still. theyre quite well inset arent they, ill be in a world of pain if i drop those nuts down inside the tailgate body methinks! 😄
also had a look round the rear passenger door for the footwell leak, no sign of water coming in there either.
wife says that the rear washer has never worked since buying the car a good few years ago, so shes never operated the lever to try since. so its probably not that either altho it could still do with getting sorted. dont spose anyone knows how and where the pipe is routed do you? @duncancallum do you know as it seems like youve worked on these before?
Pipes in the rubber bellows. Damned if I can remember which one.
It's been 10yrs and even then I was on the desk not the spanners.
You got any marks on the headlining?
If you wanted an easy way to check. Get seats down carpet out and any easy trim. Dry it out and get in the boot with a torch. Then get a hosepipe not a pressure washer on it.
You could even tape over the various lamp unit seams to prove a point.
One question wheres the aerial?
Pipes in the rubber bellows. Damned if I can remember which one.
@duncancallum sorry, dont understand what the rubber bellows are, im not very good with cars 😀
ive found this nissan note guide through googling, page 45 shows the pipe being routed driver side, which is opposite the flooded footwell. like i say tho, even if its not that then it could still do with being sorted.
You got any marks on the headlining?
nope, not that i can see.
If you wanted an easy way to check. Get seats down carpet out and any easy trim.
are you implying to totally remove the rear seats to get the carpet out?
One question wheres the aerial?
front middle, just above the windscreen.
ive just been out for initial investigation into rear light. first of all the red glass came away from the unit iself, so i thought id broken it, but ive stuck it back on with silicone. will bathroom silicone be good enough for that or will it freeze in winter and the lamp glass will fall off?
finally got the whole unit out, and its hard to tell if its the culprit or not. there is still a gasket of sorts there, a bit iffy maybe, and the area inside is all dry too.
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what would you do with this? squidge a load of silicone onto it and hope for the best?
thanks
That gaskets knackered they used to be about a fiver.
Knowing nissan they'll be on back order forever
Try silicone or something similar
