Poor front windscreen vision

[RonBin]

My Yaris Icon, now five years old.  - It's awful!! When the cold weather comes it's virtually impossible to keep the windscreens clear, the front one in particular, unless I continually run the Air Conditioner. I have tried slightly opening the front door windows, putting the various dials in their correct settings, adding some warm air, no warm air and so on, all to no avail. I bought two Humidifier pads which I put on the dash board in the hope they would would do the trick but alas, they don't
Has anyone got any good ideas that will help me out of this mess, I am fed up with having to pull over and wipe the inside of my windscreen whilst other smart so and so's drive by sounding their horns for some unknown reason. Any other car I have sat in never seems to have this problem, is it just a Yaris Icon problem? 

[flash22]

It mists up due to gunk on the glass and silicon used it the interior cleaning products,

cover the dash with towels and clean the glass with warm water with a drop of washing up liquid and dry with a good quality microfibre cloth if you have climate control when you turn the car off it closes the outside air intake what means no air flow what's a pita

[mrpj]

That doesn't sound normal Ron, there has to be a reason for that persisting. I don't like answers similar to this, but I have not had anything  you describe happening with my Yaris, same age.

Yes, there's some misting, occasionally, which clears very quickly, climate control on auto, sometimes I do need to use the front quick demist/defrost button and the glass clears very quickly and remains clear.

Do people often get into the car with wet clothes etc.? Is your ventilation set to recirc. permanently? When was the cabin filter last changed? Are the carpets dry? Any water leaks from outside?

With past vehicles, which suffered this problem, including a Mk 2 Yaris, I have used a big bag of silica gel beads bought off eBay. The bag is designed for moisture to pass through. The beads are orange and gradually turn black as they absorb the moisture. 30 minutes, or until they are orange again, in a 150 degC oven regenerates them. I have found them,in the past, very effective in preventing steamy windows after a cold damp night outside.

[bathtub tom]

Have you got the air distribution set to 're-circulate'?

 

[stevecrvn]

Has the cabin filter been changes ? If not this would impare air circulation

[RonBin]

Thank you very much for your replies.

mrpj Unfortunately I do not have auto climate control. Thank you very much for the info of the Silica bags, will have a look at those.

Bathtub, yes, recycle is set to open.

Stevecrvn - Where are the cabin filters set please, never seen them, ever.

 

 

[flash22]

Cabin filter is behind the glove box you can't miss it - there are plenty of vids on YouTube, one picked at random......................

 

[Notoyboy]

My Corolla (no aircon) started to suffer inability to clear the windscreen, and a new cabin filter sorted the problem nicely.  It was dirty after 15,000 miles (could be longer if they missed it at previous service)

[flash22]

2 minutes ago, Notoyboy said:

My Corolla (no aircon) started to suffer inability to clear the windscreen, and a new cabin filter sorted the problem nicely.  It was dirty after 15,000 miles (could be longer if they missed it at previous service)

They only change them if requested, i have pulled a filter from a car that had been serviced by a main dealer for 10 years and it was never changed

[mrpj]

18 hours ago, flash22 said:

They only change them if requested, i have pulled a filter from a car that had been serviced by a main dealer for 10 years and it was never changed

Changing the pollen filter is part of the full service, not now an inspection and extra,if equired. Has been for a while now. I would personally have questioned the main dealer as to why it hadn't been changed.

[Tintaglia]

I wouldn't take too much on trust.  Check it yourself.  I questioned the dealer about why there was no A/C service history on my second hand 5 year old 13.3.  They said it wouldn't have been done unless the customer had specifically asked!  Mine mists up constantly unless A/C is on.  Recirc is definitely not on.  I haven't checked the pollen filter but I think it would need to be very wet to cause the problem.     

[bathtub tom]

Have you checked the floor/carpets for any signs of water ingress as mrpj suggested?

[flash22]

With the climate i know it closes the fresh air door when you turn the car off - as there is a option for it in TS maybe the standard A/C works the same on 14 onwards cars

[Mick F]

On 11/2/2019 at 12:22 PM, RonBin said:

 .......unless I continually run the Air Conditioner ........

Don't ever run the car without the air conditioning running.

Not EVER.

Keep it on permanently.  Air conditioning is just that.  It conditions the air.  It dries it and cleans it.  Leave it on permanently.  You can have it hot, warm, cool or cold.  Leave it ON and your air conditioning system will love you for it, and so will the whole car.

Mick.

[FROSTYBALLS]

On 11/3/2019 at 7:59 PM, Tintaglia said:

I questioned the dealer about why there was no A/C service history on my second hand 5 year old 13.3.

Air conditioning servicing has never been part of the standard service schedules on any a/c equipped cars we've had - Toyotas, Mazdas, Nissans and Hyundais. It has always been an additional service that is done at additional cost on customer request.

On 11/2/2019 at 12:22 PM, RonBin said:

unless I continually run the Air Conditioner.

We leave our air conditioning on in both cars, and have done for a number of years. Don't have issues with the cars continuously misting up. See also:

 

[TonyHSD]

I disagree with that., not necessarily to run an air con to Keep windscreen dry, if all components of the heating/air conditioning system function normally no any car should have a misting problems running without air con ON. There is something going on in his case, it’s not normal. In winter once in a while I may turn ON air con, any other time I don’t use it at all and never had any troubles. Running air con all the time is unnecessarily extra and it’s a wasting energy in any way, kWh or bhp, mpg, it’s just down to personal preference. Even though with air con ON all the time you can easily mask an existing problems due to the fact that AC is drying the air coming into the cabin. There maybe a leaking windshield seal, soaked pollen filter or perhaps blocked drainage or somehow water finds it’s way onto the heating system tubes and from there spreads all over the cabin. Not using an air con it’s not the issue 100%. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

In this instance, firstly we need to hear whether the car's pollen filter is OK and/or whether there is water ingress anywhere. The OP hasn't come back yet re these queries. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

A question raised on Honest John this week re condensation - https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/answer/135272/my-car-has-terrible-internal-condensation-on-every-window---what-s-the-cause-?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter 07 Nov 2019 Ask Special&utm_content=Newsletter 07 Nov 2019 Ask Special+Version+A+CID_8f6e790eca86ebecab7524fe62436674&utm_source=campaign monitor&utm_term=My car has terrible internal condensation on every window - whats the cause

[RonBin]

For some unknown reasons all the correspondence I had on my computer suddenly disappeared and someone keeps telling me I need to create an account? I have an account for a couple of years so I don't know what they are talking about.

Anyway, I went to Toyota, they replaced the cabin filter, cleaned out one or two items (I don't know what there were) and the engineer said there was no need to use the AC but preset the draft director to windows and feet and keep the heater right between the blue and red. He also said it was useful if I left one window open a little bit to let the hot air out when I was putting the car away. Since I have been doing this, I am not having any problem whatsoever. All is well.

Thank you everyone who was kind enough to help me. Very much obliged.

Kindest regards,

PS To whoever, I do not need another account thank you.

RonBin 

[TonyHSD]

Great , that is exactly what I do, again no trouble at all. Air con only in extreme situations. Glad that your problem was solved. 
Regards