My mini-van windows require monthly cleaning on the inside. I don’t notice any anti-freeze odor. Very low mileage suburban driving. Coolant level requires attention maybe 1X year. Any suggestions for some type of stop-leak additive. Years ago I heard that simply adding ground pepper to fluid could plug a leak. Is that something to sneeze at?
Are you losing coolant? If so, it might be the heater core leaking and mucking up your windows. Get it tested and repaired ASAP, that stuff’s not good for you!
If not,
Are you or anyone who drives the van a smoker (a teen-aged kid, perhaps)? Does the van sit outside?
Smoke film gets everywhere - cigarettes and “other”. Most cars also out-gas the solvents used to make the vinyl interior parts. Some out-gas a LOT, for a LONG time.
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Not that unusual if you are picky like me. I wash mine about weekly. Look for an remove any air cleaners if there are any. Those are a big contributor aside form what was already mentioned.
My friend’s new Corolla’s windows get covered with a filmy slime even after a week, really noticeable after a month. It’s the plastics inside the car that are outgassing and condensing on the inside of the window. Even my 26 year old Corolla does this, but not nearly as much as a new one. I expect this is what OP is noticing too, and has nothing to do with coolant leaks. I use Consumer Reports glass cleaner formula, which works pretty good. But that plastic emulsifier stuff is pretty sticky, so even with glass cleaner it takes some patience to get rid of it. I’ve discovered it is faster to use a clean cotton cloth , like an old, laundered and double-rinsed cotton towel, to clean the glass with, rather than paper products.
Interesting because I have yet to find anything that works as fast and effectively as simple crumpled up newsprint. No towel I ever used squeaked when rubbed against the glass with just Windex as a cleaner. Are you including newspaper in your paper products? Have you ever tried it? Just curious.
Only problem I’ve had with newsprint is that on my current cars the ink rubs off on the A-pillar cover (cloth), so I’m back to paper towels. I’ve tried microfiber, but they still leave lint. I’ll give an old cloth towel a try.
Yes I’ve tried it, but for some reason I get ink smears on the window (and my hands) when I use newsprint. If I can find some blank newsprint I’ll give it a try. The cotton towel method doesn’t produce a squeaking sound, but it works pretty well getting the windows clean and without smearing for me. It’s important to double rinse the towels you use for this b/c a single rinse leaves some soap in the towel which will create smears. As an experiment, try comparing a single rinsed vs double rinsed towel on your eyeglasses, you’ll see what I mean. Likewise the towels for this purpose shouldn’t be washed w fabric softener. I’ve seen many recommendations to use newsprint for washing windows before, so it must work, but for some reason not so much when I try it. If I want to get lint-free results I use a product called Kimwipes, which is a lint-free paper towel used in high-tech laboratories here in Silicon Valley.