I’m trying to help my brother fix his car. Every single morning he has a layer of ice on the inside of the glass. It’s not the thin stuff you can scrape with a credit card- it often has to be chipped off with the ice scraper. Later in the day the windows will be covered in condensation, and even if you dry that off, it still ices up later. They have tried everything- taking anything out of the car that could be wet, different ways to try to dry things out, etc. No matter what, the carpets always end up wet again, yet the trunk stays dry. I’ve had numerous POS cars with non-existent weatherstripping and soaked floors all winter, and I’ve never had this issue, so I’m stumped here. The mechanic was no help, neither was the one Honda dealer my mom called. This is a rust-free Civic coupe with under 80K, and he’s ready to sell it, and I don’t blame him. Has anyone has a similar issue?
Start collecting those packets from new shoes…
When you say “the carpets always end up wet again” I assume it has bad water leaks? If so there isn’t much you can do other than venting the car enough so the water doesn’t condense on the glass (aka, leave all the windows down so it gets a good cross breeze).
The real fix is to stop the water from getting into the car in the first place and then dry it out by running a dehumidifier in the car with all the windows up overnight for how ever many nights it takes to get the moisture out.
Leave it run with the heat on the feet and dry the carpet out all day with the windows cracked an inch or two. Go get some stockings and kitty litter and fill them and put them in the back seat floor, change them every few days. The jute under the carpet is soaked…
If you’re going to try using the car heater to dry it make sure to turn the A/C on (if it has it).
Still think you’d have better luck using a real dehumidifier running off an extension cord than letting the car sit there idling all day with the heater blasting.
If you need to dry it out, one or two cheap 1500W heaters and a small dehumidifier should do the trick. Let that work its magic for a solid day or two and see if its dry inside.
The moisture has to be coming from somewhere, with a dry car you might be able to hose it down and see where.
LOL WTF. HAHAHA.
Crack the windows to allow moisture to escape? Especially after blasting heat to the floor on recirculate to evaporate it some. (While driving not idle of course)
As for where the water is coming in…sunroof drain tube? Bad cowl gasketl?
---------- Post added at 12:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:19 PM ----------
As always…solid input. :tup:
Does the car have A/C? Turn it on, it will get the water out of the air in the car faster than any other method listed above, short of using a dehumidifier.
We did hose it- you have to blast it with water to get any to drip inside the car at all. I’ve had cars with terrible leaks, so bad in one car that the rear floor froze like one big skating rink, and I never had this issue. I don’t know how the water gets in, but it does. They dried it out when the weather was warmer and it’s wet again. No sunroof either. Thanks, I’ll relay the info posted here.
It makes more sense that a car that got wet somehow (probably lots of snow tracked in on boots) that isn’t leaking would do this.
Your cars with horrible leaks and wet carpet have a way to vent their moisture… through the same bad leaks that allowed the moisture in. This car is well sealed so as that water evaporates it has nowhere to go and turns into condensation on the window, which in the cold then freezes.
Borrow a dehumidifier from someone and start running it overnight with all the doors and windows closed. I bet each morning you’ll find the humidifier’s tank has a bunch of water in it, and the car windows will be fine. A few nights of that and all the moisture should be out.
Or, wait for a few hot dry weeks during summer and park the car in the sun with all the windows down for a few days.
$500
i know this sounds strange but check under the glovebox behind the carpet.Theres a firewall plug/ condensation tube that the air conditioning runs from the dash out and into the engine bay. In my old 96 civic hatchback there was a leak and anytime the ac was on or it rained id get like an inch of water in my car on the carpets. plugged it and tightened the line and it went away.
This is what I wanted to say as i was reading… be sure to check that. Then run a dehumidifier as people have stated. take the seats out if you can and set the dehumidifier in place of one of them and let it run all night/day and empty it as needed.
This or check to make sure he doesn’t have a leaky heater core.
ever have a windshield replaced? if it’s not sealed well it will leak when it rains.
It would probably stink like coolant
is the carpet drying out all the way? did you peel it up to dry it thoroughly?
does the car have a sunroof?
fire.