Windows steam up suddenly while driving!
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 14
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Windows steam up suddenly while driving!
Hoping someone can help me. It feels like my car is trying to kill me! I am driving along with the A/C on when suddenly it changes onto the A/C being switched off and a blast of very hot, damp air, like a sauna, fills the car. All the windows steam up in seconds and I'm left with zero visibility in any window. I can't see the hood never mind the road! I can't even pull off the road as I can't see it! I desperately reach forward and clear a tiny patch to see through but still can't pull over as I cant see the curb or if any cars are beside me. Then the next time I get into the car it is fine again and doesn't do it again for maybe a year! When it gets like this, I try pressing the A/C on again but the light just flashes then goes off again. Does anyone know what is causing this?
Any help greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Jilly Bean
Any help greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Jilly Bean
Racer
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 294
Likes: 0
From: High Desert Southern California
Frequently happens to me at night when I get to the top of a 4200 ft. pass near my house. It happens suddenly, but the defrosters take care of it. I think the use of outside air will keep your a/c on and help with this problem.
Racer
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 294
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From: High Desert Southern California
After thinking about it a little more, I believe that in my case the warmer air inside the car holds more moisture. When I get into colder air at a higher altitude, the cold air can't hold as much moisture and the moisture percipitates out of the inside air onto the inside of the windows.
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Aug 2011
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Thanks for the reply Binski but I live in Florida so have the A/C blowing cool air when it suddenly switches to this awful steamy air. It is not the air from outside being too hot as it happened to me tonight and the outside air temp was a chilly 58F. I guess I'll have to hope my local garage will be able to fix it (I refuse to use the dealership near me, they don't have a clue what they are doing!)
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,722
Likes: 138
From: Florida
St. Jude Donor '09
Check to ensure your evaporator housing condensate drain is draining properly. It's located on the bulkhead behind the engine, above the starter and behind the passensenger side cylinder head. If it's plugged, it will cause the type of problems you are describing.
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Racer
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 427
Likes: 2
From: Redding Ca
Hoping someone can help me. It feels like my car is trying to kill me! I am driving along with the A/C on when suddenly it changes onto the A/C being switched off and a blast of very hot, damp air, like a sauna, fills the car. All the windows steam up in seconds and I'm left with zero visibility in any window. I can't see the hood never mind the road! I can't even pull off the road as I can't see it! I desperately reach forward and clear a tiny patch to see through but still can't pull over as I cant see the curb or if any cars are beside me. Then the next time I get into the car it is fine again and doesn't do it again for maybe a year! When it gets like this, I try pressing the A/C on again but the light just flashes then goes off again. Does anyone know what is causing this?
Any help greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Jilly Bean
Any help greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Jilly Bean
pull the codes using the DIC http://www.stengel.net/diccodes.htm before you go to the shop, post codes here and maybe you could get some more info. At least you'd have some info to take to the shop....good luck.... I'm sure you will have some 99-HVAC codes something ain't stirring the kool-aid
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 14
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pull the codes using the DIC http://www.stengel.net/diccodes.htm before you go to the shop, post codes here and maybe you could get some more info. At least you'd have some info to take to the shop....good luck.... I'm sure you will have some 99-HVAC codes something ain't stirring the kool-aid
Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 5,955
Likes: 161
From: PNW
Thanks for the reply Binski but I live in Florida so have the A/C blowing cool air when it suddenly switches to this awful steamy air. It is not the air from outside being too hot as it happened to me tonight and the outside air temp was a chilly 58F. I guess I'll have to hope my local garage will be able to fix it (I refuse to use the dealership near me, they don't have a clue what they are doing!)
Sounds like for some reason your A/C system shuts off, and then what happens is all that captured moisture on the condenser evaporates off suddenly and fogs up the interior. I'm guessing you are running the A/C on "recirculation" mode also? If so, that might make it worse than not.
If it happens again, roll both windows down ASAP and switch to outside air if you're running on recirculation mode with A/C. That should help clear the fogged up windshield quickly.
