Mitsubishi Forums banner

Ac Problems

20K views 36 replies 8 participants last post by  DavidE 
#1 ·
does anybody know where the drain for the ac is out blower motor has quit and the box is full of water
2008 endeavor ls awd
 
#2 ·
they hide it in a hole on the left side of the lower firewall...kinda behind the steering rack...
u need a long pipe on a blower nozzle to get at it..
 
#7 ·
Kinda got one on the same thread here. My condenser just started draining water into the front driver's side floorboard. Lots of water. Checked the drain tube hole (wow is that hard to get to) and fished a wire into it last night. Plenty of water coming out, didn't seem like it was plugged. Pulled the carpet up, found the port where the drain goes through the firewall, and there's water running back into the car still. So I have plenty of water draining OUTSIDE, as well as draining inside. WTF? Is there a gasket that might be bad? Is it something I can get to myself or do I need dealer help to pull the dash? My blower seems to still be working fine, but I don't want this to get out of hand and take out the blower motor, or worse yet, start growing a garden of mold under my floorboards. Any help?
 
#8 ·
Found this on JustAnswer.com...sounds pretty legit, was credited to a Mitsu technician. Anyone tried this? Sounds like threading a garden hose through the eye of a needle to me...

This drain is only accessible from underneath the vehicle. Note that if you have an AWD, you really need to have the vehicle on a proper lift to perform this repair. It is simply to tight to do lying on the ground

Access from the top is 100% impossible, so for a FWD you will need to put the front of the vehicle on jack stands or service ramps.

Laying underneath the vehicle, look at the center of the firewall where you will observe a set of metal brake lines running up the firewall then making a 90 degree turn toward the drivers side.
Right in the corner of that 90 degree turn you should see a hole drilled in the firewall of approximately 3/4" diameter.

You can pull the brake lines gently off the firewall (they are snapped into plastic looms) and stick your finger in the firewall hole and feel around. Looking straight at the front of the vehicle, the drain tube is inside the hole, down 3/4" and to the right (driver side) 3/4".

Needless to say, it is not extremely accessible. It is possible to get in there with a pipe cleaner or a compressed air gun with a 2-3" long nose on the end with practice. The first time will be a bear though.

Things to note:
If you only have water on the driver side and not the passenger side, and as well do not have any sloshing noises etc while turning, your drain is NOT clogged, but rather the draintube seal on the firewall has failed.

When this failure of the foam seal between the drain tube and the firewall happens, water runs down the bottom of the tube and runs right past the seal back into the car (think about pouring water out of a glass, how it runs down the side), thus only wetting the driver side.

There are two solutions to this problem; You can remove the entire dash and AC box and replace the seal (not fun, and around $700 in labor), or you can install an auxiliary drain hose onto the tube.

The second is not an official repair however the problem is so great on these vehicles Mitsubishi is doing this regularly rather than paying for dash removals.
The hose used is for the coolant overflow jug on a 00-05 eclipse. Is is exactly the same diameter as the drain tube.
To install, you will need to fish a flexible metal rod into the drain tube to guide the rubber tube, then slide the tube over it until it seats on the drain tube. This will permanently fix driver side floor problems.
Performing this repair out of warranty is typically about $150.
 
#9 ·
well we have had an interesting turn of events with our ac problem, we took it to the nearest dealer and they said that there was rust on the dash supporuts and that they couldnt coverit becuse it wasnt under warranty so we came home then a buddy called that used to work at a dealership in the service department dealing with warranties.He asked me if i checked the warranty and i told him no i didnt think about it well i checked it and the rust on the dash was covered under the rust warranty, then i get a call from mitsubishi asking me how i liked the service we recived from the dealer i told i didnt and then told them what happened well anyways she sent a email to the dealer and asked me if i wasnted to inclued anything in it i said yes and told her to site tsb 09-55-002.
A couple of days later i get a call from the dealer we took it to and they asked me tobring it back in to check it out again ,we did and the parts are on order and now we just wait.
after the ac is fixed then ill talk to themabout the the rust that was caused by the air box over flowing
 
#10 ·
my turn.. I just brought in my truck to have the oil change and they discovered this same exact problem, my floor boards were soaked. And when they pried open the drain plug from under my truck, water was dripping out. .. they quoted me $1124 to fix it.. I think I am just going to ride it out, and keep my air off for a while =)
 
#13 ·
no i mean the a/c drain tube..like the thread is talking about...
what usually happens is either the tube gets clogged with dirt and debris..u should also check your cars warranty history..there was a tsb on the early endeavors for debris getting into the air box..they changed the cover design to help stop debris from getting into the air box..

and the other thing is that the gasket between the air box and the firewall degrades and lets water run back into the car ..but this is less likely the problem..
 
#14 ·
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SRSONE @ Feb 25 2011, 09:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
no i mean the a/c drain tube..like the thread is talking about...
what usually happens is either the tube gets clogged with dirt and debris..u should also check your cars warranty history..there was a tsb on the early endeavors for debris getting into the air box..they changed the cover design to help stop debris from getting into the air box..

and the other thing is that the gasket between the air box and the firewall degrades and lets water run back into the car ..but this is less likely the problem..[/b]
actually, I think that the gasket you are referring to was the problem. they said the "AC Case Seal at my firewall is corroded" and it is causing the water from my ac to run under my drivers side floor board, and it is so full that they think my entire foam underfloor is most likely wet. But I can't tell from just touching the floor that it is wet...
 
