Extremely dangerous problem! 04

[Saik]

I have a very dangerous problem with my 04 Ford Explorer. Everytime it rains, or it's at night and I'm using the A/C. My windows would fog up like crazy, using the wipers won't help because all it does is make it extremely blurry. Only thing that helps is looking outside my driver side window to see where I'm going.

I've almost crashed several times because of this problem, and I've tried everything from Rain-x, Vinegar, windex, replacing wipers, and changing wiper fluid. Nothing helps at all!

My A/C was recently overhauled by the dealer, (free of charge). They replaced the compressor, and other components of the A/C.

What makes the problem worse is if it's raining, and I use the wipers to clear the rain. This causes the window to blur like there's Oil on the windshield cutting visibility by 90%. Using the wiper fluid makes it even worse. I'm not sure what to do anymore, other than not use the A/C at night or when it rains.

 

[vipersinu2]

is the fresh air recirculating door working, can you hear and feal the difference in ac/max and ac?

 

[05explorer1974]

I have the same problem with mine. It has to due with the tempature and the humidity. It's the cold air on the inside of the window and the temperature of the air on the outside of the window which is usually warmer. It's the same thing that causes fog outside. When it starts I will turn down the speed of the A/C or the temperature until the temparutes balance out that fixes it. I even open my windows that will sometimes fix it to. Wipers or anything like that will not fix the problem it mother nature.

 

[dkindle613]

Have you tried the rain x, anti fog stuff for inside windows, maybe that will help?

 

[2TimingTom]

Have you tried adding some heat to the defrost? Usually clears it up for me.

 

[stoogefan]

It sounds like he is talking about the outside of the windshield! It may have oil or silicone on it and needs to be cleaned with a good glass cleaner. The wiper blades also need to be cleaned. I believe alcohol will work for the blades. Any recommendations for a window cleaner?

 

[Saik]

Adding heat does not seem to clear it up for me, rolling down the windows work but it takes more than 30mins to clear some of the blurryness from the windshield.

Yes I can hear a difference in AC and AC Max.

Using heat does not work immediately, and sometimes does not even work for me.

My A/C Settings are usually on All the Way Blue (Cold) with the blower at 2 or 3. Also at the MAX AC option.

On a sunny hot day, there will be no fogging of my windows with my A/C Settings. However at night when it's colder, my A/C would fog up the bottom part of the windshield, and when I use the wiper blade to keep it from growing, it would blur the entire windshield cutting my visibility. Using wiper fluid would make it sometimes bareable, but i would need to keep my wipers at the maximum wiping setting.

 

[tkd91]

This causes the window to blur like there's Oil on the windshield cutting visibility by 90%.

Have you checked your heater core for leaks?

 

[pet575]

Have you checked your heater core for leaks?

This. Do you get any slight smell of antifreeze inside the vehicle? I had a bad heater core do this once and it was spraying a very fine mist of AF onto the windshield, causing it to film and fog.

 

[buckwill]

he says using wiper blades makes it worse,, smears,, two thongs,, thats an outside roblem or combination of problems,, if it smears then he does have something that smears,, a very good cleaning is called for,, sounds as if he has silicone oil on the glass,very difficult to remove,, heat will usually clear up any inside fogginess cold ac will just make it worse

 

[pet575]

Good point. Guess I didn't read that closely enough. Wonder if you have a fluid leak under your hood that is spraying up onto your windshield?

 

[Steina]

Hopefully no one put coolant in the washer bottle.............

Steve

 

[Turbo79]

I have a very dangerous problem with my 04 Ford Explorer. Everytime it rains, or it's at night and I'm using the A/C. My windows would fog up like crazy, using the wipers won't help because all it does is make it extremely blurry. Only thing that helps is looking outside my driver side window to see where I'm going.
<snip>
My A/C was recently overhauled by the dealer, (free of charge). They replaced the compressor, and other components of the A/C.

What makes the problem worse is if it's raining, and I use the wipers to clear the rain. This causes the window to blur like there's Oil on the windshield cutting visibility by 90%. Using the wiper fluid makes it even worse. I'm not sure what to do anymore, other than not use the A/C at night or when it rains.

Whoever worked on the A/C may have messed up something, if this problem started after you had that work done. The A/C system will turn on periodically even when it's cool; that helps with the evaporation/humidity level inside the vehicle. So, if this did start post-A/C work, take it back and describe the issue to the dealer.

 

[gtbutler]

First of all, I'm making the assumption that somewhere in the not to recent past you used RainX on the windshield or as an additive to the washer fluid resovoir. And since you weren't getting the results you wanted, you placed more RainX on the windshield. It is a problem that many have. RainX actually bonds with the windshield and the repelling of water is actually "chemical reaction-like" (not sure how to explain it in only a paragraph). The aid of wind (while driving the vehicle) actually moves the water away. The use of wipers actually makes things worse. All that being said, the first thing I'd try to do is get rid of all the rainX or additives that could be in, or on, your vehicle.

1. Drain the washer fluid resovoir (siphon it out, pull the lines from the bottom of the resovoir, or just keep running the washer pump until it's empty).

2. Run clean water through the system (since it's summer, freezing shouldn't be an issue).

3. Clean the front windshield using Bar Keepers Friend (get the powder, it comes in a gold cannister your local supermarket or WalMart will have it should be next to the Comet or Ajax). It is a Polish/Cleanser. Find it, use it.

Make sure you refill with clean water.

