Fogged Gauges

yes I had the same problem. I park the car in a restored barn ..it has two floors to park cars .. when I park it on the lower level on the concrete and I must add there was a problem with some water coming thru the stone foundation ... but since then I started parking it on the second level and no fogged guages.

Is your garage humid or have a water problem ?? you need to circulate air or put a dehumidifier in the space.

My experience

Ron

Ron,
I live in Georgia where the humidity matches the temp. 95% - 100% is common. Unfortunatley, the garage is not temp or humidity controlled.
Thanks,
Jeff

My oil pressure gauge fogs up a little only when i turn on the air conditioning. Makes sense. Somehow condensation is finding its way into the gauge behind the instrument panel. Loose air conditioning duct? Chuck

Mine fogs at night in Houston where we have the same high humidity / temperature as Atlanta.

Oh heck yeah, if I drive for over an hour I can hardly read the gauges. I would say though, it would seem if you ran the airconditioner it would not do that, but mine isn't working right now so I can't say for sure if that would fix it, but air conditioning is supposed to take humidity out of the air somehow.

Mark,
Tried that years ago on the advice of a vender. It made no difference.
Jeff

You know those little packs of "dessicant" you find inside a box of new electronic gear like cameras, dvd players, computer accessories, etc?

You can purchase a large one designed for cargo containers & keep it in your interior when you're not driving the car. It will suck the moisture from the air inside the passenger compartment.

McMaster - Carr Supply Company part number 2228K6 (about $13) will get you four such bags. 32 of them are enough for a 20 foot cargo container. I'll bet one can handle a Pantera interior.

George

This have been discussed before, but I can't remember if there were a solution.
I believe the cause of the problem is from the heat of the bulb. Hot air absorb more moisture, which condensate on the cooler glass. The problem get bigger with cool air outside the glass.
Maybe try to drive without instrument-lights for a while?
Sorry, I have no solution, and I'm unable to test the theory myself as my P is still quietly in the garage with no engine...

quote:

Originally posted by Mark:
... Now after changing to the new center console I do not have any fogging problems...

Interesting observation Mark. I wonder if the foam material the oem console is made of absorbs moisture?

Drill holes for ventilation at the top, and clost to the guage face. Or better still between the guage face and the glass, and if this is not possible drill holes or make a cutout at the top of the guage face itself.
It should not hurt with the same action at the lower part of the guage.
A lot guages has a slot at the top between the glass and guage face as it is this area that needs air circulation.
Goran

It could have something to do with the heat of the bulbs. per mars commnets... the auto meter gauges use l.e.d.'s insead of "bulbs" i believe and l.e.d. run alot cooler than bulbs. I have (had?) the problem and just repalced (last night)the bulbs in my stock gagues with l.e.d from auto meter and it will be interesting to see if that takes care of the problem. time will tell.

I wonder if we could substitiute LEDs for the regular bulbs in the gauges?

Changing to an LED is easily done with some soldering and tips from the local tech store. Make sure you get the right sized resistor so that you do not push too much current through the LED and burn it out.

This said from the comments, it is not clear if this is a day time or night time problem. If this happens during the day, then the swap of lights will not make a difference. The lights only come on when the running lights are on.

Someone with big bucks could get the Autometers with liquid filled dials, I would guess this is the only 100% solution (a sealed face that will not fog up). This would eliminate the problem. But I live in Nevada. Never heard of humidity out here.

Guys,
I started this thread, and it happens during the day . No lights on. So it is not the heat from the bulbs.

Condensation occurs when moist air contacts a cold surface where the temp of the surface is lower than the dew point of the air. Like the mirror in your bathroom. A warm shower increases the moisture content of the air, which raises the dew point temp to a point where the temp of the glass (and walls, etc) is lower than the dew point of the moist air.

The question to ask is, where is the moisture coming from. It could be a leak in a heater tube. Or the foam material the console is made of absorbs moisture & then releases it when it gets warm. Those are my 2 best guesses, I emphasize they are just guesses. The second scenario would explain Mark's observation.

My gages don't fog in So Cal, but they do when I visit other moist climates, especially when I have to park the car outdoors overnight. Driving with the lights on, the faces of the gages get very warm and the condensation disappears. I also run the a/c when the air is very moist (rain, fog, driving near the ocean) to keep the air inside the passenger cabin dry which prevents the windows from fogging up.

Your friend on the DTIC

I guess the foam George is talking about makes sense. IN a Deauville you get the same gages but they are placed high up next to the speedo and tach. From what I have seen there's little to none foam around there, and there is less heat soak around that area I would imagine.
Even when driving in the rain and no A/C on they don't fog up.

While poking around under the dash check the drain tube off the evaporator. If that is clogged with road crap, or kinked it would cause water to collect in the AC unit, increasing the humidity. One fix is to route the drain tube with a more direct run down through the floorboards. In high humidity areas the evaporator will throw off a lot of water and it is in the area that could affect the guages.