My '85 vario gets extremely steamy sometimes, usually I have to dry the rear windscreen with a couple of paper towels before I can drive off from outside my house.

When I go on a journey it all clears, but if I leave it locked in a car park for half an hour, the whole thing is steamed up again. Usually, I leave a window ajar and the problem doesn't arise, but that's not always a sensible thing to do.

This doesn't happen on any of my earlier cars. I wonder if it's something to do with the lack of the air-vents behind the rear windows (which disappeared for 84MY onwards). I don't think there's a leak in the car as the carpets aren't damp. Is something blocked maybe?

Advice appreciated!

Water is coming in somewhere, it can be hard to detect.

S10NPH wrote:I wonder if it's something to do with the lack of the air-vents behind the rear windows

Stop wondering, it isn't that.

Damp air inside car. Stop it getting in, or use it more to clear it out (or stick a dehumidifier in the car)

Ok, thanks - that was what I feared but I was hoping for a blocked vent or something easily sorted!

Yup afraid water is getting in My 87 GLT used to leak around the front windscreen seal (only slightly) but enough to cause the same as you're experiencing.

Talc.

Super cheap Econobrand, puff over everything and water runs will carve trails in it.

Look under the boot carpet - is the floor wet?

Any water in the rear lamp cluster lenses?

Any dampness in the rear footwells?

Feel up under the dash at the bottom of the screen pillars where the antenna lead comes down.

Is there an antifreeze smell? - slight leak from heater matrix?

Mac.

Oh! And none of this cheap talc - I use only top of the range Yardley. Tsk, tsk, Chris - wot would Toyota say?

Does more expensive talc increase the talc change service interval? Or am I at risk of damaging my interior with the inferior quality product?

Good question Chris,

Generally you can extend the talc/shower interval to 3 months - but from experience I've run yearly changes (whether I need it or not).
In fact the main benefit is the quality fragrance used in high end products - a greater degree of hygroscopicity will outline minor runlets (those attracted to various versions of builders crack).

I wouldn't say the cheaper products actually damage trim but there are two issues. 1. Difficulty in product removal (use of a wetting agent would be effective - but would negate the anti damp objective). 2. and much more important is the use of cheaper fragrances which leads to potentially serious physical damage. "You've had a floozy in this car" - WHACK!

Go on - you know you're worth it!

Mac.

Hi all.
Floozy in the car
Reminds me of the two blokes in the pub one night.
One says to his mate
" These panties are cutting the arse of me"
His mate says
"Since when did you become a tranny?"
His mate replies
"I had to become one when the wife found a pair of knickers
in the glove compartment of the car"

As we say here in Belfast ITS A CRACKER.
Cheers Mark.

Chris_C wrote: Does more expensive talc increase the talc change service interval?

Yes, look here:


Untitled by macplaxton, on Flickr

"Extra Absorption"

The cheaper brands of talc tend to use a higher concentration of gypsum which is highly soluble in water (submerge a Transit sized lump of gypsum in a river and it will be fully dissolved in less than 18 months). Thus the cheap talc tends to dissolve in both water and water vapour rather than leave water runs. Even a moderately humid day is enough to cause ineffective readings.

No only threadjack but:-

Comprehensive threadjack!

I'm worth it.

V6 Man wrote:(submerge a Transit sized lump of gypsum in a river and it will be fully dissolved in less than 18 months)

Ah, let's attribute that quote ("If you were to place a block of gypsum the size of a transit van in a river, it would dissolve completely within about 18 months.") to the man that made it: Dr Anthony Cooper, principle geologist of the British Geological Survey.

And that observation goes back to 1981. http://bgs.ac.uk/research/engineeringGe ... b2014.html

Therefore to put a figure on it, 1 Transit van = 3m³ approx.

The saga continues - the latest episode in the ongoing V3M soap and talc opera.
"Muddle Earth and the Return of the 300 Hog Rings"

The story so far:-

Lord Siön Syon of Castle Misting on the edge of the fens has been suffering - a spring has appeared in one of his carriages - and witchcraft is suspected.
His wizards, Chrislin Truss of the Southern Island and Mermac the Hirsuit from the Eastern Swamplands were summoned and slaughtered a dyed welsh goat. The entrails were examined but no recourse was found.
The wizards advised the use of arcane and rare "white dust" and ....................a future episode will reveal all.

Two of Lord Siön Syon's champions, Baron Rupert the Waggonmaster and Margraf Plocton of the Bog People began a quest to find a cure but squabbled over the source of clues left by an ancient Stone Seer.

Will Lord Siön Syon go mouldy, or even drown? Will he ever use his carriage again?

Next time in "Muddle Earth".....................................



Now to Jack the Jacked - Siôn, any news ?
Mac.