My daughter has had a 2nd hand 1998 Fiesta Finess for 4 months that had what her boyfriend considered to be "a lot" of condensation dripping from the sunroof & rear screen (when compared to the new car, same model he had). Any suggestions how she can cure / prevent this ?
Also, she has a cut in the drivers seat, near the seat adjuster that he also had in his (which Ford's repaired for him under warrenty). Hers is outside dealer's 3 month warrenty, could we get them to repair the seat, by claiming it is a "known" problem area ?
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If you don't get any techie answers about the condensation, she could help the problem by getting a plastic box full of crystals that absorb the humidity. I can't think what they're called, but I bet you can get them at Lakeland or from Kleeneze. Keep it on the parcel shelf and it should help. (well it worked in my Mum's old 206)
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If you find water in the car, then it must be leaking in. Ford issued a tech service bulletin number 78/1999, covering all posible leak areas. Some can only be cured by dash removal, but you can save yourself a lot of money by seeing if you can find the leak first. Here is what ford have listed:-
Heater box to bulkhead
Pollen filter to BH
Wiring harness grommet to BH
Brake booster bracket to BH
Front wheel housing body seam
Cowl top panel to A pillar
Reinforcing panel to BH
Clutch master cylinder to BH
Speedo drive grommet
Rear luggage compartment seal
Grommet to rear number plate
Grommet to rear tailgate harness
Rear wiper spindle
Front door internal membrane
Door mirror seals (outer can slip)
That should keep you going for the weekend!
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jim page wrote:
>
> My daughter has had a 2nd hand 1998 Fiesta Finess for 4
> months that had what her boyfriend considered to be "a lot"
> of condensation dripping from the sunroof & rear screen
No, I can't say it.
I'll leave it to someone else!
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Many materials will absorb moisture, including silica, activated alumina, XH9 etc.
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The crystals are silica gel though they may have some trade name as well
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I don't mean to be pedantic but the material used to absorb the excess humidity is anhydrous calcium chloride and not silica gel.
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Lets discount the heavy breathing..
'
A well known problem with the 'new Fiesta' is that the rubber grommit seal around the cable entry thro the bulk head into the passenger compartment is on a horizontal surface that fills up with water when it rains. If the grommit is not a perfect fit water flows thro under the carpet on the passenger side filling up the footwell. However until there is several cms of water it does not become visible. My advice is take out the carpet on the passenger front side and see if this is the source. You can look from above with the bonnet open but
In my case a very liberal application of silcon sealant from a cartridge skeleton gun solved the problem and condensation problems disappeared along with the rotting sound insulation that was removed.
I suspect that there are other known leak spots but this one is a disaster waiting to happen. I can think of lots of ways this problem should have been engineered out at the design stage
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In my experience a car with excess condensation either has a water leak, has water spilt inside (even water on the mats from wet wellingtons can do it) or a leaking heater matrix.
Oh yes also a blocked pollen filter or heating set to re-circulate.
David
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Simple question?
Assuming that you have got rid of the source of water leak. To get rid of the condensation is it better to heat the interior up as much as possible whilst driving? Doesnt this result in the air being able to hold even greater quantities of moisture vapour content ( ie adding breath expired moisture and sweat to the existing water vapour in the air). When the exterior cools down you then have an even greater problem with water condensing out on the windows.
Is it not better to heat the car up with fresh air and then for the last 10 minutes of driving (assuming it is not humid or raining) open all the windows & sun roof and then close the windows before leaving overnight.
This is a serious question because SWMBO is upset that the 3 car garage is full of my unfinished projects and convertible and the cars cannot be put to bed and kept dry. Ice on the inside of the screen at 07.30 does not make me popular.
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Peter wrote
"I suspect that there are other known leak spots but this one is a disaster waiting to happen. I can think of lots of ways this problem should have been engineered out at the design stage."
Two problems with this statement "engineer" and "design" :0)
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Peter
When I used to park my car outside overnight during the winter, I found that closing the air vents prevented ice on the inside of the screen.
Hope this helps
Yours
Andy
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This is a known fault on Fiestas' ( check out the car by car breakdown on this site ).
My cousin has an R reg Fiesta and it leaks water like a sponge. She has to dry the boot carpet out every week and the un-sealed front vent system leaks like a trojan too. It's supposed to have been fixed once but it still leaks ! She is having another go at it in a weeks time, the dealer said that it takes a day to take the dashboard out, another day to fix the leak, and another day to put it all back together again. Cost : About £400.
My uncle has a W reg Fiesta. it doesn't leak at all ! He said that his local dealer told him that if it doesn't leak, then there's a good chance that it never will. But, if it leaks, it's a nightmare to fix properly.
It seems strange that the Mk3 fiesta didn't leak, and the 'New' model does. Backward step i say.
Rgds,
Ash.
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See my previous post on the leak at the front.
Silicone sealant works wonders but god help anyone who then has to take the rubber grommit out!
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Peter has got it spot on about the water leaking through the rubber grommets on the MK4 Fiesta. I have had the 'pleasure' of sourcing this problem a couple of years back when I worked in a bodyshop and we had to have the whole dashboard, seats and carpets out in order to find the problem. The removal of this interior trim did take two of us about a few hours or so, but as for a day to take it out is a bit over the top. Another problem area that we found although it was only a very minor leak was that some of the factory seam seals were not 100% effective. But these only leaked with a large amount of water being poured over them in excess of what you would normally expect to get within the engine compartment area.
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