Hopefully pulling codes will give you a clue on why it switches out of A/C on it own.
Last edited by ZeeOSix; Dec 31, 2011 at 03:51 AM.
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 14
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When you run the A/C system, the condenser inside the car gets cold and collects all the moisture out of the air - ie, A/C runs when the defroster is on and effectively dehumidifies the air inside the cabin.
Sounds like for some reason your A/C system shuts off, and then what happens is all that captured moisture on the condenser evaporates off suddenly and fogs up the interior. I'm guessing you are running the A/C on "recirculation" mode also? If so, that might make it worse than not.
If it happens again, roll both windows down ASAP and switch to outside air if you're running on recirculation mode with A/C. That should help clear the fogged up windshield quickly.
Hopefully pulling codes will give you a clue on why it switches out of A/C on it own.
Sounds like for some reason your A/C system shuts off, and then what happens is all that captured moisture on the condenser evaporates off suddenly and fogs up the interior. I'm guessing you are running the A/C on "recirculation" mode also? If so, that might make it worse than not.
If it happens again, roll both windows down ASAP and switch to outside air if you're running on recirculation mode with A/C. That should help clear the fogged up windshield quickly.
Hopefully pulling codes will give you a clue on why it switches out of A/C on it own.
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
Sorry to hear your's does that too sometimes. Unfortunately mine just happens under normal driving conditions. It must be fun to drag it though!
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Aug 2011
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There are 5 different codes showing
99VAC B0367H Right Actuator Feedback Open
BORFA U1096H Loss Of Communication With IPC
U1064H Loss Of Communication With BCM
U1016H Loss Of Communication With PCM
58SDM B1001H ( I don't know what this code means)
I don't know if this is relevant to the codes or not but recently I fitted a CLB (Column Lock Bypass) and took out the K Harness that GM had fitted. My car had been drivable with the steering lock on!!! I think I cleared all the codes after I did that. The problem after that was with my alternator and I had a new one fitted.
99VAC B0367H Right Actuator Feedback Open
BORFA U1096H Loss Of Communication With IPC
U1064H Loss Of Communication With BCM
U1016H Loss Of Communication With PCM
58SDM B1001H ( I don't know what this code means)
I don't know if this is relevant to the codes or not but recently I fitted a CLB (Column Lock Bypass) and took out the K Harness that GM had fitted. My car had been drivable with the steering lock on!!! I think I cleared all the codes after I did that. The problem after that was with my alternator and I had a new one fitted.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 19,454
Likes: 1,160
From: Dyer, IN
There are 5 different codes showing
99VAC B0367H Right Actuator Feedback Open
BORFA U1096H Loss Of Communication With IPC
U1064H Loss Of Communication With BCM
U1016H Loss Of Communication With PCM
58SDM B1001H ( I don't know what this code means)
I don't know if this is relevant to the codes or not but recently I fitted a CLB (Column Lock Bypass) and took out the K Harness that GM had fitted. My car had been drivable with the steering lock on!!! I think I cleared all the codes after I did that. The problem after that was with my alternator and I had a new one fitted.
99VAC B0367H Right Actuator Feedback Open
BORFA U1096H Loss Of Communication With IPC
U1064H Loss Of Communication With BCM
U1016H Loss Of Communication With PCM
58SDM B1001H ( I don't know what this code means)
I don't know if this is relevant to the codes or not but recently I fitted a CLB (Column Lock Bypass) and took out the K Harness that GM had fitted. My car had been drivable with the steering lock on!!! I think I cleared all the codes after I did that. The problem after that was with my alternator and I had a new one fitted.
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
I had a look to see if I could spot it and I'm sorry to be such a 'girl' about it, but I couldn't tell which pipe to look at! But I'll take it to a mechanic and tell him what you said and I'm sure he'll know. Fitting a CLB was about the limit of my talent these days and that was only because of the wonderful help from guys from this sight like Chuck who talked me through it.
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