Hopefully that will clear up the "fogging" that is occurring on the outside of the window.

 

[94Eddie]

This. Do you get any slight smell of antifreeze inside the vehicle? I had a bad heater core do this once and it was spraying a very fine mist of AF onto the windshield, causing it to film and fog.

It sounds just like a heater core leak to me. It doesn't take much of a leak to cause a big problem. It is the glycol products in the antifreeze that fogs up the windows. It take a long time for it to evaporate and it can't be easily wiped off the glass.

Also, it makes sense that the problem is worse under humid conditions as this makes it harder for the glycol to evaporate. A way to test if it is the heater core is to turn the heat on high and to the defrost position. If the window fogs up quickly then this is very likely the problem. The more humid the air the quicker it will fog up if the heater core is leaking.

 

[matt0248]

It sounds just like a heater core leak to me. It doesn't take much of a leak to cause a big problem. It is the glycol products in the antifreeze that fogs up the windows. It take a long time for it to evaporate and it can't be easily wiped off the glass.

Also, it makes sense that the problem is worse under humid conditions as this makes it harder for the glycol to evaporate. A way to test if it is the heater core is to turn the heat on high and to the defrost position. If the window fogs up quickly then this is very likely the problem. The more humid the air the quicker it will fog up if the heater core is leaking.

If it were a heater core using the wipers would not cause the smearing and blurryness he is complaining about. That means it is on the outside. not the inside of the windshield.

 

[94Eddie]

If it were a heater core using the wipers would not cause the smearing and blurryness he is complaining about. That means it is on the outside. not the inside of the windshield.

How is this substance getting on the outside of the windshield? If he has flushed the windshield washer reservoir then we can mark this off the list unless he didn't do a thorough flush. If he is getting oil on the windshield then it has to be coming through the rear hood seals and this is unlikely and there would be obvious signs of oil in the engine bay if this was happening. The same goes for coolant. There are just so many ways a liquid from the engine compartment can reach the windshield.

It certainly will not be time wasted to check out whether the heater core has sprung a leak. It is easy to do as was discussed in a previous post. The OP labelled this as a "fog" problem. The only time I have seen the outside of a windshield fog up is when the AC is blowing on the base of the windshield and it cools the glass to the point water condenses quickly on the outside during a rain or very humid weather.

I am interested to know if the entire windshield fogs or just a portion and what portion that might be.

I have seen people use Armor All, or something similar, on their wipers and it will cause the smearing like the OP describes.

Heck, maybe someone is smearing a thin coat of Vaseline/oil etc. on his wiper blades as a joke or for more sinister reasons.

 

[Saik]

Thanks this is what I have done so far.

Removed all the windshield liquid by using my rear window wiper, and used clean water to flush it out.

I checked if the heater core was leaking by following matt's procedure at night, and it does not fog up quickly.

I checked my windshield there is no sign of oil, and the last time I used rain-x was about 2 months ago when I ran out of it. It was not the concentrated type, but came inside a spray bottle similar to the windex ones.

My bluriness comes from the outside when I see 2 big fog spots on the bottom of the windshield start to grow, and when I use the wipers to clear it. It looks like it's coming from the windshield vents. It's very persistent at night, but when it's hot and sunny outside I do not have this problem, unless it starts to rain and the outside temperature drops.

Also my new A/C overhaul seems to be done right since it was done by a Ford dealership. however I noticed the A/C is extremely cold, and I would literally freeze in my car so I have it at the halfway point of the blue. I also use the Max A/C setting which seems to make the fogging worse.

The fog seems to originate from the outside, and there's little fog inside.

 

[buckwill]

start from some easy starting place,, the very next time it fogs up, wipe your fingers thru it both outside and inside, tell us exactly what happens,, does it streak out side,, inside or both,, one thing at at a time

 

[94Eddie]

My bluriness comes from the outside when I see 2 big fog spots on the bottom of the windshield start to grow, and when I use the wipers to clear it. It looks like it's coming from the windshield vents. It's very persistent at night, but when it's hot and sunny outside I do not have this problem, unless it starts to rain and the outside temperature drops.

I might have hit on your problem in my last post. When you put the selector on "Defrost" it automatically turns on the AC. You can't stop it even if the AC indicator light is turned off. I would bet the "fog" starts at the vents located at the base of the windshield. You might also notice it on the driver and passenger side windows since vents also point at them too and blow air in the Defrost position.

I think it is also significant that this is happening after your AC service/repair as the AC is probably blowing much colder now than before. The longer the cold air blows on the windshield the larger the cold area gets which increases the area fogging up. It probably happens at night or while raining because the temperatures are cooler and/or the humidity is high.

Next time don't put the selector on Defrost and make sure the AC isn't running. Also, I sometimes have to turn up the heat when running the AC while it is raining to keep the windshield from cooling to the point it rapidly condenses water on the outside. Turn up the heat the minute you start using the AC and/or Defrost setting. Once the windshield is cooled down it takes a while to heat it back up so the condensation doesn't occur. The solution to the problem is to not let the glass get too cold. The reason the AC kicks in when Defrost is selected is because it creates "dry" air (whether warm or cold is selected) which will prevent, and remove, fogging on the inside of the window. The rub to this is that letting the windshield get too cold can create condensation (i.e. fog) on the outside of the glass under the right weather conditions. Rainy conditions or cooler temperatures during the night promotes the condensation process. Think of it like a glass of ice cold water that has condensation on it on a humid day. It is the same basic process.