Def 90 steaming up

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P

pip240457

New Member
Posts
26
Location
Caerphilly South East Wales
Recently bought a 1998 def 90 tdi and I love it ,But ,and there's always a but I suppose,I can't stop it from misting up I've tried all the stuff on the market that you put on your windscreen and no joy at all.I'm thinking there has to be water getting in somewhere but nothing to drastic showing .ANY IDEAS ?????
 
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Does the screen steam up when you put the heater onto screen settings? or when it is parked up overnight?

My dad used to used to cut a spud in half and rub the 'juice' onto the screen then wipe with a dry cloth..... he swore by it. But that was 40 years ago, he is 89 so dont shout at him :) But he did have a leaky 1964 mini van!
 
welcome to Landrover ownership, wait till we get a few icy spells and you're using de-icer on the inside of your screen:p it's great fun!
 
Many thanks for the advice, i'm not very good on the teco side of landy's I just love the look of them ,I will get someone to have a look at that and hope that will sort the problem or I will have to start carying a bag of spuds with me to cut in half.
 
keep an eye on your coolant levels. you may have a leak in the heater matrix (as above). this happened on an old pug of ours, except it ****ed water into the footwells. I managed to bypass the matrix which was great in summer but it was like driving a series in winter! sold it to a polish man in the end (he didn't seem bothered by it) :D

G
 
Try running the heater and fan on full heat for every trip.... it may dry out. To me it seems its water vapour coming in from the heater box.
Get a Haynes manual..... nothing better than fixing something yourself and saving a small fortune and thats part of owning an older Defender.
I hadn't picked up a spanner for 30 years upto 18 months ago when I bought my first 1994 90.... its fun and you will get loads of help on here.
Always try the search first when you get used to how this forum works.... everyone is helpfull...even if they give you a hard time!
 
Unless the heater-box is constantly containing water I would say the matrix has gone, very common on older vehicles but luckily easy enough to fix.

Someone has already said for you to keep an eye on the coolant level, if the matrix is leaking then you will notice a loss of coolant (might be very slow but watch out).
Check the drain on the heater intake hose, if this is blocked then all the water that goes into the heater intake vent will be going straight into the heater box (which it shouldn't).
After that it is a case of cheking the matrix itself but by this stage a Haynes will show you everything a lot better than I can explain in words. If you do need a new matrix then they aren't much money (around £35 brand new) and you will have the job done in a couple of hours. Don't even consider a secondhand heater as who is to say it might not be suffering the same way yours is?

A few years ago I replaced my heater motor and earlier this year replaced the matrix so my heater is in tip top condition and works brilliantly (it's all in the setting up of the control-cables). A couple of months ago I saw that Keith Gott was selling brand-new genuine-parts heater assemblies for only £142 and knowing this price to be a steal I bought one and have tucked it away in the back of the garage for future use, sometimes you just have to buy these items when they are available.
 
Give the windows a good clean with soapy water and vinegar and then smear washing up liquid on them (inside) and let it dry.
they wont mist up again:)
 
Easy one this, come on boys! On the underside of the heater intake chamber - accessed from the engine bay, there is a rubber diaphragm-designed to allow rain water to drain out, they block all the time, either wriggle a screw driver into it or just rip the damned thing out! It could be the matrix-if so you will see coolant leaking out of the bottom of the box, or off the pipes where they rub on the sharp box edges.
Rob
 
robgeev said:
Easy one this, come on boys! On the underside of the heater intake chamber - accessed from the engine bay, there is a rubber diaphragm-designed to allow rain water to drain out, they block all the time, either wriggle a screw driver into it or just rip the damned thing out! It could be the matrix-if so you will see coolant leaking out of the bottom of the box, or off the pipes where they rub on the sharp box edges.
Rob
Click to expand...

Already been there but it would appear that the popular answer is to fix the symptom rather than the problem.:(
 
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