[eolon]

My wife's 2014 Volt has a habit recently of routinely fogging up the windshield as soon as she starts the car. This is annoying. She turns on the windshield de-fogger, which blows cold air and usually clears it up. But, cold air.

With winter approaching, I anticipate that this issue will only get worse. I checked the heater this morning, and it works as it should, even on battery power the heat comes on and maintains the setting, etc. This is in Comfort Mode.

But the fogging issue remains. The only thing I can think of was to ask my wife to remote start/pre-condition the car 15-20 min, before she gets in the car, maybe that will fix the fogging issue. Worth a try, I guess.

Anyone have similar problems?

Thanks, and
Best Regards,

e

 

[v8318cid]

Take this as a shot in the dark, but from the sounds of it, you seem to be fighting either elevated humidity, or (more likely, in my opinion) you have some condensation that isn't draining fully from the HVAC box that is being blown across the windshield on initial startup. If I am properly tracking what you're saying, the HVAC does eventually clear this fogging once the A/C reaches full operation (usually a few seconds to a few minutes depending on climate, and level of refrigerant charge). The more drastic possibility, although rather remote given it appears to not be common, is a leaking heater core. This, however, would likely result in much more difficulty in drying the windshield, not to mention there would probably be a hazy film left on the inside of the glass if this was the case. If you don't get a better suggestion in the mean time, consider parking the car with the front end at a decline so that any moisture that accumulated has a better chance of draining.

 

[mpmoore1979]

Sounds like a moisture issue from the evaporator core inside the heater box. If the heater core was leaking, you would have some fluid left behind where you parked or even have a sweet smell inside the car. You can try this, take the car to your local dealership (they do not have to be Volt cert to perform this) and have them enable the after blow function for the hvac system. This will turn on the blower motor for a few seconds and cycle on and off for about 1 hour after you turn the car off. This will help remove the moisture from the evaporator core and even help with any musty odor you may get in the summer time. This is a simple task performed by the dealership, they use there scan tool to enable a program that is already loaded in to the system. I would think that a 1/2 hour of labor time would be the proper charge since it would only about 5 minutes to perform this task.

 

[eolon]

Thanks, folks - good suggestions. I will take it to the dealer and mention mpmoore's advice. I don't think it is a leaking heater core - I know what that looks like (and smells like), so I suspect leftover moisture in the system somewhere.

Best Regards,

e

 

[Dutch]

Within a certain temperature/humidity range I have a similar issue with OHM-RIDE.
My personal resolution to it has been to set the airflow to defog/floor and manually set the fan at 4.
Just the increased airflow seems to resolve it for me.

 

[lagagnon]

We are experiencing the same problem with our Volt, but only now that the morning temps are about 10deg C or slightly lower and there is now more moisture in the air from recent rains. I doubt this is a leaking core problem. I have had it in a couple of other vehicles in this climate, but not in others. Not certain why. As "Dutch" says above we are having to do something similar to clear the fog.

Annoying - but not sure if there are any other solutions...

 

[canehdian]

Few comments

1) Clean the glass thoroughly. You'd be amazed how much invisible crap builds up over time. Anything on the surface of the glass will promote condensation faster. The windshield fogs noticeably less after you've cleaned the glass.
2) Don't turn on the HVAC unless you want heat, it's only going to make it worse until the heat and/or AC kick in.
For light fogging, cracking the windows (literally just a crack) is often enough airflow to keep it at bay.
As soon as the HVAC fan kicks in, it stirs up the air and speeds up the condensation process unless there is heat and/or AC to be evaporating that moisture.
3) Dry out the cabin.
If you have carpet mats, switch to rubber for the winter.
4) If it's still happening every morning, get in the habit of hitting remote start a minute (you'll want more in winter when it's heating time ) before getting in the car - it will get things going and you won't have to deal with the phase when it gets worse before it gets better.

 

[JoeReal]

Before you turn off your car, make sure that you
Set cabin temp to 75 deg F, the HVAC is at front shield defrost, and the setting is Max, not eco.

Then turn off the car. Precondition it before you get in it in the morning.

 

[Bob_Livonia]

Do you have automatic dehumidification set on in the vehicle settings? While it may sound counter-intuitive, leaving the A/C enabled continuously will pull moisture out of the car. If you run the A/C only occasionally (it uses a reheat system), the moisture pulled out in the evaporator will get back into the cabin when the A/C's not running. When the temperature quickly drops from cold and rainy to below freezing locking out compressor operation, this was when fogging most often occurred for me.

 

[ClarksonCote]

Making sure that auto recirculating air is turned off (i.e. that button should be blue on the climate screen) can do a world of good in minimizing fog issues. It was an ?ah-ha? moment for many of us several years ago when everyone was frustrated with fogging.

 

[2VoltFamily]

My wife's 2014 Volt has a habit recently of routinely fogging up the windshield as soon as she starts the car. This is annoying. She turns on the windshield de-fogger, which blows cold air and usually clears it up. But, cold air.

