Can an air condition leak water into the passenger side compartment? I have water soaked carpet on the front passenger side. It's not my heater core as it's not anti-freeze, but just plain water. Any ideas?

 

the only thing that could leak over there is the heater core

 

t-tops?? lol..mine does that sometimes..

 

Agreed heater core, Bypass heater core see if it goes away if it does after a case of beer and some bitching as to why anybody would put that damn thing up there youll have your heater core replaced.

 

Oh, trust me guys, I know all about the heater core and them going bad. I've gone through about 3 in my 11 years of owning the car. This isn't it though. It's definatley just water and not anti-freeze. I guess there is always a possbility that rain got in the car last night and dripped down through the passenger side under dash. It's just that when I noticed it early in the day, it wasn't nearly as bad then as it was a few hours later. Which led me to think that it was still happening and not anything associated with rain and leaking t-tops.

I'll give it another day and see if it's still doing it.

I guess I can take the under panel off and watch to see where it's coming from or at least "try to". lol.

So everyone agrees that we don't have the "a/c drain tube"?

 

whats the heater core do? (nub question)
Mikey

 

It basically where you get your heat when you turn your heater on. Your anti-freeze runs off from the engine and through your firewall into an aluminum housing which heats up when you have your heater on.

This is a rough explanation of course. lol

If you ever have a anti-freeze smell (not to bad yet) coming out of your vents when your heater is on or you have anti-freeze under your passenger side front carpet (full blown leak), then that's your heater core leaking.

 

Ya take it out and pick up a couple of hundredths at the track

 

oh okay i dont use my a/c ever..does work tho..lol

 

But do you use your heat? That is the more likely curprit for water on the carpet-the heater core. I HATE replacing them. They rank right there with the window motor and the last two spark plugs as most difficult to repair on a third gen.

 

I don't know if we have that drain tube or not - I've yanked out my A/C.

 

still happening?

 

But the heater core is completely separate from the AC system. Think of it as equal to the condensor for your AC system It takes heat out of the fluid running through it & uses the hot air to warm you up inside the car, instead of its main purpose to take heat out of the fluid inside.

 

Okay. It hasn't rained in days and today I start out with mostly dry carpet and after 4 hours of driving, I have about 1/2" of water in the front passenger dip.

I checked my anti-freeze just to make sure I didn't put just water in at some point this year, and it's not that. I cleary have anti-freeze in the coolant system. So that rules out my heater core.

It has to be the a/c. I know that the 4th gen cars have a drain tube for the a/c water/condensation that builds up inside the car, to drain out. If it gets clogged, it backs up inside the car. I haven't seen though where the 3rd gen cars have it, but I feel it has to.

Anyone ever have this happen in a 3rd gen car?

I see I still have the a/c dripping on the ground outside as well. So I don't know if that means the hole is partially clogged, if I have one that is. lol

I'm going to take the cover off the heater core and see if there is indeed some hole in there for a drain.

 

hi same problem here, my heater core is new and doesn't leak ...no t-tops ,,,it's clear rain water on the passenger carpet..where can it come in from?

 

Some may think it can only be the heater core or a leaking seal with rain water getting in, but I can tell you that it can indeed be your a/c. All cars have a drain plug for the condensation that builds up in the heater core box. The drain plug can get clogged with dirt over time and, like in my case, the condensation build up and have no where to go but on the floorboard. Similar to when the heater core leaks. I hope this knowledge can help out others in the future who end up having the same problem as me.

Nothing quite like having a small swimming pool (as the kids like to call it, lol) build up over the course of the day on a 95 degree rain-free day. Lol

 

hi ,,no a/c or t-tops....

 

You mentioned rain free day - did it rain the day before?

Try parking the car on a slight incline, nose up. I've seen with the 3rd and 4th gens, that alot of water collects in the rear hatch groove, and if the seal is not watertight against the body, the water can leak in under the seal - it might take a day for it to work it's way up to the front under the carpet - there are channels in the floorboards that allow this to a degree. By parking on an incline, you allow the water to flow out the rear of the hatch groove instead of accumulate there.

Until I get cash for new seals, we've avoided 'flooding' of my wife's 1997 Z28 by doing this - it would fill like this alot, and sometimes take a day or 2 after the rain for the water to seep its way to the front.

 

Hi camaronewbie. I actually thought about that and decided to test it out for myself. I went 2 days without the a/c on, which was VERY ROUGH, lol. carpet dried right up and nothing dripping from under the heater box. Then turned on the a/c and after a few hours to a day of driving, I checked up under the box and sure enough, I had water condensation and it was beginning to drip and the carpet was moist again. No rain happened the day before or during this test over this past weekend.

I'm going to take the heater cover off soon and look up in there. I called meineke and he assured me my car has a drain tube and required getting "blown out". Of course I feel I can do this myself. Lol

 

Def sounds like A/C is the culprit then. I understand the heat - you get used to it to a degree. We've had heat index of 105+ all week here, pretty much heat index of 100+ for the last 60 days, and I don't have a single car with working A/C. I just have to take the tops out, and go fast!

 

Yep, it's been pretty hot here in NC for us this week. A few more weeks of this and we should be good (knock on wood).

I went a summer years ago without a/c and I hope to never know that feeling again. lol. I have no idea how you do it camaronewbie.

Btw I fixed my hot no-start problem. I'll be making a post on it in the other thread soon.

 

did you find out the problem?

 

It was the a/c. I can't tell you exactly what part, but I had my a/c serviced and it fixed it.

I do however want to point out that basically the condensation that forms does indeed run down to a drain tube on the inside of our cars. So if you do have water building up in the car on the passenger side, it's not 100% going to be your heater core. It can be the a/c system causing like it was for me.

Hope this info may help a few people in the future.

 

yea I found out it was the a/c in this thread, but I want to know what exactly the problem was because I have this same problem. I couldn't find a drain tube on the ac box on the firewall and not sure where this drain tube would be in the inside.

 

When the heater core cover is off, you basically see 2 compartments. The one on the right is the heater core and the one to the left is where the drain hole is. Or at least that's what I remember off hand. If you look and feel deep down in the back to the left, you'll see a hole with a grill looking filter in it. That is where I saw it. I felt around and it was indeed wet, so I know it was what I was looking for. I couldn't tell if it was plugged however and decided to let my local firestone store look at it. I realize this info may not be 100% correct, but it's been a bit of time since I did it and I'm going by memory.

As for telling you "exactly" what was the problem, I can't. I took mine in to a firestone and told them what was happening and that my drain plug seemed to be plugged. They did a complete check on my a/c system and said I had a problems, but the were internal. I don't remember exactly what they said. All I know is that the problem was causing a big build up of condensation in the heater core cover and it was leaking onto the carpet. Now it they could have "hosed" me and lied and I paid quite a bit of money for them to clean the drain plug out, but at the time, they were my only option.

 

just letting you know I fixed it. I had to unclog the ac drain.

 

I'm glad I could help and it was something that was easily fixed without cash 92camaro.

 

The AC drain or HVAC drain also drains water that gets into the HVAC housing from the air inlet at the coul. Without the drain, even on cars without AC, the HVAC housing will over flow with water. I've seen them so bad that with the fan on water spray actually blew out the vents.

 

oh wow