How to Winterize Your Car EcoModder Style

[Nevyn]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

I have a big problem with frost on the *inside* of my glass. No, I don't have a leaky heater core, I just prefer not to run the heat in my car.

Scraping the interior glass works poorly, since it's concave, and ice scrapers are flat. I've tried RainX Interior Glass Anti-Fog, which is helpful but doesn't last long. Leaving a window ajar works great, unless it snows.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Set your temp slider to about halfway between hot/cold, and when turn your heater controls to defrost when you park. When you shut the car off, there will be a small airflow "leak" through the open vents that will allow inside air and outside air to mix at the windshield.

Just remember to turn off before starting car to reduce electrical load.

[Daox]

Some spammer bumped a thread that had a link to this one, so I decided to bump it. I don't know about you guys, but I've already had to scrape my windshield a half dozen times now. So, its getting to be time to look at this stuff.

BTW, any new ideas out there?

[RH77]

On Teggy, there's a about a 12"x2" removable plastic gap above the battery, in the wiper "parking area". I removed it this past summer to let the engine bay breathe a bit.

Since the weather has been cold then warm again this Fall, I have noticed heat waves from the opening and felt significant hot air movement while stationary.

I haven't had a day of frost to test the theory or to melt frost/ice/snow, but if the opening's air is directed toward the driver's side, or a similar gap made on the other side, it may be a way to move waste heat onto the windshield (granted, you would have to protect underhood components).

Another variable is what exactly happens to that region of the vehicle at speed? In my limited understanding of aero, I recall that the wiper area tends to trap air -- so it may be moot as you drive.

All of this depends on a warm engine.

_______________________________________

On a side note, I had to get the "As Seen on TV" windshield cleaner



It doubles as a defogger of sorts so the inside stays clear.

RH77

[cfg83]

RH77 -

I almost impulsed-bought those last week, but my co-worker said I could use a swiffer arrangement instead. The line at Fry's was humungous, so the impulse passed. The defogger part is a good point.

CarloSW2

[DonR]

For those of you with Cabin air filters. A clogged filter can cause more internal fogging problems than a clean filter. I would believe that it reduces the natural flow of air through the cabin from the pressure differantial.

My sister had this problem, not realizing she had a cabin air filter. She replaced it & has very little fog anymore.

Don

[almightybmw]

2 yards of felt backed vinyl. Covers the whole windshield. Got grey to match the car. Need to get red for the truck. Tends to cost a bit more, but looks good. Placing cardboard or aluminum flashing under the wipers defeats one of the primary ways the windshield stays clear: cowl heat from the engine. Where is your air intake? draws air from the cowl. If that's covered in snow, you'll never have a clear windshield.

Cover the windshield, cover the wipers, cover the cowl. Three fold bonus: clear windshield in all temps and precipitations, clean wipers should you need them, and heat is radiated up through the cowl to further heat the windshield (you did leave it on while cleaning the snow right?)

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

I have a big problem with frost on the *inside* of my glass. No, I don't have a leaky heater core, I just prefer not to run the heat in my car.

Scraping the interior glass works poorly, since it's concave, and ice scrapers are flat. I've tried RainX Interior Glass Anti-Fog, which is helpful but doesn't last long. Leaving a window ajar works great, unless it snows.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Recently, I had a thicker layer of ice on the inside than on the outside. This was because of a combination of weather (very cold, then freezing rain, then very cold again) and short local trips which didn't get the engine warmed up. Car sleeps outside, so leaving a window open is out of the question, and the only access I have to a heated (= above freezing) garage is a week in the middle of summer.

The coolant heater helps by reducing idling times when everything is frozen over, but I've recently found out that idling may never give me enough heat. I've though about covering the windshield from the outside, but is it possible for cardboard or vinyl to freeze to the glass?

As for the inside, whenever I drive I just keep the air fan on max to push as much air out of the cabin as possible. And I hold my breath

EDIT: Covering the windshield with cardboard/vinyl will cover up my little solar trickle charger, just when I need it most

[vtec-e]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

I've though about covering the windshield from the outside, but is it possible for cardboard or vinyl to freeze to the glass?

As for the inside, whenever I drive I just keep the air fan on max to push as much air out of the cabin as possible. And I hold my breath

EDIT: Covering the windshield with cardboard/vinyl will cover up my little solar trickle charger, just when I need it most

It will if it freezes hard. I threw an old yoga mat over the window once and the bits that did come off left a lovely ice print on the glass that i had to scrape off. Now i use some coroplast with cuts in it to follow the curve. There is enough room for my solar charger, not that it gets much sun nowadays!

In my eternal quest for an engine heater i found this:engine preheater block heater coolant heater HOT FROG on eBay (end time 18-Dec-10 11:29:32 GMT)
Now thats what i'm talking about!! Must put the pennies away for one.

[KITT222]

To heat the engine faster, I don't turn on the heater. I realized that the heat that goes into the cabin is sucked from the engine, so it can't warm up. I've done that just today, and the engine got to it's normal temp quickly, as opposed to not at all.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by KITT222

To heat the engine faster, I don't turn on the heater. I realized that the heat that goes into the cabin is sucked from the engine, so it can't warm up. I've done that just today, and the engine got to it's normal temp quickly, as opposed to not at all.

I think this depends on a few parameters - engine type and size, outdoor temperature, how much heat you want/need, etc. A few members here have reported no or negligible difference, while in my idling experiment turning the heat from OFF to MAX dropped the coolant temperature from 65°C to 55°C (149°F to 131°F).