Yes. Gen 1 Volts are notorious for windshield fog especially if "recirculate" is set rather than outside air.

And yes, as with any car including the ones that are ICE only the "Defog" setting will blow cold air until the car warms up. On Gen 1 put the Temp to "HI" and setting to Comfort. In a few minutes the defog vents will blow hot air.

You can precondition the cabin if you want immediate warm air. Just make sure the settings are Temp on "HI" and Comfort with blower on defog.

Also go a google search on cleaning your inside windows with shaving cream.

 

[PrivatePilot]

Making sure that auto recirculating air is turned off (i.e. that button should be blue on the climate screen) can do a world of good in minimizing fog issues. It was an ?ah-ha? moment for many of us several years ago when everyone was frustrated with fogging.

We started having fogging issues with our 2012 when the weather started cooling down a few weeks ago here as well, and this was the exact culprit. I had set the recirculate option to "auto" for the summer and with the change of weather the car was opting to remain in recirculate mode to the point where it would fog all the interior windows. Turning the option off coupled with a little bit of fan speed completely solved the issue for us.

 

[eolon]

Aha! Ours is set to "auto" recirculate, so I bet that is the problem. I am going to turn it off and set fan speed at 3-4.
Best Regards,
e

 

[hellsop]

I had set the recirculate option to "auto" for the summer and with the change of weather the car was opting to remain in recirculate mode to the point where it would fog all the interior windows. Turning the option off coupled with a little bit of fan speed completely solved the issue for us.

Seems to work correctly for me, but I've got not only auto-recirc but also auto-defog set. Windscreen might get a little misty for the first 10-20 seconds after starting up in an outside-cold car but it's clearing by the time I'm done fussing with seatbelt, coffee, getting Waze up, phone in its bracket, etc.

 

[Upper5Percent]

My wife's 2014 Volt has a habit recently of routinely fogging up the windshield as soon as she starts the car. This is annoying. She turns on the windshield de-fogger, which blows cold air and usually clears it up. But, cold air.

With winter approaching, I anticipate that this issue will only get worse. I checked the heater this morning, and it works as it should, even on battery power the heat comes on and maintains the setting, etc. This is in Comfort Mode.

But the fogging issue remains. The only thing I can think of was to ask my wife to remote start/pre-condition the car 15-20 min, before she gets in the car, maybe that will fix the fogging issue. Worth a try, I guess.

Anyone have similar problems?

Thanks, and
Best Regards,

e

Either of you smokers?

 

[Loboc]

My 2013 would fog the windows in winter. Setting the fan speed manually usually minimized the time to clear. HVAC was pretty lame in this car.

The 2014 ELR is WAY better. It will fog the windshield for a few seconds and immediately clear. My settings are auto|74F|comfort. I don't have to mess with the HVAC much in the ELR. I do hit the recirc button if I'm behind a coal-roller. I also hit the pre-condition if the temp is outside of 70F-78F range. Which is most of the time in Texas.

Cleaning the inside of the windshield should be at least a monthly practice. This helps more than anything. I use Invisible Glass cleaner which leaves an anti-fog coating.

 

[2VoltFamily]

HVAC was pretty lame in this car.

My wife and kids would agree, however I think it has to do with many of us being to conservative on using the HVAC. If I want to in the winter I can get it quite toasty in the cabin. Of course that comes at a cost. In the Gen 1 Comfort-HI-ReCirc-FaceVents are the key to getting warm air circulating to the rear. In the Summer same settings except change HI to somewhere in the 68-74 setting.

I tend not to use the heat as much in the winter but the wife and kids do mainly because they do not dress appropriately for winter weather. I rarely use heated seats but they use them on high setting all the time. I think you could fry an egg on it.

So the biggest problem I see in the Gen 1 is getting heat and cooling to the rear seats without using just the facevents. Would be nice if there was an aftermarket product to attach and get the flow of air to the rear. But that is really it as long as you are willing to put the temp settings on HI you should be warm.

 

[Coppersnowboarder]

If you are parking inside a garage, you could try installing a dehumidifier. However, it will probably burn as much electricity as your Volt each month. If the fog is really irritating, pre-heat the windshield before you roll out of the barn. You are dealing with a Volt, so the heating system is pretty much worthless. A Prius will provide you with an economical ride with sufficient cabin heat if you ever dump the Volt. Compare the lifetime operational costs of the two models on the Department of Energy website. I think that you will find the cost lines, depending on your usage pattern for any vehicle, meet at the lowest cost level of any vehicles. https://www.afdc.energy.gov/calc/

 

[Dutch]

You are dealing with a Volt, so the heating system is pretty much worthless.

LOL... come sit in my Volt with everything on max heat anytime. I'll set a stopwatch and we can see how long you can stand it.

 

[wizard_of-ahs]

Ditto for mine...the heater will run you out in about 3 minutes or less