Water leak in passenger footwell when air con on

[gaz19uk04]

Have a problem with my car leaking in front passenger foot well, only happens when air con is on. Been to the garage who has said only way to fix leak is to take all the dash out, anyone had this problem, drain tube has been checked apparently and the leak is happening in back right hand corner from screw hole, cold fresh water only ( no loss of coolant) thing is i have not seen any moisture under car in along time...i really dont want to have dash out, obvs due to rattles when back in and expense quoted £800 to take out and refit with new heater matrix...please help

 

[PSX]

Hi Gaz,

If you'd like to check the air con drain yourself - it's on the bulkhead, quite low down in the engine bay - imagine you're looking at the back of the glovebox (in the engine bay) and there should be a small flap (or perforation) in the sound deadening material for an L shaped nozzle to poke out - that's the air con drain.

If the flap hasn't been opened up, I'd suggest doing that for starters and checking that the pipe isnt crushed by the sound deadening.

The plastics inside will hold that water until it drains out, so parking the car with the nose up will probably mean there's fluid sitting inside for longer (and potentially draining into the footwell) rather than out of the drain. You could check the plastics for holes yourself by taking off the covering below the glovebox and moving aside the grey foam.

Final thought - is your pollen filter cover fitted correctly? If not, any water on the scuttle panel might end up coming directly down into the air ducting and into the carpet. The vent is on the centre tunnel.

Hope this helps,

Alex

 

[cleverspoon]

If you have your a/c on and fan on full whilst looking for the drain....stick your fingers under the deadening and you should feel some air blowing out of it, because the drain is on the fan discharge side its under positive pressure, which helps to prevent it from blocking up.

 

[gaz19uk04]

really appreciate you suggestions guys thanks, going to sound really stupid now but will i have to be under the car? as you can tell im defo no expert... Alex had new pollen filter cover fitted first just to make sure it wasnt that as know its comment fault defo air con related because had air con off for last 2 weeks and no leak and we've had fair bit of rain. cleverspoon if there was a blockage is the suggeston that you would feel any air?

Gaz

 

[cleverspoon]

Open bonnet, look behind engine at firewall/ bulkhead, about central you should see a little flap or cut in firewall, if not start feeling up under firewall untill you feel air or a tube. If you feel air its not blocked, if you feel a tube and no air it could be blocked, so try stuffing a cable tie or wire up it to clear it, if you leave your ac running for 5 to 10 mins you should start to get a drip out of there.
Ir drive round with ac on, when you start getting drips inside car, open bonnet and see if its draining out of drain hole and dripping on to metal strut bellow.

 

[gaz19uk04]

thanks for that, im guessing that is there's a drip then there is no blockage and its more than likely leak off heater matrix running down outside of drain pipe and into car?

 

[cleverspoon]

I would say so, if thats the case try taking glove box and centre console out to try and get a better view