Defroster mod. Warm airflow mods & Clingfilm tip.

To use the defroster mod for clearing ice off the rear windscreen, you will probably have already fitted the 'Airscarf mod'. Although, it could just be a stand alone, safety mod for melting winter ice to improve vision if required. This mod will also remove condensation and, if positioned to do so, will dry damp carpets with ease.

Personally, I have added an additional air pipe, to one of the drivers side footwell heater outlets, for this extra safety function. The extra air-pipe can be seen in the final pic below entitled 'airscarf away'. With a third hot air-pipe I am able to use the airscarf feature and defrost the rear screen at the same time.









Pull the airscarf from one of the seats and point it at the back windscreen. A three second job. Start the car - heater on.


Before defrosting the rear screen it looked like this.




After defrosting for 5 minutes, visibility is much improved.




Before defrosting.


After defrosting.


Before defrosting.


After defrosting.


Air blows through the airscarf and to the front screen at the same time.


Airscarf deployed.


Airscarf away.


5 minutes later, visibility is drastically increased improving safety and, for those of us insane enough, the screen is supple and ready for the roof to be folded down with less chance of damaging the previously cold, brittle plastic.

Alternatively, just drive your journey with the air hose positioned at the rear windscreen and it will be ice and mist free constantly.

Another great tip originally provided by Broon and revived by PQD44 is the clingfilm tip that stops your rear screen totally freezing overnight -



Put two strips of clingfilm over the rear screen, tuck it in at the sides.




Midnight, it's starting to freeze.






Minus -6c degrees in the morning. Let's see if this tip worked.








It did a great job. Excellent in fact. :broon:



Bonus air mods.
If you can think of a function in your car where warm air is beneficial, then this mod is a bonus. For example;- Ever had to slipstream a lorry for wet slush to clear your screen because of frozen water in your washer bottle? Ice in the window washer bottle could be melted using this mod with a smaller bore of air-pipe or hose. That same warm air could unfreeze pipes and jetwash nozzles too.



















If you use your car through the winter, it may also be worth adding this additional mod to keep your water from freezing;-

Heated Windscreen Washers - Warming the washer pipes to prevent ice build up.

Another way of doing the coolant defroster is to wind the squirter pipe around the radiator inlet pipe. The radiated heat warms up the coolant.

Update 17/01/12 -

The washer 'airhose' mod kept things liquid up to minus -3c. At minus -6c the liquid froze overnight in the jetwash nozzles.

However, the washer bottle water thawed out after an hour of using the car, no doubt due to the warm air coming from the airhose, and the washers were then back in use again. :broon:

so far I have bunged in a fan heater for 10 mins, no snow no ice, but if in a hurry to go, warm water and the darned scraper, so we wait 10 mins...

It's too early for winter chats Ken. But, having used these mods daily in the cold spell, I can say that they really do work. The clingfilm tip is pretty amazing. Especially after completing a night shift and just wanting to go home and hit the sack. :broon:

Nice one but the quickest method is to drop the top.

talkingcars wrote: Nice one but the quickest method is to drop the top.

Perhaps.. But this method works with all cars. Although we hopefully won't need it at this time of year, and if Cobber ever needs it down under, the world will be in big trouble. :lol:

talkingcars wrote: Nice one but the quickest method is to drop the top.

That's one sure way to crack the plastic rear screen I know I have seen it done NEVER drop the hood if it is that cold

helsbyman wrote:

talkingcars wrote: Nice one but the quickest method is to drop the top.

That's one sure way to crack the plastic rear screen I know I have seen it done NEVER drop the hood if it is that cold

When I had a plastic screen I would release the front catches, lift the hood slightly, make sure there were no creases in the plastic and fold the hood gently.
If there was snow on it I'd brush that off first.
I did it at 5.30 in the morning almost daily in mid winter.
Keeping the plastic suable helps but this was on a 12 year old car.

I then fitted a glass screened hood so it's even easier but the plastic screen has gone on to live on my 1.8i, the one I got with a split screen and a tree growing on the rear shelf.

In summary, keep the screen in good condition and ALWAYS fold carefully.

Leigh Ping wrote: if Cobber ever needs it down under, the world will be in big trouble. :lol:

I'm based in the south of the country, you might find it a bit hard to believe but we do get frosts and iced up windscreens over winter.
Although what we call a cold dark night would probably be a nice bright sunny day for you lot! :bust:

In 1976 I flew out to Australia to stay with a school friend who had moved back there a couple of years earlier.

He lived in Melbourne but while there we took a 3 week trip up to Canberra, on the way back we endured so really bad weather including snow and the main road being closed just behind us due to it being flooded.