Hello guys,
I hope that someone can help me.
In the last few sunny days, I have used a lot the A/C.
When I was driving, now and then a lot of water poured down from the vent on the carpet (and on my shoes, also).
I think the problem is caused by the condensation that can't be drained.
A clogged hose, perhaps?

Thanks.

Could be. Seis with air con are incredibly rare over here, so I doubt anyone will have experienced it.

Lived with this problem for years. Sorted it by removing the heater matrix and drilling a small hole in the bottom of the blower housing. You will find a high water mark on the heater matrix which will have corroded from being submerged for ages. Seems there is a design or manufacturing fault as there is NO drain in the airbox for condensated water. Having drilled the hole it has transformed the whole experience and aircon is much more efficient altogether. So nice having dry feet!

:yeahthat: very poor design of the airbox. I never used my aircon but my old sei had it

I'm trying to found out where the problem is.
I have removed the cover inside the engine bay, and now the blower housing is exposed.
I found two drains for rain water, as you see in the picture.
So I expected to found a hole in the blower housing but I found nothing.

The blower housing is mounted above the surface where the rain flows. It seems to be sealed.
When the A/C is running, I can see from outside the level of the condensation (it's a very cool water, and so it cool down the plastic: from the outside you can see the level because of a lot of little drops of condensation).
There is a lot of water inside.
I wander if is it possible to create a drain in the corner shown in picture.
It is a point enough low of the blower housing to do that? it seems a good position for future inspection.

Yes the box fills with cold water until the level get to a point where it flows over the ledge on the side leading into the car just after the heater matrix..typically when cornering going uphill when it flushes out like a toilet! I've sucked more than 2 liters of water from the footwells when this happened. I didn't think of drilling where you suggest. Can't see why it wouldn't work but be very careful not to drill into the aircon cooling matrix. I removed the battery, the carpet stuff behind it, bent the fuse holder out the way, uncliped the heater hoses, removed the three torx screws holding the heater matrix in, slid that out, then drilled a hold in the bottom of the housing to drain the water..worked perfectly since, especially now the freeze sensor is able to work as it should and isn't under water.

Frosty1961 said:

typically when cornering going uphill when it flushes out like a toilet!

Click to expand...

Yes, same problem here !

Frosty1961 said:

Can't see why it wouldn't work but be very careful not to drill into the aircon cooling matrix.

Click to expand...

Ok, I drill the hole and a lot of water spill out. I have removed 4 screws from the fan cover, so I could inspect inside.
The hole (7 mm) is perfectly on the floor of the blower housing, so it seems that all the water can easily come out.
Behind the wall where I drill, there is a gap of more than 5 cm before the aircon cooling matrix, so no problem to drill there.

I will check how it works in the next few days, then I will report my impressions.

Frosty1961 said:

worked perfectly since, especially now the freeze sensor is able to work as it should and isn't under water.

Click to expand...

Where is that sensor ??


Bye

Glad you've found a simpler solution! The freeze sensor is located in the narrow gap between the aircon matrix and the heater matrix. I found since drilling a drain the aircon cools to a point where I have to turn it off as I begin to freeze! Also the airflow remains constant instead of becoming more and more restricted as the blower filled with water...

Thanks,
I'll give it some day to see if it work as expected....
Today there was a lovely puddle under my car !!

By the way.... when I push the A/C button, the A/C compressor start working with a loud TLAC (metallic sound).
It was that way since I bought the car (new, 12 years ago).
You hear that sound in your car, too??

I'm asking because I never hear other cars make that noise, and I haven't asked around about that (until today, after I found out that for FIAT is normal having a little swimming pool inside a car.....:devil

Bye!

The clunk noise is noticeable and I guess normal enough for this car..the compressor is very close to the driver on RHD cars and not much in the way of soundproofing...if its worked fine for all this time I'd not worry about it..in any event there isn't anything to service on the compressor.

I confirm that the noise is loud and it shows a lot when connected.
Now thanks to this post, I will be able to solve it.

side hole I suppose? I will do it where I circle red. OKAY?

Yes that is the easiest place to drill a hole and it will drain out onto the ground from there.

I must do the same thing... Do I need to take of the plastic cover? I was thinking to use hot spike to drill the hole, or soldering iron, better than using drills, I belive?

Thanks a lot on the post.

It's not a bad idea with a welder, to see if I have time this weekend and I do it. I will take pictures to help this post.
It seems that there is no need to disassemble the box. Just make a hole. At least that is what I understood. I think it is said that when they opened to look like I was at water level, if I'm wrong, they corrected me
regards

ccavalles said:

It's not a bad idea with a welder, to see if I have time this weekend and I do it. I will take pictures to help this post.
It seems that there is no need to disassemble the box. Just make a hole. At least that is what I understood. I think it is said that when they opened to look like I was at water level, if I'm wrong, they corrected me
regards

Click to expand...

Thats correct...no need to disassemble anything. Just take off the sound proofing mat material on the right. Melting a hole is a good idea if you are worried about what you might drill into. I took out the heater matrix as I was familiar with that after having to replace a leaking heater valve before.

I hope that my heater valve is ok, because heating is always on...I will try to sort cables first, then I will take of mat on the engine bay to melt the hole. But If the valve is bad, I will need to do the same. :/
On the meantime, I hope that ccavalles will sort the problem from the engine bay, and I will sort another one, so we can help each other out. Thanks a lot Frosty1961.

Solved the issue of indoor water thanks to this post.
Dismantling of the filter and withdrawal sound insulation.
It seems that the mechanic previously had already made a hole but on the left side and not emptied. Now he has another 3 small ones on the right. I made three because it took a long time to empty. So faster. It does not suppose any complication.

Awsome, nice job.

Hi there,

I'm glad that we all have now eliminated the "toilet flush " optional extra that we didn't ask for when we have bought the car .....


I would advice against making too many holes (or too big) because:

1) potential bad smell/combustion gases from the engine bay when the fan is off (unlikely to happen, but...)
2) a small hole (6-7mm) is better because you don't lose to much air pressure when the fan is on.
3) when the fan is on, the positive air pressure inside helps to "squeeze out" the water through the hole, and that make it more efficient....