oh dear, my windows are misty already

[big ben 10]

the last few crisp mornings my windows have been a bit misted. When this happened in my golf gti it was because the bloody carpet was soaking, so i had to scrape both inside and outside which was fun :lol:

 

there doesnt seem to be any damp patches, any ideas :scratch: my valver was the same, but my old VR6 was fine, so not sure if its normal tbh

[Bullfinch 0]

It could be this. http://wiki.the-corrado.net/changing_he ... _seal.html

 

A failed foliage cover seal can cause misting.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Is this a "misted up in the morning" thing, or a "misted up after a couple of hours of turning it off", thing?

 

Many things can cause internal misting, even sunlight / warmth on one side of the car when the other side is still cold.

 

Or leaking door membranes, or the fan intake seal as mentioned above.

 

If you drive the car, turn it off for a few hours and the screen is misted up when you come back to it, that is the matrix. I thought Marcus already changed that?

[big ben 10]

its a misted up in the morning thing. only the front windscreen (mainly on the left to), then if i drive without fans on the rear screen quickly steams up and the side windows to... but if the failed foilage seal goes wouldnt i have water somewhere?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The carpet would be wet under the passenger side shelf, but mainly when parked on a slope where it's easier for the water to leak in.

 

Keep an eye on the coolant level and listen for any gurgling noises in the coolant system after shut down. It's a tell tale sign of air in the system, which can get in through a cracked heater matrix, among other things.

 

Not trying to scare you mate, but if the Matrix hasn't been done yet, there's a good chance it could fail. Mine went at approx 130K. It had a small crack in the bottom (it has plastic end cans like the main radiator) which was enough to leak into the heaterbox and steam up the windows, but not enough to wet the carpet.

 

The atmosphere in the car felt humid and there was a smell of glycol when the fans were on.....

[big ben 10]

oh dear think thats it kev... found my coolant level low after chnaging the rad, have topped it up and its been fine but suspected another small leak somewhere? it does smell dodgy when i turn the fans on to, straight away in fact :(

[big ben 10]

i definately have a small coolant leak, think everything points to the matrix :pale:

 

is there an easy way of finding out 100% if it is my matrix?

 

looks like im going to be busy this weekend or next :lol:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Easiest way to check it is to bypass the matrix and see if the steaming and coolant smell go :D

 

The 2 hoses that attach to the bulkhead, you just need a U shaped peice of tube and a pair of jubilee clamps, job done, it's bypassed :D

 

When I suspected mine had gone, tbh mate, I just did the damn thing anyway as I knew it would go sooner or later. It's not that bad a job.

 

Strip the dash, unbolt it and tilt it forwards and lean it on the seats, there's no need to remove it from the car completely. The only awkward bits are the dash bolts up in the wiper area, a couple are a biaaatch to get to. And the heater box bolts are accessible from the engine bay behind the downpipe etc, so it depends what your turbo setup is like for access....it could be fun :D

 

Oh and if you get a GSF matrix, it comes with the foam gasket. VAG matrixes don't, the tight bastards..... On this occasion the GSF item is fine as it's a valeo part, so known to be reliable and it's a lot less than the VW part.

[iceviolet 0]

oh dear think thats it kev... found my coolant level low after chnaging the rad, have topped it up and its been fine but suspected another small leak somewhere? it does smell dodgy when i turn the fans on to, straight away in fact :(

 

Exact same thing happend to me not so long ago. Fitted brand new rad and the a few days later steam and wet carpets!!! Unfortunately the new rad restores the correct temps and pressure in the system and consequently the next weakest link blows, the matrix!

Not as bad a job as people made out in my opinion. Easily done in a day.

[big ben 10]

maybe i left air in the system which probly didnt help??

 

think i will just change the bloody thing then next wkend :lol:

 

thanks for the replies guys...