Why do I have excessive condensation on my honda civic hood?

Question

I have a 2001 Honda Civic. I noticed when I drive in the rain there is excessive condensation on the hood of my car. Is this normal? What can I do to fix this? I only see the heavy condensation when it rains. It almost looks like it is smoking and going to catch on fire. Somebody help me solve this!

Answer 1

first, the steam coming off the hood is not condensation, its evaporation.  it is the water turning to steam from the heat of the hood.

Water turns to steam at 212 degrees Farenheit but actually it will start to evaporate at much lower temperatures.  You can see this any sunny day when you spray your car with water and watch it evaporate in a matter of moments.  Particularly if the car is a dark color like a black or dark blue.  Your exhaust system gets over 400 degrees so it wouldn't be unusual for your hood to reach a temperature where water will evaporate quickly enought to give off the heat lines, particularly if if you're sitting at a stop.  It doesn't sound all that abnormal to me.

the first thing to check is under the hood to see that any insulation on the underside of the hood is in place.  I don't think there is insulation any but check just in case to see if something is hanging down that shouldn't be

I think a simple solution is to wax the hood so that the rain water runs off instead of sitting on the hood.  the less time the water is in contact with the hood the less chance it will evaporate.