Steamed Up (The car AND ME!) NO LONGER!!

[anko]

Errr... Skoda is VW.

Nope. Skoda is VAG. And yes, there is a difference in that.

 

[MartinH]

To get rid of the fog, just use some consentrated Isopropanol, the alcohol you having the the windscreen washer, some only at winter time, to Clean the inside of the window, fog is gone.
Cost 2 GBP/ liter, and that will last you the lifetime of the car.

About the headlight, my oppinion is that the headlights, Halogen, projectro lenses on my 2016 is one of the best i have used, so for those who HAS to have stronger "Eyes" on the car, maby is the the "Eyes" on the car that is tha main problem :lol:

And I would never purchase a car from a manufacturer that lies to their customer ESPECIALLY! not concerning the environmental, that is tha main reason for purchasing my car.

 

[Claymore]

And I would never purchase a car from a manufacturer that lies to their customer ESPECIALLY! not concerning the environmental, that is tha main reason for purchasing my car.

We are going off topic but that is the reason I sold my Skoda Superb Greenline, cancelled my order for the new model and eventually ordered the Outlander PHEV.

Time will tell if I've made another mistake, but so far so good.

JimB

 

[gwatpe]

To get rid of the fog, just use some consentrated Isopropanol, the alcohol you having the the windscreen washer, some only at winter time, to Clean the inside of the window, fog is gone.

Take care with IPA, "iso-propyl-alcohol". I would not recommend wetting a cloth and wiping the windscreen. IPA will remove the oil from your skin and make the skin go white and you may end up with the skin cracking. Very painful. In another life I was an Analytical Chemist and learned to respect solvents. Gloves are a must, and are usually not at hand when you want to demist the windscreen in a hurry.

 

[Carnut]

ERR. I know! I have had 3 Skodas.
What I am saying is that although Skoda are part of VAG, IMHO their build quality is better than VW AND the nearest equivalent cars (e.g. Octavia Vs Passat) are better build quality than the Vdub equivalent and for a lot less money.
I would put the Superb as better than even the Mercedes 180 and it is nearly £10k CHEAPER.
Anybody that buys a VW instead of a Skoda (for the nearest equivalent model) is either a 'badge snob' or they have more money than sense.(IMHO )

 

[MartinH]

If you use it daily i would use gloves, but once a month with a fraction of moisture of alcohol on you hands, i have other things i am more worried about when using a car.
About skin problems, when we have -25´C and I by misstake have the ventilation in the car poined at my hands when driving for longer time, then i have real skin problems!

 

[Icerunner]

There is no fog problem - you need to have AC on to Condition the Air. Conditioning the air means 'altering temperature and humidity', not 'making stuff cool down'. If you turn off AC you end up with just altering temperature. Depending on your local weather and the way you had your temperature set, there will be fogging. You park a warmed up car with humid air - the air cools off during the night. Cold air can 'hold' less evaporated water than warm air - it will condensate. This will also happen while driving - the hot air in the car will cool off when close to the windows. No magic there, no-one can alter the laws of physics.

Just turn on the AC, and it will lower the humidity in the car. This will also help in preventing muff odours.

 

[Regulo]

"This will also help in preventing muff odours."

Ooooo-errrr!! This has a rather risque meaning in Britain. At least, it does where I come from!!!!!! :lol:

 

[Claymore]

There is no fog problem - you need to have AC on to Condition the Air. Conditioning the air means 'altering temperature and humidity', not 'making stuff cool down'. If you turn off AC you end up with just altering temperature. Depending on your local weather and the way you had your temperature set, there will be fogging. You park a warmed up car with humid air - the air cools off during the night. Cold air can 'hold' less evaporated water than warm air - it will condensate. This will also happen while driving - the hot air in the car will cool off when close to the windows. No magic there, no-one can alter the laws of physics.

Just turn on the AC, and it will lower the humidity in the car. This will also help in preventing muff odours.

There is a serious fog problem on this forum - namely people who won't give any indication of where they are located.

Many of the issues discussed here will be affected by the geographical, topographical, meteorological and wetware (people, dogs, cats, scuba gear, wet camping equipment.....ad nauseum) conditions of their location but everyone else is supposed to guess what those may be!

In the absence of any such information from yourself I have to reluctantly point out that from my experience what you say is nonsense!

I have never (and I've had too many years experience of various vehicles) had to put up with fogging on any car such as I now experience with the Outlander and in those occasional cases where it has occurred in previous vehicles use of the screen blowers without aircon has been a very effective solution.

I'll frankly be damned if I'm going to have run the engine on a hybrid vehicle in order to clear it's permanently fogged screens!