#17 ·
Just to share a similar problem FYI. With my Endeavor, I also had massive amounts of water draining into the driver floorboard. ShopVac's full of water. Foam under carpet was throughly soaked, and pools of water under that. After doing some reading, I put her up on ramps and located the drain tube. It wasn't clogged, as water was still pooring out of it AND onto the passenger floor, as another member had stated. I brought it to a dealer in South Houston (where I lived at the time) and they told me some ridiculous number (over 1,000) it would be to fix the leak. However, he did state that there were additional drain plugs that could be pulled to reroute this water to the outside of the vehicle. This technician told me that it fixed 90% of the Endeavors he had looked at with the same problem. It was worth a shot, and only cost 150 or so. Worked like a charm. It's been about a year, and my floor is as dry as the day I got her. Living in Southern Lousiana now, I use my AC ALOT. Ask about this if your having the same problem, there were at least 3, maybe 4 plugs pulled. I can check if anyones interested, they are still in my center console. Probably could dig up the work report from the dealer too.
 
#19 ·
i would check the upper corners of the condenser they are known to leak there..

if thats where it is leaking- it wouldnt hurt to ask the dealer to fix it if u are that close to the warranty..
since it is a known issue..
 
#24 ·
Well, I pretty much did the TSB myself. Drilled the access port, cleared out leaves (and I had the **** pollen/cabin filter)... I even put in another drain port...

But... none of that has worked...

I still hear sloshing when going around a sharp corner. It's coming from the driver's side dash it would seem.

I left the carpet pulled up so I could see the leak while driving around. The wife really loves it...
Today, on the way into work (2mi drive) I took a corner and BAM water all on the floor. it's coming from somewhere...it seems to drain fine when I have the AC running and sitting still... iv'e cleaned out the pollen filter...

I don't know...water is coming from somewhere...

I will also say, do not use the "white foam" for the sealing of the drain/firewall connection. It apparently can't take the water+heat. In my photos you can see where the bottom foam just disappears. It was there 2 weeks ago... gone now. I'm in SC and it's been 100+* so maybe that's what's going on... Man, this stuff is used on my windows when installed!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64285309@N05/...57627016949088/

I'm just at a loss... done all the fixes...still leaks... it's got to be the box meeting the firewall and I need to get a dealer to do the tube through the firewall fix... that goes over the original drain tube. I think it's still leaking from the firewall/drain tube location. I'll have to look closer today and see if that's the issue. I'm worried that it's coming from somewhere else though... when I put the hole in the AC Drain box there was no rush of water.... very odd.
 
#25 ·
well......i admire your macgyverness.....

but the tsb on the early ones (04-05) was for debris getting into the box...the early ones didnt come with a filter ..it was optional and the cowl cover was redesigned to keep debris from getting down in there also...

the tsb also fixed a clogging issue inside the box..there is a foam seal that comes loose and blocks the drain in the corner of the box...just behind the drain...

the other issue is the seal that goes between the box and the firewall degrades and allows the water to run back along the tube and back inside the car..then runs down inside the car...


the tsb to fix the first issue has u removing the dash and taking apart the a/c box and fixing the drain...

the second issue is almost the same...removing the dash and replacing the seal...

or there have been some people who put a piece of hose on the drain and run it farther down away from the hole...

as far as water "sloshing" around.. there will always be water in the box while the a/c is running...if its running out of the box and getting on the floor...it sounds like the drain isnt draining correctly...


and for sealing the drain hole...if u go to a parts store there is stuff called a/c "dope" tape that is a sticky tape that i use when resealing a/c boxes that works pretty good for resealing the drain hole thru the firewall..



and i hope u are disconnecting the battery before u take out the seats....
 
#26 ·
Nah, why un-hook the battery terminal when taking out the seats? Those side air bags are practically free if they go off. It's a good look anyway... nice open wound on the side of the seat. Then you get to have that nice SRS light on the dash for years to come. It think it would be great, more lights the better.

Indeed that was the original TSB....and I had a few nicely mulched leaves in there. We were lucky enough to suck a stick or something into the A/C back in oooh, 2005ish. So... they installed the pollen filter holder then. Or at least that's how my wife remembers it... we didn't' even date then... :)

I've posted an update on the edmunds list and figured I would do the same here.

There are new photos and video on flicker.

I plugged the original drain hole from the inside. Then the new drain works like a champ... for now for course... but **** it's a paid for car and I'm not having the dealer tear apart the dash for hundreds of $$$. The dealer up here in the upstate doesn't even know how to fix it yet. Their fix (that's been returning to the shop recently they say) was to caulk the original drain hole with silicone. GREAT... so talk about hacks... I mentioned to them the Eclipse overflow pipe fix, though the firewall. They say that's not in the mitsubishi system... humm... or it's more labor to tear out the dash.....

So.. my fix, while not pretty seems to be working. Plug and Drain... that's the catch phrase.

And... thanks mitsu.. great design. Just keep the **** engine and transmission running... I'll be happy.
At least this is something we can fix at home... vs major engine/drivetrain troubles...

Here's the final video...I hope...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64285309@N05/...157627016949088
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top