Alright guys, here's my situation... let me know if anyone else has run into this problem. I live in Massachusetts, that last few weeks there has been a couple of extremely hot humid days... when I let the vents run, whether it warm or cold (there is no issue when the A/C is on though), there is a ton of moisture that gets into the cabin. It gets so bad, I can see and feel condensation on the vent grills and on the back of the blinker rod. There's also been several times where there has been so much condensation on the inside, the windows have fogged up to the point I can't see out any of them.

Has anyone had similar problems? And does anyone have any ideas on how I can fix this because I obviously don't like driving with the A/C on the whole time.

 

Leave the AC on and use the little wheelie-dealies with the red and blue dots to adjust temperature. Seriously, you want to keep the cockpit dry. The AC removes moisture from the air. The ductwork can get a really rank musty smell if you let moisture linger in there. Mildew and mold and fungus nasty spore stuff. Run the AC or the heater/defroster to keep things clean and dry. Once that stuff starts growing in there it's hell to get it out !

Slim

 

I know exactly what you are describing. My '04 seems to bring in the outside humidity to a point where the windows fog up a bit if I don't have AC on and have outside air coming in. With high outside humidity I don't really think it's that unusual and just run the AC and adjust the temp controls as needed.

 

Yeah, but yours is caused by hauling around a gigantic cooler full of beer and ice - (j/k).

 

LOL ... Hope you all had a cold one. The Crossfire was engineered for that cooler. It fit perfectly.

 

Also...after turning the A/C and the car off hit the "recirc" button under the A/C button, this will run the A/C for 15 mins and will help cut down on the moisture and smell. Here in Central Virginia we have had a string (2 weeks) of 100+ degree days, no moisture or smell in my Roadster Limited.

 

Your best bet is to run the A/C and use the temperature control ***** to make the cabin comfortable. Also, make sure the recirculation is off. You want fresh air coming in. Also, as stated above, after you shut the car off, use the REST function (it is activated by pressing the recirc button) which will run the blower for 10-15 minutes and keep you duct work nice and dry.

 

As others have said, the A/C de-humifies the air. The idea is to keep humid air from outside from coming in. So, as they said, run the A/C just for a minute with the "fresh air" option once you get in a hot car, then immediately switch to "re-circulation" mode. The air inside the cabin has already been de-humidified and the dry air will then be recirculated/cooled. With a cabin interior the size of a chest freezer, just a couple of minutes should do at high fan speed. Then recirculate the dried air.

 

Actually the owner's manual says to do just the opposite. Their suggested procedure is this:

(I'm doing this from memory, so be nice).

1. Open windows.

2. Turn A/C on High with recirulate on.

3. When air coming out of the vents is cool, close windows.

4. When cabin cools down, lower fan speed and switch to fresh air.

 

Here is some info from page 126 of the owners' manual.

 

If I recall the owners manual states that the recirculate mode automatically turns on for 30 minutes when using the air conditioning whether you turn it on or not and you can't put on the fresh air til the 30 minutes has passed. If you turn on and off the recirculation button w/ac you will hear no sound difference in the fan but if you turn the ac button off and switch on and off the recirculation button you will hear a difference in the fan sound.

 

Well, I can't speak from experience with the crossfire, but I have had a "moisture" problem with another car before. I had a Dodge Neon SRT-4 with a sunroof. Well stupid me leaves the sunroof open and forgets to close it before a nasty thunderstorm. Well, needless to say I had about an inch of water in the bottom of the car,and the seats were soaked. I sucked out all the water I could with the shop vac. I then closed the car up, turned the AC on to Re-Circulate, and turned the temperature **** to full heat with it blowing out of the dash and floor vents. Well, after about an hour, the seats were dry enough to drive the car, and after 2 hours the car was completely dry. You should have seen the water dripping out of the evaporator/drier. It was impressive. Never had any odor or mold problems after that either.

 

Sorry, but that doesn't sound right. Can you reference that?

 

Maybe I didn't explain this very well but this is from the owners manual. This is with the AC on.

"At high outside temperatures, the system automatically
engages the recirculated air mode for approximately 30
minutes, thereby increasing the cooling capacity performance.
Press the recirculation button again to extend the

recirculated air mode." If you try to turn off the recirculation
within this 30 minute time it won't turn off as long as the AC button is on.

 

I need some clarification here. Is the upper left corner red led on button lit when you are in circulation mode or when you are on fresh air ? I know when the car is off and you press the button it sets the "rest"mode and the light in the lower right hand corner lights an the fan runs 15 minutes.

 

Seems like a lot of conflicting opinions on what to do... haha. Thanks for the info though guys, I'll try a couple of things listed and see how it's works out.

 

When the upper left is lit you are in recirculation mode.

 

Thanks for the clarification.
I have been using it correctly all along then.

 

Do you also have a problem with condensation when the outside air is cooler and your windows are closed?

If so, you may have the same problem I have in which the return spring for the fresh air/recirculated air door has come adrift and the door is left stuck in the recirculate position.

Because a proper fix would require removal of the heater core and AC evaporator just to re-anchor the free end of the return spring, I ended up moving the door to the fresh air position and disconnecting the vacuum actuator to prevent the door returning to the recirculation position.

- Bill

 

Are you sure you have a problem with ac/recirculation door? If you read the owners manual for the recirculation setting it explains that it stays on for 30 minutes before turning to outside air as per previous post by me.