How long should the windscreen take to demist?

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wow400

Member
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2018 CX-5 SportNav+ 2.2 diesel Manual MGM
A brand new UK 2018 CX-5 Sport Nav+ and with freezing temps just here in the UK, I clear the ice off the outside and of course the inside of the windscreen is misted up.
Press the windscreen demist button (max A/C directed just at windscreen) and turn up temps to max it takes longer than 10 minutes just to clear a small hole to see out!

Is this a CX-5 thing? Our ancient Avensis took less than 4 mins to demist the entire windscreen!!

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Nic
 
To demist a CX-5 faster on winter mornings Take an appointment with your dealership and buy a new CX-5. It should come with clean windshield. Otherwise if your 2nd gen is like my 16.5 it takes 15 minutes to demist.
 
With the windshield demist setting on (the windshield with the stinky lines), ensure your system is not set to Recirculate. The system should be drawing air in from outside. You can also crack the windows while you're waiting for the car to warm up.
 
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Mine is also the slowest of any car I've owned in the past 30 years or so. And that often affects the camera, disabling several systems until it clears, sometimes even after the windshield looks completely clear. A surprising failure for the CX-5.
 
Not a problem for me this morning, deiced the windscreen with the engine running and the windscreen demist operating, put the rear heat on to defrost the outer edges of the windscreen too. No more than 2 minutes and I was off. Took about 10 mins for the camera to clear but that's normal. I'm in an 18 plate Sport Nav + currently.

Heater control on the draw air from the outside and not recirculate.
 
Yup, it*s definitely set on drawing air from outside!
Ok, good to know that it*s a failing of something in the car, not a design failing.
Takes forever to get warm air through so I*m assuming it*s something to do with that.
A trip to the dealer is in order.

How they*re going to test it though??!
 
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Kaps said:
To demist a CX-5 faster on winter mornings Take an appointment with your dealership and buy a new CX-5. It should come with clean windshield. Otherwise if your 2nd gen is like my 16.5 it takes 15 minutes to demist.
Click to expand...

Hah! It*s only a month old!!
 
wow400 said:
Yup, it*s definitely set on drawing air from outside!
Ok, good to know that it*s a failing of something in the car, not a design failing.
Takes forever to get warm air through so I*m assuming it*s something to do with that.
A trip to the dealer is in order.

How they*re going to test it though??!
Click to expand...

TBF the car does take a while to get while to get warm especially when directed into the footwells, noticed this more so this morning as it was fairly cold and my feet were freezing. Was nice to get into the office even after the New Year break:-(
 
This could depend on the trim level. The Grand Touring has the electric windshield wiper defrost. My experience with the system is that it works quickly. The one time I got a alert that my windshield camera was blocked (condensation) the defrost fixed the situation in 10-15 seconds.

The lower trims do not have the electric defrost.
 
AFAIK, the electric wiper defrost is purely a few electrical heating elements just in the region of the parked wiper blades.
Gotta say, pretty pointless I reckon - you*ve still got to scrape the screen clean and it makes no difference to the camera area!
 
wow400 said:
AFAIK, the electric wiper defrost is purely a few electrical heating elements just in the region of the parked wiper blades.
Gotta say, pretty pointless I reckon - you*ve still got to scrape the screen clean and it makes no difference to the camera area!
Click to expand...

We haven't had our CX-5 long enough to know how well it works on this vehicle. But, I have it in my Lexus and it is not "pointless". At least once you are moving. I don't think it was meant to defrost the windshield, just keep ice from building up at the bottom of the glass while driving.
 
Be sure that your windshield is clean on the inside. If it's not it can fog very easily.
 
wow400 said:
AFAIK, the electric wiper defrost is purely a few electrical heating elements just in the region of the parked wiper blades.
Gotta say, pretty pointless I reckon - you*ve still got to scrape the screen clean and it makes no difference to the camera area!
Click to expand...

You're right, but the main purpose is to try to keep ice from building up on the wiper blades and at the bottom of the windshield when you're driving in heavy snow.
 
I haven't tried this, but you can try cleaning the inside of the windshield with shaving foam. Apparently hockey players do this to their face masks to prevent fogging. You just spray the shaving foam onto a cloth and then wipe it clean (preferably with a microfiber cloth). It's only a temporary measure as you'll eventually have to reapply, but it might help. (shrug)
 
sm1ke said:
I haven't tried this, but you can try cleaning the inside of the windshield with shaving foam. Apparently hockey players do this to their face masks to prevent fogging. You just spray the shaving foam onto a cloth and then wipe it clean (preferably with a microfiber cloth). It's only a temporary measure as you'll eventually have to reapply, but it might help. (shrug)
Click to expand...

I can remember spitting into my diving mask to prevent fogging.
 
I'm in the UK too and had the same problem yesterday morning, started the car, switched on the window de-mister and rear window/mirror de-icer, cleared the ice from the outside and was ready to go but the inside took another 5 minutes to clear (on a Sport Nav+). This does seem to take a lot longer than any other car or van I've owned. I'll have to give the inside of the windows a good clean at the weekend and see if that helps. Regarding shaving foam, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vj9avZxuwI, ChrisFix always has the answer!
 
banjos-n-beer said:
I can remember spitting into my diving mask to prevent fogging.
Click to expand...

I remember doing that as well. Shaving foam on my windshield is something I can live with, but spitting all over the interior windshield of my brand new car is something different altogether! Lol
 
One thing you US guys want to keep in mind is that these UK owners haven*t declared what engine they have. Diesel engines are very thermally efficient and most of the heat they produce from combustion goes out through the exhaust. Gasoline engines are far from thermally efficient and the heat is dissipated into the engine and has a way faster warm up than a diesel. The comment about the heater elements, they are not designed to clear the screen, they stop the wipers sticking to the screen and they clear the build up of snow that you get at each end of the stroke and they work perfectly on both counts.
 
Anchorman said:
One thing you US guys want to keep in mind is that these UK owners haven*t declared what engine they have. Diesel engines are very thermally efficient and most of the heat they produce from combustion goes out through the exhaust. Gasoline engines are far from thermally efficient and the heat is dissipated into the engine and has a way faster warm up than a diesel. The comment about the heater elements, they are not designed to clear the screen, they stop the wipers sticking to the screen and they clear the build up of snow that you get at each end of the stroke and they work perfectly on both counts.
Click to expand...

Yup, ours is the 2.2D.
I suggest though, no matter what the engine, that 15mins to demist a windscreen is way too long. Far longer than any other car we've ever owned.
It's booked in to the dealers for a look see but I imagine the problem will be next to impossible to reproduce....
 
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