For the last couple weeks, I've been getting a bad film developing on the inside of the windshield at both lower corners, like something is blowing out of the far edges of the defroster vents. I clean it off but 2 days later, it starts coming back? It started shortly after I changed the water pump, hoses and thermostat housing. I changed them because the water pump had developed a small leak around the shaft so it wasn't like I had a major eruption of coolant in the engine bay. I'm hoping the film may just be residual coolant getting cooked off the engine but there is absolutely no odor in the car (coolant always has a distinct smell). Anybody want to venture any guesses? By the way, it's a 1998 M3 sedan if it helps.
That was my other guess!!! I wonder if I can get Sigourney Weaver to give me a hand getting rid of it...
I had considered the heater core but like I said, absolutely zero coolant smell inside the cabin? Plus, it's only at the very far corners of the defroster vents. I had kind of figured if it was the core, it would be causing a film all along the bottom edge of the windshield, not just at the ends. I've been checking my coolant level religiously ever since I changed out the water pump and I'm not losing any coolant and there are no oil leaks. This one has me at a loss. I guess I'll just keep cleaning my windshield every couple days and live with it (at least until Sigourney shows up...).
ya.. but, the problem is, you'll have to have a time warp to get THAT 20-year younger Sigourney Weaver to show up. Hmmm.... sounds like it's probably about time Hollywood did an Alien remake!
Yeah; they'll probably do a just as good a job with that remake as they do with others. Hey! Rosie O'Donnell could play the alien though.....
You've prboably already checked this, but does this car have a cabin air filter? If so, maybe it's contaminated by some of the fluid from your problems you had before you started changing things out, or got into the ductwork of this system? By the way - I love that blue '02 !!!
Well, after I tore the car and dash apart trying to figure this out, my WIFE came up with the answer (and boy do I feel like an idiot)!! It was the new sunshade that we've been using for the last couple weeks!?!? It has a printed design in both lower corners that must off-gas really bad in the sun. When she first mentioned it to me, I laughed and was like "yeah right, hand me that screwdriver so I can get the rest of the dash out...". Well, she turned the sunshade around so the design was facing inwards and guess what...no more film on the windshield. Thanks! (What a great opportunity to change the subject!!)
Glad you figured out the problem! Don't you just hate it when it is so simple! Yes I would be whistling too! That is a great 02!
1.) Demonstrates the value of a competent trouble shooter. 2.) Glad its not just me who does dumb stuff. 3.) Is that Mount Houston in the background of the 2002 photo? (Can't seem to see it from the downtown Residence Inn.)
I seriously considered just letting this thread die a quiet death and that way nobody would ever know what a dork I was but I crack up every time I think about it. I was so sure it was something bad and sinister and it was going to require some serious investigative work on my part...but no. Thanks for the props on the '02. It's definitely a labor of love (usually a lot more labor than love but it all balances out). No, that's actually just outside Breckenridge, CO (the Rockies are a great place to take an '02 road trip...as long as you re-jet the carb!!). The actual 'Mount Houston' used to be nothing more than a pile of fill dirt that I think they ended up using during some recent road expansion projects. The closest thing to a "mountain" in Houston are the elevated overpasses they build for the freeways! My office used to be on the 10th floor of an office building just west of downtown and you could LITERALLY see the curvature of the earth in every direction from that level. That's how flat Houston is!
Well, I'll be....the sun-shade....Never would have thought of that.... Much better than the nefarious stuff we were speculating on.....
