Water out the AC vents- Trap door clear?

[81cutlass]

My AC on my wagon has been working awesome but I am starting to get water dripping from the lower foot vents that sit under the radio when I turn.

I have checked the AC trap door rubber flapper in the AC box under the hood and it's clear, but I am still getting water inside the car.

Any ideas?

 

[69hurstolds]

Obviously it's hard to determine on a forum post, but if it's clear, it's not coolant. Thus, my 99% suspicion is that it's condensation. Your evaporator SHOULD have a mesh condensation diffuser (like a rough filter) around it that attempts to keep condensation around your evaporator from blowing through and into the cabin. That's the idea anyway. I'm guessing it's not rain or car washing water finding it's way in somewhere...

If the factory evaporator has been replaced or fins cleaned out or someone may have not put it back in or it could be deteriorated....who knows. No real way to tell unless you take the top off.

Pure speculation. I know nothing.

 

[81cutlass]

Yeah, it is condensation, I know that much. Just odd that the trap door is open and it's coming into the car?

I'll pull the fan out and see if I can look at the condensor and see if it's missing the mesh foam stuff, I seem to remember something there now that you mention that.

I ran the car for 2 summers with AC and it's never drained into the car which is why I ask now since it's something new and I've kept the trap door clean.

 

[69hurstolds]

If the mesh filter is gone for whatever reason, and you're blowing the fan on hi for the most part, you could be just blowing water straight off the evaporator and it's getting entrained in the air flow and making it into the car that way. It NORMALLY should just collect up on the mesh and evaporator and drip down into the evap casing and out the flapper. It may be a function of how humid the weather is where you live? If it's been more humid lately, and your evap is chillin' like a ****, it's probably overwhelming the evaporator and condensation is just blowing through. That's my best guess and I'm going with that. Unless there's something blocking the drainage around the evaporator letting condensation building up around it...maybe some crud buildup around it? Just throwing darts again.

Does it do it almost immediately or does it take a while to show up? How much? Does it do it continuously or a one shot deal?

Only been to MN once in my life and it was cold AF in the first part of April. I mean friggin' cold. I was like, WTH? So it's tough for me to think about Minnesota and hot/humid in the same sentence. It's like soup outside here a lot in the southeast, as it is right now, so I know what hot and humid looks like.

 

[81cutlass]

It takes a while to show up, somewhere between 20 minutes and an hr or two of driving. If I am driving on the highway it's fine but only shows up during turns and city driving. It comes and goes. It kinda comes in waves, nothing for a while then i look on the floor and it's wet. Not a TON of moisture but enough that the floor mat has some pooled up on it, maybe a few ounces total?

It has been in the low 90's and humid, like the 85% range in the last day or two.

I'll take a look and see if the car has that mesh filter.

Thanks for the info! Gives me a place to start.

 

[fleming442]

I was going to suggest pulling the top off the box. Even though the trap flap is clear, there could still be debris in the path from the coil to the drain well. I cleaned mine out really well when I had it apart, but the AC hasn't worked long enough to develop a problem. When it was working, it looked to be functioning normally.