Demisting in old vehicles!

There are magic sprays & coatings, but IME they're nought better than snake oil. Keeping the screen clean appears to help - smokers have an ongoing task here.

FWIW: we used a hairdryer plugged into an inverter for a brief while till we got round to fixing the prob - directable heat not dependent on engine temp is a boon on icy mornings :)

cooling

mist-begone

Well there is that stuff motorcyclists spray inside their goggle to stop them misting, and it does actually work. Mind 'when I were a lad' it was a spot of spittle in the goggles and rub it round and that also (oddly) seems to work)

AWEM

Hmm, fixing the prob is the problem, my current choices appear to be;

• moving to a hotter part of the world * waiting for summer

Basically everything is working as it was designed to work, i.e. not that well. We are talking the military after all, being able to see where you are going is optional.

Hopefully someone will be able to tell me about some kind of screen wipe made with a goat's liver soaked in washing up liquid and shampoo dried in the outlet of an aircon unit after being liberally salted and sprinkled with vinegar, or something like that.

The spray sounds interesting, I'm not sure if I have enough spittle to do an entire car windscreen, perhaps I should find some ramblers and ask them to help..

Yes - it does, but needs reapplying often - too often to be a better solution than cleaning the thing every day, or so it seems to me.

indeed :)

didn't like the hairdryer plan?

ahh yes - but you need the light of a full moon and access to a plentiful supply of sacrificial virgins - not sure about where you live, but round here I think I'd luck out on that :)

A friend of mine years ago had same problem in an old landy, he solved it by fitting a heat exchanger in the exhaust system ( from a VW beetle I think) so within a min or so of engine starting up there was hot air from the blowers Not the easiest of jobs, but not the hardest I have ever undertaken on a landy

What I found worked on my old series was.....

And you were very close with the goat's kidney soaked in Washing up liquied, Just leave the goat's bits and pieces out of the equation.

Put some neat washing up liquid onto a paper towel and rub over the inside of the glass. At first it will look a mess and will then clear. The effect will be to keep all that nasty condesation away for about a week, and then you'll have to do it again. As a bonus it will be clean as well....

Regards

I'd feel a bit of a gimp sitting in my rufty-tufty war wagon brandishing a hairdryer..

Naah, really it's more to do with the hassle of it, it's easier to just whack open the windows or squeegee off the moisture, even with the hairdryer method the mist will come back after a short while as I'm driving. The squeegee will get it clear quickly, and I think the open windows will stop the mist from reforming. I tend to assume I'm going to be sat around waiting for the breakdown services so I tend to dress appropriately ;-)

I was hoping there was a better way than the above, trying to wave a hairdryer around while driving isn't too appealing ;-)

Well, if I had a ready supply of virgins willing to be sacrificed, I wouldn't give a toss about my bloody windscreen!! I doubt very much that they would help prevent the truck misting up ;-)

Alas this isn't a landy I'm talking about, it's the Pinzgauer, and it already has such a device as it's an air-cooled engine. Perhaps I should fit two of them...

There's a proper place and fittings on the truck for an Eberwhatsit, perhaps I'll go totally over the top and get one of those ;-)

OK, now I have to find something else to do with the goat's bits.

I'll have a go at that, nothing to lose I suppose, and a nice cheap method ;-) Thanks for that.

On a similar vein, I find that the best way to clean water off glass without smearing is to get crumpled up balls of newspaper and use them to buff the glass, turning the ball every now and again. First few rubs look bad but it soon sorts itself out.

On or around Thu, 23 Nov 2006 17:14:52 +0000, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

ain't the Pinzi air-cooled? just duct some air from around the engine somewhere...

On or around Thu, 23 Nov 2006 17:37:30 -0000, "Smurf" enlightened us thusly:

now that's a fecking good idea. The series III heater is not great shakes, adding a heat exchanger on the exhaust would supply additional warmth.

|| If anyone's going to know this, it's you lot ;-) || || What's the best way to demist in an older vehicle? If heat's not || readily available, opening all the windows and blasting cold air at || the screen seems to help, as the mist appears to be moist air cooling || so that the water condenses, so keeping it moving is an idea. || || Is there a better way, or has technology come up with a mist-begone || spray or similar, or did they all just get new cars ;-)

a) clean inside of screen so that it squeaks - this will reduce the misting but not eliminate it. b) don't then go wiping your mucky paws over it to clear the glass! c) anti-mist sprays used by motorcyclists need re-applying every day IME. d) spit really does work (even on the inside of a diving mask after rinsing in sea water) but quantity is an issue. e) I have seen advertised (in the IAM magazine, though never in an LR comic) a small 12v heater that sits on the dash and directs warm air to the screen. I imagine this would work well and be an easy and permanent fix.

I can dig an old magazine out if required, although I usually throw them away after I have finished laughing at the readers' letters.

That should work, providing the liver's still warm. I used to have a small Calor heater with a bottle in the back, lit before breakfast, windows clear and vehicle nice and warm when it's time to go.

Martin

I had one of those little 12v ceramic heaters, what a waste of money, nowhere near warm enough to demist. Richard

"Richard Brookman" wrote >

Not being sarcastic, but a decent leather works for me!!!

Me too, it came with an old 2CV I once owned. [1] It was only good at warming you if you stuck it inside your overalls, and then I bet you could get a better result with an extra woolly pully and hat!

WRT screens, a little neat Fairy liquid is good, it works by reducing surface tension so droplets can't form - I guess you would have to clean and re-do quite regularly.

[1] The previous owner had fitted a galvanised chassis to it. Does anyone make them for old Disco's?

Julian.

It's got a heat exchanger on the exhaust that heats fresh air coming in, the air ducted through the engine tends to stink a bit and can get a bit exhaust-gassy.