Have a customer with a very late model Chevy (14 or 15). She has some compound condensing onto her inside glass that Chevy says to clean off with vinegar and water. She wonders what the heck she is breathing. Anyone heard of this? Dancin’ Mechanic
Yes I’ve heard of it and. . it will pass with time.
If it’s a possibilty in her circumstances, have her park it with the windows down a crack and to NOT have the hvac in recirculating mode while parked.
At first I didn’t relate my issues as such, but eventually it’s just that kind of phenomenon which would explain it ;
My new 06 Ford Escape Hybrid had a oddball issue that I’d never seen previously. ( special ordered by me with no time to sit on a lot )
It would frost up the INSIDE of the windows.
Now, I know all of the reasons this could happen, but in this dry southwest I’d never seen it.
So, I dried out the floor mats, told all the drivers to kick snow off their shoes, instructed the other drivers to not park the car with the hvac in recirc mode, put school chalk in many places inside, cleaned the glass with vinegar, . . all of that.
It continued to happen for the next few months . .then stopped.
same car,
same town,
same drivers,
same weather,
it has never happened again in all the years we’ve owned it . . and still have it.
Ken: I think you mean “do not have the hvac in recirculating mode while driving, or at any time” ?
CSA: great find! And very discouraging…
Did you ask if she uses Armor All or similar products on the interior? They can do that.
When buying a new car it’s recommended that you park it with the windows open if possible for the first few months. All cars need to outgas, some more than others.
The ones with the all vinyl upholstery needed it most.
The worst I ever encountered was the Russian Ladas which had plastic interiors made from what seemed like cheap garbage can industrial plastic.
Most all cars are made with lots of plastics. Nearly all plastics out-gas, a lot at first and less as time goes on. Some cars are worse than other but most all do it to some degree.
The film left by that outgassing is very tough to get off the inside of the windows. You might NOT want to use “recirculate” often for that very reason. Those gasses can’t be good for you but they usually will dissipate with time. There is really no stopping it.
If you are afraid of the out-gasses, buy used cars that have “cooked off” a bit.
Maybe I’m the only one that really enjoyed the new car smell. Fords in the 50’s and 60’s used to smell the best.
“Fords in the 50’s and 60’s used to smell the best.”
They had natural plant and animal materials, little plastic.
Maybe not totally healthy, but pretty benign compared to the typical haze of tobacco smoke.
The condensate is the plasticizers in the plastic. When the plastic parts heat up, they put gas more because diffusion Accura faster at a higher temperature. The dashboard gets hotter than anything else if you park facing the sun. The glass doesn’t heat up as much as the dash does because the solar absorbtance is less than the dashboard plastic and the out gassed materials stick to the first thing cool enough to accommodate them: the windshield.
With respect, doc, that isn’t possible above the 43rd parallel all winter or in Chicago, Boston, Miami, NYC, LA, or any other big city… and many small towns. I did see that you said “if possible”… but I wouldn’t recommend it.
It isn’t at all uncommon for new cars to outgas their interior plastics. Some cars tend to outgas more than others, and if there’s a solution I’ve never heard of it. Sorry.
Outgassing is nothing new. That has been going on for decades and I remember reading a bulletin on it back in the 70s. That TSB even back then recommended vinegar and water.
At a dealer that I worked at in the '90’s the detail department applied vinyl dressing to all the new car’s instrument panels. After a month or two during the hot season all the windshields on the new cars were fogged.
I hate it when dealers wipe the interiors down with Armor all or some similar product. I won’t even test drive a car with that crap on the interior.