Defogger, couple of questions.... Options

[marco-polo]

this may have been covered in previous posts, ive been searching around and don't know what the problem is..

my defog doesn't work...
the problem is my windshield will get fogged up and the only way to clear the glass is to turn on the a/c...
my rear defog works great without any problems.

also another problem i have is the heater doesn't work either, like i mentioned before my a/c works great, the weather is pretty cold and a heater would be great.

Thanks for any help or recommendations in advance i greatly appreciated....

[GriffGirl]

1) defogger: it's totally typical and normal that the only way to get the defog to work through the vents is to turn on the a/c with the selector on the defog positions. Many cars are like this, and in some newer cars, the a/c comes on automatically when the defog position is selected.

2) heater doesn't work: it's highly likely that your heater core is out, and needs to be replaced. Not such good times, and not really something you should do yourself unless you have a decent degree of mechanical ability.

[marco-polo]

1) thanks, have a better understanding of that.

2) what is the average cost to replace the heater core so i know what i'm getting into and how much money to gather? (if known)

[Bitter]

turn the slider to fresh air, not recirculate.

[GriffGirl]

turn the slider to fresh air, not recirculate.

I've tried that before, and it only makes it worse, but that could be because of the constant rain we get.

[Spider77]

As of now, with the cold morning here, I turn on the heat, and select the defrost, with the air on circulate. It works fine, my windshield defogs. But when the warmer months come by and it drops in temp and rains I have to use the defog option with the A/C as opposed to the heat.

[blu94gt]

Our cars should automatically turn on the a/c when you select defogger, as should pretty much any car made within the past 20-30 years. I don't think the light turns on in the a/c button, but it's on. The a/c removes humidity from the air, which is why the windshield defogs. And on any car, defogger works best with the fresh air setting.

As far as yours, it sounds like your heater core is bad, which could be the culprit to both problems. On my Mustang (which are notorious for bad heater cores) when the core went bad, the windshield would stay fogged up, because the car would blow the evaporated coolant onto the windshield, basically re-fogging it as it worked. Cost to fix is probably about $200-300 with labor.

[GriffGirl]

Our cars should automatically turn on the a/c when you select defogger, as should pretty much any car made within the past 20-30 years. I don't think the light turns on in the a/c button, but it's on.

That's not true though; on our cars, at least with the '94 model, probably '95 model too, the a/c doesn't come on automatically when you turn it on defog. You can feel the difference in the way the car runs when the a/c compressor is running, I'm 100% sure that the a/c is NOT on automatically when I put it on defog.

I believe the CC changed slightly for the '96+ models though, so perhaps with those models the a/c comes on automatically, I don't know.

[Spider77]

Our cars should automatically turn on the a/c when you select defogger, as should pretty much any car made within the past 20-30 years. I don't think the light turns on in the a/c button, but it's on.

That's not true though; on our cars, at least with the '94 model, probably '95 model too, the a/c doesn't come on automatically when you turn it on defog. You can feel the difference in the way the car runs when the a/c compressor is running, I'm 100% sure that the a/c is NOT on automatically when I put it on defog.

I believe the CC changed slightly for the '96+ models though, so perhaps with those models the a/c comes on automatically, I don't know.

I'd have to say x2 on that. I think I know when my A/C kicks on

[Spider77]

Ok, so i actually took this from my owners manual. So there it is, step by step instructions on how to defog/defrost windshield.
Sorry about the pics being a bit blurry, cam phone.

This post has been edited by Spider77: Feb 7, 2010 - 12:50 PM

[Bitter]

turn the slider to fresh air, not recirculate.

I've tried that before, and it only makes it worse, but that could be because of the constant rain we get.

that could be the case, here in the winter recirc makes it worse because the outside air is dryer than the air inside from people breathing.