A4 - Defrost in cold weather???

[Stephen Kormilo]

At 05:02 PM 16/02/01 -0500, you wrote:
>From: Scott <Scott at TheHinckleys.com>
>Subject: A4 - Defrost in cold weather???
>
>I have a 1998 A4 2.8Q.
>
>I have been trying to figure out part of the climate control. Under normal
>conditions the compressor (snowflake icon) kicks on most of the time, and
>certainly if I hit defrost.
>I have now been sub-freezing temps a couple of times where the windows
>start to fog like crazy. I switch to defrost, but the compressor does not
>kick on (I assume to prevent it icing over).

I believe the A/C compressor will not turn on below a certain outdoor 
temperature.

>How the heck do you get this car to defog in cold weather?
>In other cars I have had I could simply open the heat all the way & kick in
>the compressor and POOF, no more fog.

The only time that I have had problems with slow window defogging is when 
the engine is cold.  Once the engine warms up, no more fog & I very seldom 
use the defog setting.  Just the normal 'Auto' setting on the climate 
control blows enough air on the windshield to keep it fog-free even in the 
-30C temperatures we have had here recently.

Make sure that your climate control is set to take in fresh air from the 
outside.  The 'recirculation' mode will cause excessive moisture build-up 
inside the cabin and no amount of 'blowing' will keep them fog-free.




Stephen Kormilo                            Silver '98.5 Audi A4 2.8QM
Instructor, Electronics Technology
Red River College
Winnipeg, MB
CANADA

email: skormilo at rrc.mb.ca
OR:    srkormilo at home.com