excess condensation INSIDE cabin? Have you experienced this?

[meerkat]

So now that we are getting into some colder weather...I went out to start my car to go to work yesterday morning, when it was 4celsius, and there was a little bit of ice on my front windshield so I scraped that off, and then found that all the condensation and fog was on the INSIDE of my windshield. I started the engine and put the front heater on, and put it onto the highest setting (4) and it took 14 minutes to clear it. Thats definitely not normal! As I just got my 2011 Mazda3 in June, this is the first time I have experienced this with the colder weather. I have never had rain or any excess water in the car, so it is not wet inside the cabin, so I do not get it. I am going to call this week to have it looked at, but I was just wondering if someone else had this same experience and what they found out the problem to be? It just seems that it is one thing after another with this car...I thought the Mazda 3 was supposed to be a good car! Thats why I bought it, but I have had issue after issue with it and I have only had it for 4 months!!

[aris]

It's normal... Your body heat cause this..

[peterm15]

turn your defrost to a cooler setting, crack both back windows and it will clear up in no time. This is with any vehicle

[KenYork]

When you leave the car for the day, it's probably nice warm and humid inside which leaves it cool and frosty when you get back to it.

[greaves82]

When the inside of the car is warm and the temperature outside starts to drop condensation will form inside the car, and if it gets cold enough frost could form inside.

[Booter22]

this is normal, i have a 2010 and so does my girlfriend and they both do it. make sure to not leave any open liquids in the car as that will contribute to this as well.

[trieub]

14 mins is a long time to clear off condensation. That is literally my trip time to work. Maybe you should get it checked to be safe. I did however noticed in these colder weather conditions that we've been getting, it does take longer to clear the windows but not 14 mins at max fan speed

[Cab0oze]

14 mins is a long time to clear off condensation. That is literally my trip time to work. Maybe you should get it checked to be safe. I did however noticed in these colder weather conditions that we've been getting, it does take longer to clear the windows but not 14 mins at max fan speed

If its really cold, and the engines not warm, and theres a lot of condensation, if you're waiting for it to clear 100% i could see it taking a while. Waiting that long is just bad for the environment though, car heats up faster when its moving.

like others said, 100% normal. My friends audi had a bad case of that last year. Every morning he would have to scrape the inside of his windshield.

[greaves82]

14 mins is a long time to clear off condensation. That is literally my trip time to work. Maybe you should get it checked to be safe. I did however noticed in these colder weather conditions that we've been getting, it does take longer to clear the windows but not 14 mins at max fan speed

If he has the fan at max speed as soon as he started the car, its pretty much doing nothing other then blowing cold air.

[mazdabetty]

I am going to call this week to have it looked at

Yaa... don't do that....... they may or may not laugh at your expense for a while. hahah jk

I started the engine and put the front heater on, and put it onto the highest setting (4) and it took 14 minutes to clear it

Heater? Or defrost? The heater alone will do nothing.

If he has the fan at max speed as soon as he started the car, its pretty much doing nothing other then blowing cold air.

car heats up faster when its moving.

^ This.

[gonzo25]

I would say make sure your matts and such are not soaked...if so let them dry out to cut some moisture out of the cabin

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

Check also to make sure that you don't have your car to the air recirculation setting and that it is being drawn in from the outside. Recirculated air can also cause condensation build-up.

If all else checks out okay, it isn't a bad idea to run the AC for the final 5 minutes or so of your journey before turning your car off. The AC takes moisture out of the air.

BTW- Use the window setting to take condensation away. It also kicks in the AC compressor and removes moisture.

[Brammer]

Condensation is normal.

I have better luck leaving the defrost off until the car has warmed up a bit. Max defrost at start up seems to fog up the windows rather than clear them. The advice about cracking the windows a bit is good too.

[meerkat]

hi all, thanks for your numerous responses and experiences. I still find it very weird that this is considered to be 'normal' because I have never seen it in any car before, and no one else I know -even those with mazda 3's has the same issue, although I do not know anyone with a 2011, only an 08 and an 09. As the weather has not been as cold as it was on Saturday AM, I have not had the same problem again. I will try your suggestions though and hope that they work. I definitely think it is a problem if I am having to scrape the INSIDE of the car window in the morning!

[greaves82]

hi all, thanks for your numerous responses and experiences. I still find it very weird that this is considered to be 'normal' because I have never seen it in any car before, and no one else I know -even those with mazda 3's has the same issue, although I do not know anyone with a 2011, only an 08 and an 09. As the weather has not been as cold as it was on Saturday AM, I have not had the same problem again. I will try your suggestions though and hope that they work. I definitely think it is a problem if I am having to scrape the INSIDE of the car window in the morning!

Dude, its your car. If you think that this is a problem then take it to a mechanic and have it looked at.

[XTOTHEL]

Condensation has to do the relative humidity of the air and the temperature outside. Since it is fall, at night, everything cools down and water condenses to objects (low relative humidity). During the day, the air heats up, condensation/frost you see on grass in the morning melts/evaporates and the relative humidity rises. Then you drive home with this air with higher relative humidity. When you shutdown your car, this air is trapped inside your car. As the temperature cools, the moisture in the air that's trapped inside your car starts to condense. The air trapped in your ventilation system condenses to the walls of the tubing/vents. When you turn your car up in the morning and turn the fan on, you're evaporating this condensation, so the air coming out of your car has a higher relative humidity. But as soon as it hits the window, the moisture condenses on the window (think about having a cold pop out in a room for too long, the inside of the windshield being the pop can) and this is what's happening to your car.