It hasnt ever bothered me untill today. I got that sort of stumbled thought of, "why the hell does that happen".

Any thoughts, or is it just my 4Runner?

 

You are using the 'fresh air' setting while running your heater/defroster, right? If not, you will definitely have fogging problems.

 

I'll double check, thanks. I guess what confuses me is that my wifes new car does not fog under the same circumstances. But now that I think about it, it may be on recycle. mmm.....

 

Do you smoke? Own a dog? Not shower? Anything that will leave a greasy film on the inside will cause the windows to fog quickly.

 

clean the windows weekly, it helps since i have a leak in my windshield

 

Use anti-fog wipes on the insides of your windows.

 

didnt think to clean the inside, or antifog. Damn you guys are wicked smart.

 

I need to find some of those rain-x anti fog wipes. My ranger leaks near the back of the cab and it can cause some bad condensation on a wet day.

 

I started using anti-fog along with cleaning my windows weekly and I haven't had this problem as much. I don't use the anti-fog all the time, but every once in a while is good. While cleaning your windows use this time to clean up the rest of vehicle. I think it's amazing what a clean floor does for the look of a vehicle.

 

o man i know when i clean my truck it almost looks brand new.

 

There is one other thing that can cause your windows to fog up. Any chance that your heater core is starting to leak. I've had a couple of vehicles come into the shop that where complained of windows fogging up. In two cases, it was their heater core that was starting to leak. [One of which was just off warranty. ]
Hope its something simple like a recirculation setting.

Good luck. 1eye

 

No heater core leak. Though I'v seen what kind of hell that can bring. I think it may be dirty or greasy windows. Thanks everyone.

 

One other thing is on defrost, the A/C on the Toyota (at least the older ones) does not kick on automatically. You need to hit the A/C button in order for that to happen. What difference does that make? A/C chiils the incoming (fresh or recirc) air, condensing water vapor (you know the stuff that fogs the windows) before it hits the heater core to heat it up. This now drier, hot air is much better at preventing/removing fog on the glass than the cold clammy outside air that is simply warmed up.

 

That's it.

I'll just be the first to say, man, you know your 1st generation 4Runners.

 

At least in the early 4Runners, everything was sort of manually selectable. The A/C would only operate if you turned it on, no matter what mode the climate control was set to. I had a VW w/ A/C and the A/C would automatically run if you turned on the defrost and no way to turn it off. Same on the power antenna, there was a switch to raise and lower it independently of the radio being on or off. At first I thought that was a PITA, but then when you go off-road and still want to have a tape or CD playing, you can retract the antenna (to save it fron the tree branches) and have the radio on. My '85 has no clutch cancel switch, so I can start in gear all the time, if I want (and I do some times) without fiddling with a switch to do so.

Seems the later models took away a lot of those (lack of) features and replaced them with more automated things. A/C automatically some on w/ defrost, antenna goes up and down with the radio power, etc.

 

Well I know where you are coming from, I have had 2 3rd gen Runners, 2 Tacomas and a 93 p/u and all of them fogged up very easy. Keeping the front windows clear is easy, it is the rear hatch windows that fog the worst. When it rains around here I really can't even see out the back side windows, the rear defrost does work ok for the back window. I honestly don't know what it is, but every Toyota truck has had the same issue, and if I have passengers it is much worse. With my 02 Runner I have found if I crack both rear door windows and my driver front, plus tilt the sunroof it really helps a lot. As far as keeping it clean I vac and clean my interior weekly or as soon as I see a spec anywhere on the interior, I'm very weird like that, so my windows stay plenty clean, it is a design issue.

 

I bought some of those rain-x anti fog wipes, and they're horrible. They made my truck fog way more than normal, and left streaks all over the windows. It was so bad that i had to use glass cleaner, and clean the windows after using em.

I've found that newer cars just tend to be better designed as far as the defogging systems go, but cleaning your windows will help a lot.

 

i recall there being a trick to keep the bathroom mirror from fogging up by applying some shaving cream on the mirror and then wiping it off (this part takes a lot of effort). something in the cream prevented the fog from occurring. I tried it at home and it lasted for almost a month. Maybe the same principle can be applied to our windows.

 

I have to do the aircon trick sometimes too.
They will fog up in the morning, then I hit the aircon and it goes away instantly.

And I always leave mine on fresh air.
I never use recirc.

 

That's the first thing I thought of. I was suprised to see no one said it sooner. And here I thought that was common knowledge...