Moisture Inside My Car Overnite

[ftncityfatboy]

OK, I know that someone here will be able to help me out. For several nights now, when waking and going to the car for work, there has been frost on the INSIDE of the car. My first thought was a window was left open, door cracked, or something to let moisture in. Nothing leaks when it rains, so its a mystery to me how the moisture is getting in and thus freezing. I had a piece of drywall in the backseat and thought that might be retaining moisture but took it out and still got frost:shrug:. Any help would be appreciated........

ftncityfatboy

[Tncobra]

Hope it's not the heater core gone bad. See if you can smell it out of the vent.

[laktrash]

Hope it's not the heater core gone bad. See if you can smell it out of the vent.

or possible moisture in passenger floorboard

[ftncityfatboy]

Hope it's not the heater core gone bad. See if you can smell it out of the vent.

so if the heater core is bad, then it wouldn't heat, right? car heats when req'd to do so. I may have not been clear on this, when I let the car sit all night, go to it the next morning, there is moisture/frost on the inside. So having said that, let's try again........sorry about that.

[strickj]

so if the heater core is bad, then it wouldn't heat, right? car heats when req'd to do so. I may have not been clear on this, when I let the car sit all night, go to it the next morning, there is moisture/frost on the inside. So having said that, let's try again........sorry about that.

Yes, it can be leaking and the heater still work.

Personally, I'd say you have air getting in from somewhere. Have your honey-poo run her hair drier along all of the doors and windows while you sit inside the car and feel for air.

[ftncityfatboy]

Yes, it can be leaking and the heater still work.

Personally, I'd say you have air getting in from somewhere. Have your honey-poo run her hair drier along all of the doors and windows while you sit inside the car and feel for air.

In this weather I have a feeling that will go the other way, she will sit inside the car........thanks for the advise!

[Tncobra]

Basically heater cores will spring a small pin hole leak. Especially riding around in the cold you'll notice more than normal moisture on the windshield and some on the sides the longer your running.

It will usually leak antifeeze when the core isn't hot enough. When the core is hot the antifreeze drips onto the hot fins causing steam. So after shut down it will steam a bit longer then just leak. Just like the engine radiator.

Run your hand under the dash on the bottom of the heater box. Feel for antifreeze leaking. Check the level under the hood.

Like I said before, I hope it's something else.

[gsbell]

Wet sloppy carpet? This was common for me in Michigan with our sloppy winters, I've not experienced it here in TN.

[Garufa]

I use to roll in a '70 VW Squareback (would love to have that car back), anytime it rained heavily the rear floor, driver's side, would fill up with water. Never figured out why.

[Guest strelcevina]

Leaving your defrost on eider volontery or if it got stuck for longer period of time, 20/30 minutes or longer , heat can couse enough moisture build up around inside of front windshild and windows to .

And that moisture freezes over night

[analog_kidd]

Used to have an old truck that developed some rust inside the well below where the widshield is, near the base of the wipers. Eventually it rusted through and when it rained, water would pool up in the floorboard of the passenger side. I'd get an inch of water sometimes. At the time, I didn't have money or skills to repair the leak, and I got tired of always sponging out the floorboard, so I took a drill to the floor and created a drainhole.

Problem solved!

[Guest bkelm18]

I occasionally have that problem. For me it's usually one or two things: One being my A/C drain is slightly clogged so it has a tendency to leak onto the passenger floorboard. I run the A/C sometimes in the winter if the interior feels too humid. Secondly, the rubber around the driver door doesn't always seal well and moisture gets in that way.

[Guest Jamie]

Damn... I opened this thread hoping somebody somebody was gonna tell us that they found a drive-in theater still in business...

( That's the only place I've ever had trouble with the windows on a vehicle fogging up. )

Edit: I suppose I should at least try to be helpful here... When you run your heater and defroster, set it to outside air, if you can, not recirculating. Strangely enough, that'll pump the moisture out and not let it condense in the car when it cools.

Edited December 20, 2010 by Jamie

[Guest clownsdd]

My Chrysler van's AC drain has a tendency to clog up, that's the first thing I would check.

[Guest tnxdshooter]

Hope it's not the heater core gone bad. See if you can smell it out of the vent.

I was thinking the same thing but there would more than likely be a puddle in the floor.

[peejman]

Could simply be water that you let into the car when you get in/out when it's wet outside. I had this same problem with my old car, whenever it would be rainy during the winter, then get cold, I'd get frost inside the car. My solution was to leave a few pieces of scrap kiln dried lumber laying in the floorboard. Then park the car outside on a sunny day so it gets warm inside. The wood soaks up the moisture. Problem solved, until the next time it rained a lot.

Another trick is to start the car and when turn the heat on full blast. Mix up some soapy water and spray it all around the door and trunk seals and see if it makes bubbles. Same as checking for leaky gas lines.

