Hazy vision

S

Saturn Simon

New Member
A bit of a bizzare one this.... but every couple of weeks or so I have to clean a build up of haze on the inside of my windscreen. It's like a very thin greasy film, with a slight blue tinge to it. It makes the screen permently foggy and it means I'm forever cleaning the inside of my windscreen of my 1973 P6B. The demister won't clear it. Having a clean and clear windscreen is one of the few things I'm very anal about, and I've not encountered this in any other car I've owned.

Any ideas why this is happening?
 
Isn't there an effect from welding that causes windows to steam up??
Or did i dream that?
 
Is your anti freeze blue?
If so I reckon you have a seeping heater matrix,and that will be hot water that will steam up the front screen.
Does the demister make it worse,"fog up" for a split second when you turn it on?
Try a bottle of rad weld in the system when at full running temp,and leave it running for 20 mins to circulate.
 
Strange one that. Can't really advise about the residue but Rovers were known to mist up at the best of times, I've found that until the glass has chance to warm up both sides the heater does cause a little misting from the lower part of the screen but normally goes away after a minute or so, that said I live out in the flatlands of Essex/Suffolk so it is quite damp in these parts and it does tend to only happen when I'm parked at home. For instance when I took the car on tour round the Lakes last year it didn't do it at all despite it being considerably colder up there at night.
The only thing I could suggest to look into is that you undo the drivers glovebox and check that the lever for the heater switch is screwed up nice and tight with the heater operating lever so enabling the blower to work at full tilt.
Good luck. :D
 
In my neck of the woods this is known as 'traffic film' and is an oily residue that gathers on the inside of the windscreen and stays until washed away. With modern cars it's said to come from polluted road air, hence the name. I've not checked my engine breather hoses and flame traps, thinking engine block air has enough oil mist in it to enter into the heater box air flow if that system isn't right, but one thing is for sure: my fiancée likes to note the fact that I smell like Rover whenever I've been out and about. My first V8 never had this, but both my two latest ones did. The previous one was terrible, but using the blower as a matter of habit helped against the film (although not against smelling like oil or stale exhaust fumes). I feel it might be a matter of oil seepage in the engine bay, whatever the source may be (steering box or crank pulley or what have you). If you run your blower on low you're likely to keep the film from settling as fast as if you don't. My fusebox is suffering and the blower is dead, so I'm cleaning the inside windscreen every week or so.
 
My rear windscreen has a number of smudges on the inside which resist all attemps to remove them. :evil: Wipe them off and then in a matter of moments they re appear.... :evil:

I don't have issues with a build up of haze appearing on the inside of the front screen, nor have I noticed any unwanted odours inside the car, and certainly no one else has ever commented.

Coolant odour is always detectable inside the car should the heater matrix be leaking as is the smell of petrol from any number of sources should a leak or similar occur.

Anti fog products are available for application on the inside of the windscreen to prevent the accumulation of haze, and these are especially useful during periods of wet weather.

Ron.
 
Thanks guys.:)

Tor said:
In my neck of the woods this is known as 'traffic film' and is an oily residue that gathers on the inside of the windscreen and stays until washed away. With modern cars it's said to come from polluted road air, hence the name. I've not checked my engine breather hoses and flame traps, thinking engine block air has enough oil mist in it to enter into the heater box air flow if that system isn't right, but one thing is for sure: my fiancée likes to note the fact that I smell like Rover whenever I've been out and about. My first V8 never had this, but both my two latest ones did. The previous one was terrible, but using the blower as a matter of habit helped against the film (although not against smelling like oil or stale exhaust fumes). I feel it might be a matter of oil seepage in the engine bay, whatever the source may be (steering box or crank pulley or what have you). If you run your blower on low you're likely to keep the film from settling as fast as if you don't. My fusebox is suffering and the blower is dead, so I'm cleaning the inside windscreen every week or so.
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I think you've hit the nail on the head there. The rocker cover gaskets do leak slightly, and you can smell the oil from inside the car a little, so your explanation does seem the most plausable in my case.
 
Anti fog products are available for application on the inside of the windscreen to prevent the accumulation of haze, and these are especially useful during periods of wet weather.
Click to expand...
You could consider looking into some of the products used to stop motorcycle visors misting up, I've used quite a few of them and although mostly useless on my crash helmet (My other half said I should stop breathing so much :LOL: )they seem to be quite good for windscreens.
 
Our climate is cold and often very, very rainy and so it's par for the course to try any number of anti-mist products after becoming a car owner... With heavy autumn rains, though, they really aren't of much use in the long run, as what would be mist instead becomes a wavy layer of moisture, with droplets and runs, which is only marginally easier to deal with and disturbs the field of vision almost just as much (I'm fussy about having a clear windscreen, mind). They can help for a while, of course, but if you're out shopping and have a start-stop, in-out of car situation nothing really helps but having the blower on fast.

Often, like what restojon describes, after stopping the car on a dank day and restarting it a few minutes later, the blower will send sheets of mist across the windscreen that take a while to go away as the screen has cooled during that time.

I do think fluid seepage, whether oil or coolant, will create film on the screen, with petroleum-based products heated to 85-100 degrees C and air being constantly sent rearward. Would be interested to know if an anti-mist product would help against it forming at all...

Ron, have you tried polishing the glass or any strong cleaning agents?
 
Tor wrote,...
Ron, have you tried polishing the glass or any strong cleaning agents?
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Hello Tor,

I have been using methylated spirits, and although it cleans it initially, the haze then returns... :evil: To say that it is annoying is an understatement. I'll have to try something else,..hmmm. Luckily the smudges are not across the centre of the screen, rather near the edges, mainly on the sides and down the bottom of the rear screen.

Ron.
 
Hi Ron,

My last car had the shadow of a once-removed dealership sticker at the bottom centre of the rear screen, but I never got around to doing anything about it. I would think there was adhesive left in the pores of the glass, and I'd have tried a gentle abrasive such as glass polish to take it out.

Regards,

Tor
 
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