We were driving home the other night, first night the temps were in the 20's F, and we could not stop the inside of the windows from icing! Max defrost on, windshield heater, recirculation, AC; nothing could clean the windows to point it was near unsafe to drive.

Anyone else have this issue? My wife said she'll review the owner's manual, but I can't believe we are missing a setting or picking the wrong the climate setting...

 

You might want to try it without recirculation, as that could prevent the AC from removing moisture from the inside air.

 

Tried that and that was little use either. I keep the inside of the windows very clean, so I know there is no off gas coating the inside glass. It was not film, but straight up ice! Back windows were totally coated. Had inside temp set a 70. Even the heat windshield seemed barely up to the task.

The manual is in the car and she drives that car as her daily, so I am unable to look up what Jaguar says is the right setting. Normally, I thought it was recirculation is what "dries" the car out quicker than fresh air from outside. Even with Max Defrost, the results were insufficient IMO. My Aston clears up much better and that system is hardly as sophisticated a climate control.

I think we'll have to bring back to the dealer, but I fear this is just poor design and everything is working as normal... :-(

 

It sounds like you're not getting enough heat into the heater part of the climate control, or there's a fault with one of the temperature detectors. These cars detect outside temps as well as inside and set the system accordingly. If you have a heated screen this should clear the screen very quickly. It does sound as if the ambient temperature detector is duff.

I'm not up to speed on the XE, but do you have a "Defrost" setting or button ?

 

put the system in auto and leave it alone.

 

We have heated windshield and the car was accurate on the outside temperature. Even on Auto, it was not enough to melt ice forming on the inside of the windows. Where the wiring grid on the windshield was clear, nothing else was.

I'll suggest to her to just leave it in auto, but I don't think there is enough power in that mode to clear the windows at all.

I squeegee the insides of the windows, so I know there is no film.

 

We don't often get -7C where we live here in England, but any car will need time to get the engine warm, and heat the car and clear condensation/ice. How long was the drive ?

 

40 min drive on the highway.

 

Sometimes excessive icing on the inside is related to slow heater leak or plugged condenser drain pipes.

That is, if there is water or coolant sloshing around your heater box no amount of warm air will keep ice out.

Check carpets in the footwells, is there moisture there?

 

When Elys gets home from work tonight I'll take a look, but I the interior didn't seen damp or humid. I think a dealer visit is required. She likes the Discovery Sport loaners.

 

A 40 minute driver should see the car get nicely warm and comfortable, and all condensation/ice on windows removed.

Years ago when I had a Rover 75 (2007-2010), we had a very cold winter, like it got down to -12C, even -14C yet I had no problems like Mosesbotl.

So something is wrong somewhere !

 

Last night wasn't as cold, and she had already drove an hour before coming home. We had to bring our dog to the Vet (nothing major thanks for the concern). She kept it on Auto and no icing issues.

She is fine with keeping it on Auto. I could've sworn we had icing issues last winter in this car. I doubt we kept it in Auto then either.

 

I've driven theS-type in -25 conditions without issues

 

My other Jags did not have this issue at all. Even have the heated windshield!

 

Last night was below freezing and car was almost undriveable. I am scheduling a visit to the dealer. This is now a safety issue IMO. I haven't owned a crappier car in terms of keeping frost off the windows from the inside in like 30 years. Totally unacceptable. Another safety issue discovered is the rear passenger seat belt does not lock.

 

Have you somehow got the climate control set to "latched recirculation" ? This keeps the car in recirculation air mode so no fresh air enters the cabin, and therefore no air exits either. Moisture from passenger and driver breath then leads to a build up of moisture in the cabin.

 

The recirculation is timed on the XE and you really tell a difference when the mode is selected. Even on max defrost it's really sub par. Heated windshield part works great; that's it. Will take another look today and see if there is a sub mode somewhere that needs adjusting. Looking at the owner's manual, I didn't see anything unusual or novel with the XE in that context. Last winter the XE was barely driven when it was my primary car. I work from home, so was driving maybe 200 miles a month. Now, it is my girlfriends primary car so it sees daily winter driving. At this point, I would rather drive the Volvo or Aston in freezing temps as the Jag is simply unsafe.

 

This may seem counterintuitive, but keeping the AC operating during winter months also helps to prevent moisture on the inside of the windshield.

 

You only have to look under the car after a run in the summer with high humidity to see a large pool of water, all drawn out of the cabin.

 

I don't have an XE as you can see from my Avator, so this is "educated guesswork", I'm afraid, based on how my car works.

On my X350 re-circulation is timed by a short push on the recirc. button. However a longer push can set it to "latched recirculation" and with this it never defaults back to fresh air input, but cancels this when the the engine is shut down and the ignition key is removed

As regards "re-circulation", the automatic system normally detects cabin humidity and switches between fresh air and re-circulation as needed. As I understand it, when the climate and the car is cold, re-circulation is used to get the car warm quickly, after which it will introduce fresh air to keep the cabin air fresh and free of moisture.

The only other thing I can think of is there is a lot of water in the cabin from a leak. As the car warms up it evaporates and then condenses on the windows.

You seem to have a rare problem as nobody else has posted on this as far as I know.