I bought a 98 buick regal last year. A new radiator and hoses were installed this winter. A few days ago after running the air conditioner I noticed water on the rubber floor mat on the front passenger's side. My passenger had a water bottle on the floor, and I assumed the water was from it. However, yesterday with the air on and no one in the car with me, my mat had water on it. I couldn't see the leak under the hood, but could feel where the water was entering the interior. A hard plastic "ceiling" is under the front glove compartment that extends towards engine area. The water is entering where the plastic ends. I can feel a round shape that is wet with the water. (This is plain water. A white napkin shows no discoloration or stain.)

I was traveling and not in a good signal area for my cell phone, but was finally able to speak briefly with an agent at my dealership. He said it sounds like the air conditioner drain tube is clogged. Does this make sense to you? Is this going to be difficult to repair? Expensive? Any advice? Thank you.

 

That's what it sounds like. They shouldn't hit you hard for it. All they will do is suck it out good with a shop-vac. The drain sould be down low on the passanger side at the firewall if you want to give it a shot.

 

Why go to a dealership for this? They'll want to check you in and that's always a minimum of around $100 or so. The repair will likely take a maximum of about 5 minutes for a guy to put it up on a lift and then ram a coat hanger up the drain tube of the evaporator to unclog it.

I suggest one of two things...get you own coat hanger and get a little dirty up under your car doing the same thing the mechanic is going to do...

Or, find a small independent shop and pull in there...they may not even charge you and if they do it'll probably be a nominal amount. It's kind of hard to charge a customer a lot of money when you can watch them put it on the lift, poke it with a coat hanger, and then watch the water pour out in less than 5 minutes.

The drain tube is going to be on the right side of your car (passenger) near the firewall. Run your AC for a while and wait til you see water underneath the car from that area...then follow the drips. (That's provided the tube isn't completely blocked.)

 

Thanks for your very helpful information! I will certainly try this myself...

 

If this thing keeps getting blocked up because you pushing the clog up in eventually going to need to get in and clean that out which is a pain in the cheeks.

 

I decided to go to a local garage that has done work on my cars. One of the workers reached under the hood, pulled off a rubber "seal?", and said this is your problem. He removed what he described as "some plastic", popped it back on and gave me a thumbs up! He didn't do anything to the drain tube.

Does this sound right to you??? I'm wondering why the plastic piece was there. (I didn't take the time to run the AC long. We've had a lot of rain, and I had to cut my grass. I'll check it out tomorrow.) Thanks for your comments...

 

When you say rubber seal that really doesn't narrow it down much. It could have been the rubber seal that has the drain hole in it for all we know

 

Sorry that I don't know how to explain it better. It was small and had the shape of an elbow. I certainly believe that he removed it from the drain hole area, but he didn't poke a wire or anything in the drain tube to see if there was a clog in it. I'm just puzzled about "the plastic" that he threw away... Did it serve a purpose???

 

If it was on the engine side of the firewall for the draining the evap who cares