Fabu! Just swing by whenever; I'm on no particular schedule today.

I hate my car right now. It's not handling winter weather well.

So, I was running late and was scraping all the snow and ice off my car - it took me several tries and the help from my neighbor just to get one of the doors open (they'd frozen shut). I did turn on the car and the defroster but that didn't seem to help.

I was running late, so finally got where I could see (mostly) got in the car and started driving and realized that it's not defogging. In fact it's so fogged up I can barely see. I push some buttons. Nothing works. I try to roll down a window - frozen shut. I had a tiny freak out, called into work and told them I couldn't come in.

Finally got where I could kinda see, and managed to get to a repair place. The panel that controls that isn't working (the fuse is fine, the fuse would be the cheap repair) and they can't do anything until Monday. The whole panel doesn't work, I can turn on the heat and adjust how strong it blows but that's it.

But I'm supposed to work tomorrow. And by the time I got home from the repair place the windshield is defogged, but the door windows and the back aren't.

I'm trying to figure out if I should go to work tomorrow. It seems stupid - the defogger doesn't work. But it's a 30 minute drive on the interstate (longer if I try to go another way) and if I can get the windshield defogged tomorrow in the morning, I'm not sure how long it will take and what it would be like trying to drive home.

Anyone have any advice?

So there's no air coming out of the vents under the windshield?

No.

As someone who has lived in the Northeast my whole life with super crappy cars, the thing to do with no defogger is to bundle up, and open all the windows. To get your windows to unfreeze, you might have to apply hot towels, although I have gotten them to unfreeze before driving by just holding my hands on the part where they connect to the door and being persistent. Alternately, you can keep a towel in the car and just keep wiping the steam off while driving. You couls also try opening the back windows only and it might be a little warmer for you.

I am not saying that I recommend these things, however because they are annoying and possibly dangerous, especially to someone who is not used to driving in the winter, or really famiiar with the roads. But I have done these things.

The main thing you can do is keep the air inside dry. If you have the fan set on recirculate, move it to a setting that lets outside air in. Moisture condenses more on anything coating the glass, so clean the windows on the inside. If you can get to an auto supply store, stuff like RainX [link] will cut down on the fogging. Explain the problem and the auto supply store person may have a better suggestion. For some reason, they're usually very helpful people.

One traditional fix for doors' freezing is spraying the gaskets and lock with WD-40, because of the "water displacement" properties. Tell them at the dealer you were having that problem, because you may need new gaskets.

Run the car with the heat on for 15+ minutes before you start, which should be enough the thaw the windows. Wipe off any condensation on the windows before you start driving. Cracking the windows can help because the outside air is usually dryer.

If you have A/C, if worse comes to worse, you can try running that. *shudder*

I've had primitive trucks with no defoggers for years. However, someone who lives in that climate year round may have better ideas.

Also, I'm doing "Don't do as I do, do as I tell you," because my windows are in desperate need of washing.

Jeez, askye, what a pain. It's amazing how the tiny things we take for granted can totally screw up our day when they don't work.

askye, You could try keeping a towel on hand and wiping as you go, to keep a clear view. This is what we used to do with the old farm truck that didn't so much have a ventilation system. It won't help with the back window, though.

Thanks for all the advice!

The a/c isn't working either and I can't use recirculate because those are hooked into the control panel that's not working.

One of the problems I've had in the past (and I think was going on this morning) was not just fog on the inside, but a thin layer of frost on the inside of the windshield.

There's a auto supply store in town and I'll run by there an get some RainX and ask them if they have any suggestions.

This is the firs time I've had problems with the doors, but right now weather.com says it's 9F feels like -7 so that probably has something to do with it.

It's nice to have a hivemind to go to for answers and reassurance. If the job was a lot closer it wouldn't be that big of a deal but driving so far I don't want to get part way there, or get to work and have trouble getting back.

Hiveminds rock, and this one way more than others.