blktl04

I live in minnesota and have to park my 04 nbp outside. well the last two days now when i go out to start it in the morning there is frost inside the car. Its on the windows not entirely but its there. Is this just a window/ door seal not closing?

boyhamdzui

iTrader: (1)

There is a button to defrost it. I think it's normal in cold weather.

blktl04

no shit really.......... i dont think u get what im describing. its inside the car like i could take an ice scraper and scrape it off thick.

boyhamdzui

iTrader: (1)

I'm sorry, I'm thinking about the different frost.

DuoDSG

I'm glad you mentioned this, because that's the same issue I've had here in northern Utah. Every time I get into my car I have to take a towel or a credit card to scrape off ice on the inside of my windshield and it takes a few minutes to do it.

I guess the reason I find it annoying is because it happens every single time I get into the car, whether I am just running an errand at the store or after I've left the car overnight.

I always hit the defroster/defog mode in the car as soon as I get into it, but I'm sure there's something that I can do to either speed up the process or to prevent the ice altogether. I'd love to find out what it is.

Perhaps something kinda like how you can put a towel over your windshield and it prevents ice from forming on it altogether?

Will Y.

Is your climate control-A/C set to "Recirculate?"
If so, set the A/C to bring in outside air instead of Recirculate-- that will decrease the amount of moisture inside the car, hopefully enough to prevent the frost buildup.

07tl-s6spd

iTrader: (1)

my integra used to do the same thing...problem was a small water leak...

DuoDSG

That may be my problem, I always have my car on recirculate so that may be the issue.

Doesn't it make sense to do that to keep warmer air in the car as you drive (after everything already warms up)? Or should I keep Recirculate turned off the entire time during the winter?

blktl04

do you think that a chip in my window could be causing it?

Will Y.

Once the heater core/engine are warm, the climate control has no problem heating up the incoming air, so I try to minimize use of the recirculate function and just use outside air.

Well, that works in SoCal, where our lows are in the high 40s generally.
Unless the chip is a hole big enough to let air into the cabin, no.

quanTL

This happens in my dad's Murano but not in my TL.
Make sure your windows /windshield are cleaned on the inside. I've noticed this on several of my friends cars as well. The ones with really dirty windshields have this problem.

cjTL

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like a bad window seal somewhere...

Ken1997TL

Bad window seal, a chip that lets air leak or.. you have some nasty gunk on the inside of your windshield or windows that has NOT been cleaned off, the water in this turns into frost.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

As the winshield is very warm with the defroster/heater running, when the car is shut down any moisture will migrate to the winshield, warmest area. A great deal of moisture can be found inside from melted snow/ice that has been deposited on the floor mats/carpeting from boots or shoes. In wet, raining conditions one can leave the garage, no problem, but make a stop, exit and return to the car and start driving and the windshield will start to fog if the defrosters (a/c) isn't energized. as the moisture content inside the car have risen greatly.

DuoDSG

Well I tried the outside-air recirculate setting the last few days to see the difference, and it seems now that I get MORE frost than before.

It doesn't help that our highs are in single-digits and I park outside (I'm a college student, covered parking is surprisingly nonexistent up here in Logan considering all the snow and cold weather we get). I went out last night and I had such thick frost on the inside of the windshield that even when I used the old credit cards I have dedicated for the purpose, they never really got it off and even after a few minutes of scraping, I couldn't see anything and my dash was covered in ice shavings (I put a towel down before I did it, so no worries).

Keep in mind, I have the Recirculate turned off and the rear window defroster (and front windshield defogging setting) turned on.

I might be thinking too simply, but could it perhaps make a difference if the outside vents were shut before I turned off the engine? I'm just wondering where I'm getting all this moisture- it's just me in the car, there's no snow or water on any of the mats, and the ice just keeps getting worse.

I've checked the seals and some have knicks in them but nothing that would let in moisture, as far as I can see. No chunks missing or anything. And no cracks in the glass.

blktl04

ok i came to a conclusion on why this may be happening.... first off its a combo of things. A mix of wet floor mats, i don't have the all season mats. second its from the truck. DuoDSG pop your trunk when u first go to start your car. I guarantee that there will be frost inside the truck and rear arm rest. to fix it idk i think i might just throw a blanket over the rear entrance to my armrest. hopefully that works.

DuoDSG

That much moisture coming in through the trunk and migrating all the way through the armrest? That seems crazy, but who knows. I'll give your suggestion a shot.

I know that it gets so cold that my tool bag in my trunk had a thin layer of frost covering all my exposed metal tools. Having high temperatures only in the single digits up here meant that was bound to happen, or so I thought...

MiaQbn23

Have you cleaned your carpet or floor mats? I just rinsed off my all weather mats and now have some condensation on the inside of my windshield. It started appearing after a temperature drop... To the 50's tonight... Gotta love Miami!!

Good luck!

lm1210tl4me

Sorry, I am not LOL at you because my '03 tl has done the same thing from day one. It's not a leak or air coming from your windows, trunk or anywhere else. I am surprised that your car is icing up on the windshield rather than just capturing moisture. The cold weather and condensation that build up in the cooling system for theses cars is significant. When starting in very cold weather, there is essentially a burst of warm air hitting the windows first causing the vapors you see -- in your case ice. If you don't have the option for covered carport, go down and buy a cover for it for about $25-$30 (if there is a "Big Lots" or something like that there they're cheap), but make sure that your car has been running a few minutes before you take the cover off or you'll still get moisture on the windows. This works for me and I', in Idaho

jisleyjr

How long of a commute do you have? Plenty of time to warm of the car or just short enough the car doesn't completely warm up?

It is the moisture from your floor mats, you are heating up the interior during your drive and when you stop for the day/night the moisture is in the air inside the car. The glass gets cold and then you have frost.

Plus with the amount of snow we've gotten lately it isn't a surprise that you have tracked a bunch of snow into the car and the moisture is still there.

Or you are breathing too heavy with your mouth open, breathe through your nose...

DuoDSG

Many thanks for the replies, this has been quite insightful.

The frost doesn't get created right when I start the car- it's already there when I get in. I haven't seen our high temperature rise above 10 degrees since I came back a week ago, so this frost isn't entire unexpected.

I've been looking into car covers recently, so thanks for the idea.

Although yes, we've gotten lots of snow recently, it was just Wednesday and Thursday. Everything has been packed down pretty well, and my errands have been few, so I've tracked almost no snow into the car during the past week. Whatever I had must have been there from those two days

My "commute" isn't one at all- Logan isn't very big, and I live just two blocks off campus. Every time I go somewhere here the maximum drive is 15 minutes. In the time it takes for the fan to remove any amount of frost buildup, I could go to my destination and back. So I guess I'm looking to eliminate the moisture in the car in the first place.

Would it be worth it to get some of that absorber stuff (that you leave in places to remove ambient moisture- think of the silicone packets that you can get that come in your shoes and whatnot) and stick it in the car? I know when people have left their windows open during a rainstorm that often helps.