I may as well have stuck to my previously all time favourite Skoda Superb Greenline diesel which got just as good fuel economy without paying a small fortune for wall chargers and stupidly expensive additional 'public' charge leads all of which probably cost as much as the total fuel bill for the Skoda for the previous 3 years!

As a qualified private (with night and UK Instrument Met Ratings ....and inept glider pilot...as I'm feeling agedly boastful) I am fully conversant with the laws of physics such as they apply to condensation (and other matters).

Unfortunately I paid my own taxed income for a car that I expect to be able to use locally without using the ICE and much as I value its other attributes this issue is a PIA!

JimB

 

[Carnut]

QUOTE
I have never (and I've had too many years experience of various vehicles) had to put up with fogging on any car such as I now experience with the Outlander and in those occasional cases where it has occurred in previous vehicles use of the screen blowers without aircon has been a very effective solution.

I'll frankly be damned if I'm going to have run the engine on a hybrid vehicle in order to clear it's permanently fogged screens! UNQUOTE
HEAR HEAR!
MY RESIZING

Well said that man! I live in Poole. Have always had wet dogs in the cars I have owned and many years ago BEFORE A/C had wet children and wet wet suits etc And the above is my experience as well. I have NEVER had this problem in the 71 cars I have owned until now!

 

[TC1978]

I agree that it appears to be more prevalent in the PHEV than other cars, but disagree you need to run the ICE. Push the Eco button, set the aircon to 15-17 degrees C - NOT recirculating - and it'll clear in seconds and won't use the engine.

The more I drive this car, the more I understand how to drive it 'right' to get the economy / limit the ICE engagement. Still wish there was an EV button though.

 

[greendwarf]

I have NEVER had this problem in the 71 cars I have owned until now!

I find that hard to believe - Hillman Husky, Hillman Minx, Morris Minor, Ford Prefect, Cortina, Capri, Avenger, Minis - can't remember NOT having the problem in these, i.e. leaning forward over the steering wheel to wipe the inside of the screen as I drive. But perhaps I'm just a heavy breather or it was all those pea-soupers we got in the '60s around Lundun :lol: But, I suppose. living in sunny Dorset.......

 

[maby]

I have NEVER had this problem in the 71 cars I have owned until now!

I find that hard to believe - Hillman Husky, Hillman Minx, Morris Minor, Ford Prefect, Cortina, Capri, Avenger, Minis - can't remember NOT having the problem in these, i.e. leaning forward over the steering wheel to wipe the inside of the screen as I drive. But perhaps I'm just a heavy breather or it was all those pea-soupers we got in the '60s around Lundun :lol: But, I suppose. living in sunny Dorset.......

Fully agree! On my early Landrovers that had no roof lining, there was so much condensation that it sometimes literally rained inside the car!

 

[Claymore]

I agree that it appears to be more prevalent in the PHEV than other cars, but disagree you need to run the ICE. Push the Eco button, set the aircon to 15-17 degrees C - NOT recirculating - and it'll clear in seconds and won't use the engine.

The more I drive this car, the more I understand how to drive it 'right' to get the economy / limit the ICE engagement. Still wish there was an EV button though.

Thanks for that TC!

I'll incorporate that procedure into my pre start checklist just as soon as it stops raining (don't want to take any more in there!).

JimB

Edit: Having thought about it a bit this may not be the solution for me.

During the winter I often activate pre heat (via the phone app) for 10 minutes or so but for TC's suggestion to work the car system would have to be already set to the minimum and that would not be any good for pre heat.

I tried changing the settings whilst in ACC mode but couldn't get access to them.

So if set to 21 for preheat the ICE will start instantly the power is switched on, even then changing the settings to those recommended will still leave the engine running for several minutes. The car could be immediately switched off again but that would not be good for the engine and the objective of not using the engine at all for short local trips would already have been defeated.

Now searching the internet for scrap periscopes

 

[maby]

I don't think the pre-heat takes any notice of the temperature set on the AC, does it? My impression is that it runs the heater at a fairly high setting for 10 minutes regardless of the internal temperature setting.

 

[Claymore]

I'll try that Maby.

Just spent 10 minutes trying to decipher the heating system part of the manual and it seems to make no mention of that. I say 'seems' due to my increasing tendency to lose the will to live while attempting to devour the contents of the manual.

I think the answer will lie in mastering manually changing settings without using the auto button or the demist button.

Direction and flow of air can be changed using the mode button.

The only obvious problem with that is the possibility of wrapping yourself round a tree while you're messing with it.

JimB

 

[Icerunner]

There is no fog problem - you need to have AC on to Condition the Air. Conditioning the air means 'altering temperature and humidity', not 'making stuff cool down'. If you turn off AC you end up with just altering temperature. Depending on your local weather and the way you had your temperature set, there will be fogging. You park a warmed up car with humid air - the air cools off during the night. Cold air can 'hold' less evaporated water than warm air - it will condensate. This will also happen while driving - the hot air in the car will cool off when close to the windows. No magic there, no-one can alter the laws of physics.

