Quote:
Originally Posted by cobrin
well the first period of rain and I've got water in the footwell of the rear driver section
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Before going on a Holiday trip I give it the once over to make sure everything is okay and finally get to look into the possible leaks which is not only happening during heavy rain periods but also with the aircon going in general.
I had already looked into the possible Technical Service Bulletin that addresses the less than stellar fit and finish of the evaporator covers allowing A/C condensation to leak water and not through the drain hose. But I did get a tip from that Bulletin where it suggests exhausting all other alternatives, to which I found below and helped by following the dampness pattern
Turns out to be the A/C drain hose, specifically the foamy gasket on the lower white plastic fitting to the hole in the body, with the combination of exhaust heat shield that's butted up against the actual external drain fitting.
The result is the drain hole being blocked to some extent and backlog of water, but the location of the actual drain tube is right where your left foot is, so with the loose fitting, water is soaking into the fibreglass heat shield backing and allowed to bleed back past the fitting soaking and partially leaking into and past the gasket. Any and all movement from the drivers foot squishes the water from the gasket (on the drivers foot well side) making the carpet wet.
Also heavy rain allowing the same water ingress.
The fix I used was simple Ultra Blue gasket maker (silicon) a small bead under and on top of the gasket and refit, it looked great and a tiny amount squeezed around the complete fitting so I know I have full coverage. 12hrs to cure and that fixed any water ingress, and this trip proved it with no water coming back from both A/C condensation (both 9hr legs) and torrential rain on the return trip.
As for the Heat shield, I removed the first front section and pushed it forward as far as it will go. This gives access to the back end of the drain tube fitting, which you need to press the locking tabs to push the fitting back into the foot well for removal. On doing my fix I also shaped the heat shield to not butt up to the fitting and refit it.
Problem solved.
Oh and it felt so good and cold on a 40 something Deg day.
Though there was two other issues I'll leave for another time, both not what you'd want on a Holiday trip. One costs $950 in the end and the other is me needing to retro fit a new fuel filter/water trap.