Hi everyone,

Finally decided to investigate a long-running problem. On a cold or rainy day (just about every day in my country), fogging on the windshield is an extreme issue.

Immediately upon starting the engine, the windshield begins to fog. When turning the demister on, it blows condensation up the windshield even worse. It takes a good 20 minutes with the heater on to dry it out. I then have to drive with the heater on max to have any form of visibility; if I turn the heater down even by a little at any point in my journey, the fogging begins again immediately, meaning I have to pull over and do a lot of wiping the windshield and waiting before I can continue. It has gotten to the point where it is barely driveable as I have to choose between zero visibility or heat exhaustion.

I was reading about bad heater cores and from my understanding, this level of fogging could be a symptom, but I do not have a sweet smell inside the car, leaking in the passenger footwell, a lack of heat from the vents or an oily substance on the windshield.

So my question really is, could it still be the heater core and are there any common spots where seals fail that could be a good place to start?

The car is a 1996 Camaro Z28. Coupe.

Thanks in advance.

 

JTheJakal,

All of that moisture is coming from somewhere. Check that the Air Conditioner pulley is engaging and disengaging properly when the A/C dashboard control is On and Off. Water should drain from the A/C system normally, but that drain opening may be plugged. I have not been under enough Camaros to advise further, but any decent automobile A/C mechanic should be able to find and check and/or clear that drain. To my mind, that drain system would be the only source of clean water (not anttifreeze-coolant) in the car. Where are you located, roughly?

 

Thanks, I'll check it out.
I'm in Scotland so cold damp weather most of the year, alas

 

It does sound like a heater core problem to me especially with the "sweet smell" which is indicative of coolant.

 

There's no sweet smell in the car. The passenger footwell is damp however. The heaters do work very well.

In my old house, I had a very large tree over the driveway. I'm beginning to suspect the windshield cowl has become clogged with bits off the tree; I heard that is a possible cause.


Unfortunately spiders have moved into the car in heavy numbers so they're getting more use out of it than I am at the moment. Fml