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Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 6:32 pm
by tomtoon2015
Now we all know it's been a lot colder lately, so a few weeks ago I had a bit of ice on the inside of my windscreen, didn't really think anything of it.

This morning however, virtually the whole windscreen was iced up on the inside (no windows or doors were left open)

Interestingly enough, my stepmom said a couple of her friends that have newish VW's have the same issue. Now I spoke to my mate at work who has a 15 plate golf GTD who has never had this issue. Could it affect only certain models of VW?

Has anyone else had this issue? Bit frustrating having this issue on a brand new 15 plate Polo BlueGT, when I didn't have it on my previous two cars..

Is it worth asking VW to check it over?

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 9:08 pm
by alexperkins
It depends how much moisture is in the air inside the car when the temperature drops

Do you use the air con?

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 9:31 pm
by tomtoon2015
Only use the heating in the car in the morning.

Just seems unusual for the whole thing (almost) to be frozen and icy..

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 9:40 pm
by alexperkins
One thing to try is a little dehumidifier in the car. This can help greatly albeit a new car shouldn't suffer with this at all I should add

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 10:03 pm
by Dink
i'd leave the air con all the time. it dries the air out a lot

this should help, as i leave my a/c on all the time and my windscreen was frozen this morning but not a drop of moisture on the inside

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 10:04 pm
by alexperkins
I tend to agree. I have my air con all the time all year round

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 10:27 pm
by vc-10
Depends, if you get into a modern hermetically sealed car all wet, soaking the floor mats with the water on your shoes, then it's going to start misting up, and hence freezing, if there's enough water in there. Which is why using A/C during the winter is useful, as it dehumidifies the air, and it also prevents the seals in the A/C system from perishing.

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 10:29 pm
by SRGTD
+1 for leaving air con on 24 / 7. I do this in my GTD golf and have never had any problems with ice or serious condensation on the inside of the screen in the 4 and a half years I've owned it. I'll be leaving the air con on permanently in my Polo GTI too when I get it.

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 10:50 pm
by Mart!n-GTI-DK
A side note for the A/C:

A lot of people don't use it during the winter because they think that they only need heat.

BUT the fact is that is you don't use the A/C for a long periode of time the seals will dry up and the system will leak.
And it is alot both easier and cheaper to just get the system refilled once every few years than to have the system taken apart for seals to be replaced.
(Because yes the system will still need to be refilled at some point. But rather later than sooner and with no extra costs thrown in)

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?w

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 6:46 am
by tomtoon2015
alexperkins wrote:One thing to try is a little dehumidifier in the car. This can help greatly albeit a new car shouldn't suffer with this at all I should add
Silly question but which button is this?

Also in regards to others comments regarding the Air Con, any recommend setting as I have the ECC with temperature control?

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 7:28 am
by lancslad1985
My wife's polo has this problem and both my Blue GT and my Golf had this problem, as does my Dad's golf. Could well be a design issue as I tried everything to stop it but nothing would. Maybe a dehumidifier would work as previously suggested? Never had this problem in any of my other cars, only the VWs.

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 7:49 am
by nats148
tomtoon2015 wrote:
alexperkins wrote:One thing to try is a little dehumidifier in the car. This can help greatly albeit a new car shouldn't suffer with this at all I should add
Silly question but which button is this?

Also in regards to others comments regarding the Air Con, any recommend setting as I have the ECC with temperature control?

You could try something like this http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 1604437562

Or

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 1009647938
I've seen the ones like this in Asda


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 8:44 am
by alexperkins
The ECC you have is semi automatic. If you set it to say around 20-22C (whatever is most comfortable for you) the car will heat and cool the air as appropriate to keep that ambient temperature - it's in a way a set and forget system.

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 12:00 pm
by RUM4MO
Just a point to clarify on that these AC systems need to be ON all/most of the time to prevent seals starting to cause leaks, all systems that use a electo-magnetic coupling on the drive pulleys do need to be used frequently to keep the oil circulating (with the R134a) and so keep the seals in good condition, the systems used on these cars and most modern cars do not have a electro-magnetic coupling on the drive pulley, they are fitted with roughly speaking "variable displacement compressors" - this means that regardless of what/how you use the system, a small quantity of R134a and oil will always be circulating round the fridge system when the engine is running.

A general statement on these 6R/6C Polos, from reading these postings, they seem to be suffering from what the 6J Ibiza and new Fabia are in terms of inside of windscreens misting up and/or freezing up. I'd expect most of these comments are also coming from people who have previously owned 9N/9N3/6L etc platform VAG cars, which does tend to point to there being a problem.

Wife's new Polo gets garaged so we don't notice this, daughter's late 2009 Ibiza is which I tend to look after while she is in KL is not garaged and it mists up as soon as you start the fans up - never use it in freezing weather - too much trouble. I get round this in the Ibiza by leaving the fan off until the engine has warmed up a bit, though to repeat myself, we don't use it in freezing conditions as it does not have winter tyres.

Re: Ice on inside of windscreen - VW design flaw or fault?

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 6:54 pm
by tomtoon2015
Sounds like a common issues with VAG's then. Have to monitor it and see what happens