[Guest buttonhook]

I use to roll in a '70 VW Squareback (would love to have that car back), anytime it rained heavily the rear floor, driver's side, would fill up with water. Never figured out why.

my VW did the samething but on the other side...weird. I too used the drill and drain method.

[Guest 1817ak47]

I use to roll in a '70 VW Squareback (would love to have that car back), anytime it rained heavily the rear floor, driver's side, would fill up with water. Never figured out why.

every vw I have owned with a sunroof ahs this prioblem. I have even had standing water in the floor.

does this vehicle have a sunroof

[titan14]

OP...does your a/c heat system have an "A/C" button on the controls?

If so, make sure this button is "on" (compressor running)....the compressor will eliminate most...if not all, of your moisture problems.

[ftncityfatboy]

OP...does your a/c heat system have an "A/C" button on the controls?

If so, make sure this button is "on" (compressor running)....the compressor will eliminate most...if not all, of your moisture problems.

my a/c quit working last year, compressor froze up and belt broke. Cost more to fix the a/c than car's worth. I did notice this is not an every night thing. This morning when we went to start the cars, no frost on the inside, now yesterday was another story. After the wife comes home (she is currently driving this car), I go out and make sure all the windows are up (she cracks the windows to smoke whilst driving) and make sure no seat belts are caught in the door. I also check the moon roof to make sure it didn't get opened for some strange reason. As stated, Sunday night, bad frost, last night, no frost. Again, I'm not talking about frost while the car is running, I'm talking about when the car sits overnight. Or, maybe I'm not understanding what's being said. Is it that while the car is being driven the heater/coil draws moisture out and if that's not working the moisture will stay inside the car and thus create the frost?

[titan14]

Hopefully...LOL...but in the last 10 cars i've owned...when the car is "fogged up"...I hit that "A/C" button and boom...fog gone. So, what I was thinking, that the moisture isnt being drawn out while driving...therefore leaving more moisture in the car than normal.

The heater coil(core)...in my experience...is a whole different thing. I had a '90 model S-10 Blazer that, when the heater coil/core busted, it filled the passenger side floorboard with antifreeze and water. It might be a small leak.

Edited December 21, 2010 by titan14

[Guest buttonhook]

my a/c quit working last year, compressor froze up and belt broke. Cost more to fix the a/c than car's worth. I did notice this is not an every night thing. This morning when we went to start the cars, no frost on the inside, now yesterday was another story. After the wife comes home (she is currently driving this car), I go out and make sure all the windows are up (she cracks the windows to smoke whilst driving) and make sure no seat belts are caught in the door. I also check the moon roof to make sure it didn't get opened for some strange reason. As stated, Sunday night, bad frost, last night, no frost. Again, I'm not talking about frost while the car is running, I'm talking about when the car sits overnight. Or, maybe I'm not understanding what's being said. Is it that while the car is being driven the heater/coil draws moisture out and if that's not working the moisture will stay inside the car and thus create the frost?

thats your problem...even the defroster uses the a/c to pull the water out of the air

[z90HD]

Unless I missed it, what was the year make and model of your vehicle? Have you recently checked the weather stripping around the doors and windows, trunk lid? If all weather stripping is intact is it dried out? If dried out lube it up with some silicone spray and a rag. Spray is available at any auto parts store.

[Guest tngw1500se]

If it had a heater core leaking it would be antifreeze leaking and would not freeze on the inside of the windows. If your car has A/C, don't use heat to warm the car. Use the defrost on warm. The A/c compressor runs on defrost and will dry the car out inside. You may also have a clogged A/C drain or a sunroof drain clogged.

[Guest Jamie]

Guys, the A/C doesn't do anything but lower the air temperature... it's not a de-humidifier. And moisture removal is accomplished by where the air is sent, and what it's sent through... or raising the air temperature and "burning" the humidity off. ( It still has to be pumped to somewhere else though. )

Given that, maybe an air filter needs replacing, or maybe a cable or something has come loose and the air isn't being vented in the right direction?

Our HHR has an air filter that the air is pulled through when the heater or a/c is set to certain setting... and no, the a/c compressor does not come on when the defroster is used. BUT... using recirculated air is not an option when you do. It has to pass through that air filter.

Also, many of the cars I drove in my early days didn't even have an a/c, but still had no problem keeping the inside of the car dry. You just had to use the fresh air setting with the defogger/defroster.

( I'm assuming the laws of thermodynamics, condensation, and evaporation haven't been changed in the last, oh, 30 years or so? If they have, I didn't get the memo. )

One way or the other, the water is coming from somewhere, even if it's just when the door, window, etc. is opened, and has to be sent somewhere else to get rid of it.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Jamie