HOWTO: A/C drain elbow cleaning

[austinator]

Lately there have been a fair amount of people with a plugged A/C drain tube, so I figured it was time for a thread helping locate it. Cleaning is hardly worthy of a howto, but it can be hard to find. Anyways, here we go...

Symptoms: Water on front floor(most likely passengers side), lack of puddle under car after running A/C, and, as an extreme, blower failing due to high amounts of condensation

The problem: The A/C requires a drain for condensation, just like in any car. The drain tube has a rubber elbow at the end to direct the condensation more directly to the ground. This elbow eventually gets clogged. The repair is extremely easy...once you find it that is. The elbow is located on the firewall near the middle of the car offset to the passenger side. The first image shows where you need to reach up. The elbow is on the passenger side of the exhaust pipe, and you reach up through the red circle in the image.



The second picture is of the elbow itself. Move to a position where a stream of nasty water coming out of that tube can't hit you, then pull the elbow out horizontally.


If a stream of water comes out, you've got the problem. Blow the elbow out, run some water through it, etc. to clean it out. If no stream comes and you still believe the drain is plugged, try running a bent coat hanger up the tube itself.


Austin

[giannid]

Thanks for the pics ... Moderators could you please make this a sticky?

One question though ... do you have to jack the car in order to reach for this tube??

thanks again,
Gianni

[austinator]

That depends on just how small you are and how uncomfortable you like to be. You can get it without having the car up on jacks, but it's a real pain. Also, make sure the exhaust is cool before you reach up to pull it. The elbow is pretty far up on the firewall.

[giannid]

I tried but I need to get my car on jacks tomorrow ...

Thanks,
g

[scottydl]

Great thread... austinator could you possibly resize your images for easier viewing? They're huge and require side-scrolling on my 1024x768 screen. Also I added this thread to the stickied 95-99 Maintenance thread at the top of the forum.

[giannid]

I finally found the elbow after looking for it for 30 mins. You don't need to use the jacks, but I strongly recommend turning the steering to gain extra clearance. Took mine out and it wasn't clogged, but it looked really dry. I used a hanger to clean the drain and still nothing came out even though I noticed that something was kinda on the way.

Drove around the block with the A/C on and finally saw a nice puddle of water on my driveway.

I'm gonna monitor my driver's side carpet to see if the dampness goes away.

Thanks for all the help,
G

[austinator]

scottydl said:

Great thread... austinator could you possibly resize your images for easier viewing? They're huge and require side-scrolling on my 1024x768 screen. Also I added this thread to the stickied 95-99 Maintenance thread at the top of the forum.

That better? I like my 1280x1024. I made them 1024x768 originally, but i didn't think about the side bar for the forum etc. I can go even smaller if anyone still uses 800x600.

[giannid]

Well ... my puddle is not gone at all.

I kinda stuck my hand underneath the carpet and felt the water acumulating right underneath. It's not a stream, but it's not small condensation either. I also confirm it's water and not coolant. Does anyone know how to take the trim pieces that hold the carpet in place in order to get underneath the carpet itself??

I'm worried about rusting my floor pan and water getting around my electrical wires.

Any suggestions,
G

[aaaauroraaaa]

I"m SOOO confused... So I kinda jacked the car up yesterday... Found where the rubber hose meets the metal hose like the first pic... But where does the water come out? I didn't actually pull the rubber off the metal that time but I was confused and didnt' want to break anything. Are we sticking hangers up the metal tube or down the rubber tube?

[austinator]

Not sure if you're looking at the same thing. Are you having A/C water problems? This is just a small rubber elbow you pull off...the elbow is normally what gets clogged. If your elbow isn't clogged and you aren't having any condensation backup...I wouldn't bother with the hanger.

[gavinredelman]

Your piping system can be very much neglected in many households. Like an appliance, pipes must be kept clean so they can function at optimum conditions. Intake pipes pose no problem because they carry only clean water. On the other hand, drain pipes and sewers can be as dirty as you can imagine.
Tom Plumb