Windscreen fogging up

[GMBanisher]

Hi guys, found a problem, seems fine until ,I run the heater and then I get a coolant smell inside the car and the windscreen fogs up, I;m thinking it could be a heater core, but I hope not..

Any help wpould be much appreciated..

Cheers

[commodore king]

yeah it sounds like the heater core have you checked the floor to see if its wet ?

[Ozzie]

I had the same smell for about two weeks after I got my VT, It was winter so I always used the heater. The smell just went away and I used anti-fog for the windscreen.

[Ozzie]

could also be too rich of a coolant mixture

[GMBanisher]

mk, floor never gets wet, coolant shouldn't be to strong as if it's a 12 litre system, the mix I bought was a 50/50 and I've put in just under 5 litres of coolant..

I'm hoping that maybe it'll just fix itself as Ozzie_vt's did, see how it goes I suppose.

If it is the heater core how big of a job is it?

[borrell]

The whole dash needs to come out I think I've got the same problem, heater doesn't produce any heat at all, but I'm procrastinating and trying to put it off until next winter

[GMBanisher]

oh my heater works great, I don't have any wet floor, and the fog on the windscreen that I get isn't like normal fog, when I try to wipe it off it seems really greasy and stubborn to get off.

[jav360]

Check the air con drain tube for any blockages, its a rubber tube up on the trans tunnel, can get to it from underneath and poke up a piece of wire like a coathanger.
But sure does sound like heater core, which means dash out.

[pablo]

If you replace the heater core, make sure that it is the later style unit where the in and out pipes are welded on, not bolted on, as it is the seal where they are bolted on that generally lets go. Bloody design fault!

Pablo

[whitey08]

hey i've got what sonds like the same problem just wondering if you've found out what is wrong with it yet and how big a cost it is?

[GMBanisher]

To be honest I haven't looked any further into it, I've been flat out with everything else, I was assuming straight up it was the heater core, talking to a few guys apparently there is a cheating way to do it, meh, I'll probably wait till summers nearly over now, with any luck!!

[Ozzie]

Ok guys... GMBanisher's problem is not his heater core as his heater works fine.
If you would like to know how to replace a heater core then search the JC "How To's".

As for the greasy fog... do you smoke in the car? or did the previous owner smoke in the car? This can cause the greasy film on the inside of the windows.
You should never use polish on the glass but in this case you can make an exception.
Clean the inside of the windows with paper towel and metho/water then rub with polish.
Once polish has been wiped off use "RainX Anti-Fog" on the inside of the windows.

[GMBanisher]

Ok will try this Ozzie, cheers, I'm a non smoker and the car didn't have a smokers smell to it when I purchased it but that's not hard to remove these days..

What sort of polish do you refer to?

[buddah]

Hi guys, found a problem, seems fine until ,I run the heater and then I get a coolant smell inside the car and the windscreen fogs up, I;m thinking it could be a heater core, but I hope not..

Any help wpould be much appreciated..

Cheers

Hi GMBanisher,
When your heater core goes, you definitely know it. You started to smell antifreeze,coolant.

I had exactly the same symptoms as you are experiencing.

And yes it was the heater core unit. The unit was slightly corroded, I was a bit slack adding coolent to my radiator.

The cost:- well it took the mechanic 1 1/2 days to replace the core unit, and it was $890.00.

The mechanic did tell me that it was the first commodore heater unit that he had replaced, and he underquoted.

Here is another poor chap coolant smell

Good luck