Just turn on the AC, and it will lower the humidity in the car. This will also help in preventing muff odours.

There is a serious fog problem on this forum - namely people who won't give any indication of where they are located.

Many of the issues discussed here will be affected by the geographical, topographical, meteorological and wetware (people, dogs, cats, scuba gear, wet camping equipment.....ad nauseum) conditions of their location but everyone else is supposed to guess what those may be!

In the absence of any such information from yourself I have to reluctantly point out that from my experience what you say is nonsense!

I have never (and I've had too many years experience of various vehicles) had to put up with fogging on any car such as I now experience with the Outlander and in those occasional cases where it has occurred in previous vehicles use of the screen blowers without aircon has been a very effective solution.

I'll frankly be damned if I'm going to have run the engine on a hybrid vehicle in order to clear it's permanently fogged screens!

I may as well have stuck to my previously all time favourite Skoda Superb Greenline diesel which got just as good fuel economy without paying a small fortune for wall chargers and stupidly expensive additional 'public' charge leads all of which probably cost as much as the total fuel bill for the Skoda for the previous 3 years!

As a qualified private (with night and UK Instrument Met Ratings ....and inept glider pilot...as I'm feeling agedly boastful) I am fully conversant with the laws of physics such as they apply to condensation (and other matters).

Unfortunately I paid my own taxed income for a car that I expect to be able to use locally without using the ICE and much as I value its other attributes this issue is a PIA!

JimB

I feel misunderstood

No, for real - fog is no magic. I'm not saying you need to run the ICE, I'm saying you need to run the AC. If you turn on ECO first, it won't use the ICE for running the AC, as someone above pointed out. Sure it's a problem when the car fogs up, but it's not because the PHEV has a secret humidifier hidden somewhere. It is due to specific properties of the air that is let in when switching off the AC, and depending on your weatherconditions. Perhaps other cars had a bigger focus on keeping humidity low without an AC-unit, in the PHEV Mitsubishi kept it simple, letting the AC lower the humidity, and letting the regular vent just do its regular thing - blowing air, without any regards to the humidity.

I guess they did not expect people to go all AC-off-style regardless of local conditions :roll:

 

[Titan]

Noting the recirculation button, does the AC automatically switched to closed or does it draw air from the exterior, thus, for optimal dehumidification, needing a manual switch on of the recirculation button. If it draws air in from the outside, seems you'll always be fighting a losing battle.

 

[Icerunner]

Noting the recirculation button, does the AC automatically switched to closed or does it draw air from the exterior, thus, for optimal dehumidification, needing a manual switch on of the recirculation button. If it draws air in from the outside, seems you'll always be fighting a losing battle.

What I noted:
-Preheater: Air is heated beyond the last set temperature - seems to always give the same heating (in cold weather, e.g. minus 5 degrees, 10 minutes preheating seems too short - I set it to 30 mins, and step inside my car after about 20 minutes - this way it is always on until I step in)

-Ventilation ON, AC OFF: Outside air, don't know if it is actually heated by the engine?

-The AC-ON: Air is drawn from the outside, but conditioned (hot/cold, low humidity)

And this one is noteworthy:

Button OFF: The ventilation shuts down, but the valves of the ventilation don't change. Thus, if you turned the ventilation down to zero or internal ventilation, and you push "OFF", no outside air will come in. If it is set to ventilate, and you push OFF, air will still flow through the valves, just due to the cars speed - this is most notable when you open the window in the roof, the airflow throught the vent openings will drastically increase, even with the whole unit set to off

 

[greendwarf]

Noting the recirculation button, does the AC automatically switched to closed or does it draw air from the exterior, thus, for optimal dehumidification, needing a manual switch on of the recirculation button. If it draws air in from the outside, seems you'll always be fighting a losing battle.

Not in my experience - the two occasions when "it fogs up" are firstly, when left parked and the external temp drops, which is fairly normal for A/C, as the moisture extracted earlier condenses back out of the cooling internal air on to the colder windows. True this might exacerbated in wet conditions as the warmer car draws moisture up from underneath. The second scenario is when driving, particularly with passengers, breathing out moisture, which again condenses out on the colder window surfaces.

In neither circumstance, is the moisture coming from the external air, and both cases, the pre A/C era the cure was in fact to open the windows to equalises both humidity and temp. For this reason, my late wife who hated A/C, always drove with the window open even in the depths of winter. Mind you this was more comfortable than crossing central Spain in summer either w/o A/C