Windscreen condensation terrible

[iScoTT29]

Seems like I can’t catch a break with the new car. My Ateca has the ‘heated windscreen’ which I thought will be great, I will be able to defrost the windscreen in a minute or two and be good to go. Oh how I was wrong. The heated windscreen does clear the outside of the windscreen perfectly but what it causes is an insane amount of water on the inside of the windscreen. Water droplets land on the dashboard and even over me and the passenger in the front. And it leaves loads of water droplets on the windscreen that aren’t heavy enough to fall off. The pictures are taken after using the heated windscreen for 4 minutes and then a 20 minute drive with the heater on the highest setting with AC enabled and the windscreen was still covered. This issue has happened more than once and I don’t think this should be happening. My Leon never had the heated windscreen and never had condensation this bad. Anyone had a similar problem?

 

[iScoTT29]

These pictures are the inside of the windscreen after the 4minutes of using heated windscreen before the 20min drive.

 

[martin j.]

Angle of the windscreen not steep enough for gravity to pull the droplets down against the flow of hot air upward? I’d just keep a drying cloth in the car.

 

[OldieDriver]

These pictures are the inside of the windscreen after the 4minutes of using heated windscreen before the 20min drive. View attachment 21479 View attachment 21480

I've only seen that level of condensation when there was an ingress of water - either from a heater hose (very unlikely) or from outside coming in through faulty seals. When the car interior starts to warm up the dampness in the car (carpets?) will rise up and condense on the windscreen, even a heated one. I had this trouble in a Ford Focus, where the dampness of the rear carpets was caused by deep puddle splashes coming in through the cabin air exit vents. Check under you carpets for any sign of damp and, of course, that old favourite, the spare wheel well.

 

[Arrison]

Also check if your pollen filter is wet as it means water is getting in from outside through an air vent

 

[Tell]

Is that the wire based heated windscreen. I know I should know the specs . 2020 and you might have the new fangled one. Mine is the old wire based one. Never done that. As said you probably got some residual water in there or the pollen filter. My old Altea use to have a similar issue with condensation, kept a flannel to mop it off, had a weak blower as well. 2016 Ateca with heated windscreen all is fine. You just hit the front blower and rear defrost and the rest is automatic. Feels a bit like the issue(s) picked up above.

 

[iScoTT29]

Is that the wire based heated windscreen. I know I should know the specs . 2020 and you might have the new fangled one. Mine is the old wire based one. Never done that. As said you probably got some residual water in there or the pollen filter. My old Altea use to have a similar issue with condensation, kept a flannel to mop it off, had a weak blower as well. 2016 Ateca with heated windscreen all is fine. You just hit the front blower and rear defrost and the rest is automatic. Feels a bit like the issue(s) picked up above.

Its the new 'climacoat' heated windscreen on mine. I'll do some digging and see if I can find any water ingression as mentioned above.

 

[Tell]

Its the new 'climacoat' heated windscreen on mine. I'll do some digging and see if I can find any water ingression as mentioned above.

I see it does use electricity but perhaps doesn't heat so much. Got to do those calculations if you had the figures. Will pass on that.

CLIMACOAT®

WINDSHIELDS. No more early morning ice-scraping: visibility is kept sharp and steady even in the harshest conditions. Thanks to ClimaCoat® and its invisible heating function, you can de-ice and de-mist your windshield at your finger tips.

www.saint-gobain-sekurit.com

Water ingress as you say.... I've never had drips falling off the windscreen. Blower full on at the front and rear heated windscreen on. That triggers the front from memory on the wire based heated windscreen. Initially that was not well documented how to use it since the controls were not in the manual so you could end up turning it off, rather than on. It turned out you didn't need to touch the controls apart from putting the rear windscreen on and the front blower.

 

[Terry99]

I’d put money on water ingress. Previous experience of this type of heated screen - would always quickly clear.

 

[emilyjane2910]

+1 for water ingress. Never had an issue with the wire heated screen in a previous Focus, in fact it was a marvellous thing

 

[BigJase88]

My Leon Mk3 was like this from new, took back to SEAT and got the brush off.

no issues sir. On yer way.

 

[Twed]

My Ateca and the Mrs' Leon has water on the inside but not to this extent! I think ours is a combination of short journeys with damp feet from it being winter and the car/cabin not getting up to temperature for long enough to get shot of any moisture in the air.

Many on FB have advised either running with your aircon on (as that dries the air) or put some moisture sucker thing on your dashboard, like the household ones you'd put on a windowsill to stop the damp forming on the windows as it is essentially the same problem.

 

[Tell]

Keep my A/C turned on 365.25 days a year as you are suppose to. Good for the A/C and to stop respiratory problems due to fungi growing in the system and releasing spores.

Feels like a poor seal or that one they always talk about where the A/C filter isn't fitted correctly / blocked drain pipe. Reckon that's a job for the dealer to check. Pollen filter is behind the glove box in RHD Ateca's following the drop down draw instructions. Never mastered that, others have, need strong fingers.

I see there is a technical manual for water leak tracing on Erwin... with pictures of the workshop test equipment.

 

[iScoTT29]

Keep my A/C turned on 365.25 days a year as you are suppose to. Good for the A/C and to stop respiratory problems due to fungi growing in the system and releasing spores.

Feels like a poor seal or that one they always talk about where the A/C filter isn't fitted correctly / blocked drain pipe. Reckon that's a job for the dealer to check. Pollen filter is behind the glove box in RHD Ateca's following the drop down draw instructions. Never mastered that, others have, need strong fingers.

I see there is a technical manual for water leak tracing on Erwin... with pictures of the workshop test equipment.

Im like yourself and always have the A/C on. I wiped the inside of the windscreen clear last week and cleaned it. Not had any issues yet but the temperature has went up slightly in Scotland so I will need to wait until next week when it is meant to hit below freezing again to see if the problem is resolved to a degree or not.