How to Fix water leak onto passenger floor (w/ pics)

Hey guys, I thought I’d help everyone out by making a how-to thread for those of you that have the leaking A/C water onto the passenger floor problem. If you’ve gone on a long trip and ended up with a pool of water on your passenger floor, you know what I’m talking about. It seems to be a common problem, especially if you live somewhere hot and have to keep your A/C on the coldest and strongest setting nonstop like I do. This is a very simple job anyone should be able to do, and takes about 20-30 minutes.

All you need is: duct tape, a wire hanger, a few towels, and a wet/dry shop vac. (If you don’t own a shop vac, borrow one or rent one if you must, but it is a good investment if you don’t own one already).

Step 1: Remove the plastic cover under the dashboard. This piece just pops off, there are no screws, so give it a good tug down and outward and it should come off easily.






Step 2: Once you have that piece out of the way, reach up to the left corner of the carpet and pull it back, you don’t have to pull it very far to see the A/C drain tube.





Step 3: Pull the tube out from the hole on the firewall, and look at the end. If there’s water dripping your clog probably isn’t that bad. Take the wire hanger, bend it straight, and stick it as far up the tube as you can, wiggling it around and pulling it out to wipe off any gunk on the wire. Try to reach the metal pipe that the other end of the rubber tube is connected to if you can, but do NOT pull the rubber hose off the pipe, it will be hard to get back on. Also, be sure to have your towels ready because you may have up to a liter of water pour out the end when you unclog it.



Step 4: Turn your A/C on (make sure the car is fully on) and wait a minute. Look at the end of the drain tube. If it is dripping water quickly, and you don’t see much water coming from anywhere else under the dash, then you are done. I would suggest to still continue with the next steps just in case, but it’s up to you. If, like mine, the tube is fairly dry and you still see water dripping from further towards the inside of the dash, then your clog is further up the pipe and not in the tube itself. In this case you’ll need the shop vac.



Step 5: Turn off your A/C. Now get the duct tape and wrap some around the end of your shop vac hose, gradually getting narrower, and be sure to keep as tight a seal as possible. Then wrap the end of the tape around the end of the drain tube. Keep the seal as tight as possible. Turn on your shop vac and leave it on for 3-5 minutes, or until you stop hearing water flowing. This means you’ve sucked out most of the water/gunk that’s stuck in there.







Step 6: Now turn your A/C on and with it on, run the shop vac for another couple minutes. This will help flush and remaining gunk that may not have gotten out yet. Then turn off the A/C and the vac, and start taking off the tape. Be prepared to have a good bit of water leak out of the end of the tube when you get the tape off.



Step 7: Put the drain tube back in the hole on the firewall, and turn your A/C on again. Look under the car and you should see water dripping under it forming a puddle, give it a couple minutes, and make sure it isn’t leaking inside from anywhere else under the dash.



Final Step: Put the carpet back, pop the plastic back in, and you’re done! It’s normal to see a little water still dripping on the passenger floor, but that’s just leftover condensation that was outside the tubing already, and should stop within a day or so.



Good luck! Hope this helps.