Interior Water Leak

I noticed over the past few days that there was a damp/moldy smell in the car. This only started as I have been using the aircon the past few days as its been quite warm here.

So today I removed my over mats and found carpet below to be wet on both driver and passanger side!! I then removed my seats etc and stripped out the interior carpet only to find the carpet and floor to be soaking wet.

I dried the floor and have the carpet out to dry then going to wet vac and dry again later.

I have found that the water is coming from what I think is the aircon condensor. It dripp's quite bad with the ac on. Anyone any idea what I can do to sort this out? Is it possible that a drain plus is blocked somewhere?

Pics here:

The drain is under the car and mostlikely plugged up. It's quite easy to see from underneath. It happened to me and others as well.

The foam/rubber or whatever it is thats on the flaps that direct airflow, inside that unit, eventually deteriorate and fall down to the bottom of the tank. They then slosh around till the get stuck in the drain hole that pops out under the car.

Water builds in the tank. Then as you accelerate or turn corners it sloshes out, usually on the passenger side. Common issue.

If you poke something up from under the car, you can probably clear it, but those pieces are still in there, and may plug it up again.

Brad

Thanks David for info! I will get the car up on the ramps and have a look and clear the drain pipe.

Brad: I did notice water comming out the foot well vents when I turned a corner! Is there any way to check or to get at the rubbers/foam, if they have fallen into the tank?

The safest way to do this is with compressed air. One blast of air and it will be flowing. The tube is rubber and has a 90 degree bend when it goes from the floor to the side of the center console. If you use a poker of some kind, be careful and do not poke a hole in the rubber. Remember to have a drain pan and keep your face out of the way.

HTH,
LarryB

+1 That is the way to do it!

This is what you need to dry the car.


The Blue Blower.
An indispensable item in the shop. Keeps you cool and can dry out a wet car FAST!

Thanks again for the info guys! I'm going to take a look at this today and hopefully sort the problem out.

pbassjo: I have my complete floor carpet out of the car and left it to dry in the fresh air last nite. Now that its out I'm going to give them a good valet and use a wet vac to clean them up nice, plus I'm going to clean up the floor of the car itself and other hidden areas as the seats and carpet are all complete stripped out.

Well I didnt have to put the car up on the lift to get at the drain plug. As I have removed my carpet I found the plug from inside and pulled it through, the drain pipe was clear and didnt have any build up inside.

I then took a piece of clear pipe and pushed it inside the condensor outlet. At this point the outlet cleared and the water started to flow out!!

So could this mean that what BRAD said could be the problem? Possibly there is something inside the condensor that is blocking the drain?

On another note this may be one of the reasons why some NSX members have mentioned the MOLDY smell when using aircon? possibly a water leak coming from the condensor and seeping into the capet. You wouldnt even realise the carpet is wet unless you removed it as, all the foam and underlay below actually soaks up quite a bit of water before it will reach the surface, plus if you have overmats in your car you would notice the damp at all!! Also the water laying in the condensor would probably smell over time.

Maybe a heater core?

So could this mean that what BRAD said could be the problem? Possibly there is something inside the condensor that is blocking the drain?

Certainly could be. After you drain it, check it every few weeks and see if water Does not drain. Also check under the car to see if water is dripping when you run the A/C. It should be dripping.

Regards,
LarryB

On another note this may be one of the reasons why some NSX members have mentioned the MOLDY smell when using aircon?

Click to expand...

This is exactly what causes the moldy smell. The smell doesn't emanate from the carpet so much - it's coming from the bottom of the evaporator. Since the water doesn't drain it backs up, pools at the bottom of the evaporator, and skanks up. You get to smell it when you run the AC. You know the hose is stopped up when your right ankle gets a cold shower with skankwater when making a hard right turn.

The first time my drain hose plugged up happened to coincide with a really wet spell. I kept thinking the molding around the windows must be leaking somewhere. Since I was running the AC and it was really rainy, at one point I must have had a gallon of water sloshing around on the passenger side. I finally got to researching the problem, had the hose blown out, and that cured it, for awhile. But I got a wet skankle just today.