406oc.co.uk

Hey guys,

In the past few days, my car has strangely been steaming up when standing in traffic... no idea why but I would like to check whether the heater matrix is leaking. Prior to mist-up, I can smell humidity in the air so some steam is coming from somewhere. Could be a knackered air con as well, I guess?

Is the heater matrix somewhere behind the glovebox? I had it out a few years ago but didn't see it there. Is it concealed behind something?

Cheers
CJ

It's behind the centre console. I think it was Gary doing the hokey-cokey with his one a while back so have a search of his posts...

Are you loosing coolant?

Haven't checked anything yet but will have a gander at the coolant level. It was fine a few weeks ago when I did a little service on the car.

Coolant level OK and the passenger footwell is dry. This only seemed to happen in torrential rain we've been having recently. Air con seems to be kicking in and today, being bright and sunny, I haven't had any steaming up issues...

Need a closer squint.

Perhaps the air con drain is blocked Or is that what you meant about the passenger footwell being dry

My air con drain was a bit prone to this - windscreen would mist up after stopping when the a/c had been in use. Tried to clear it without stripping everything down, without much success. During our 'summer' I got round it by turning of the a/c and letting the evaporator warm up before stopping.

Extensive use during my recent trip to the sun, seems to have 'cured' it.

(Expensive, but definitely more fun than stripping out the centre console, or removing the front exhaust)!