Has anyone had an issue with water leaking though the seal where the AC drain goes out through the bulkhead at the front of the center driveline tunnel? I tried squishing in some butyl rubber headlight sealing rope caulk but it does not seem to have helped. Has anyone had this and know what to do about it? I use my AC heavily more than half the year so I need to fix this... Any tips?

More info: I had the much more usual water leak coming of the blower motor but fixed all that with a new plastic cowl, and removing/cleaning/resealing the pollen filter housing to the firewall. That's when I spotted this smaller issue. It only happens when I run the AC, no leaks now from rain or the carwash. I removed the carpet trims from the center console to find/see the leak. I fished out the drain hose from behind the tunnel heat shield and blew it out with compressed air.

No signs the drain is or ever was dirty/clogged. Condensate drips out freely while running the AC and it blows out cooled air like it should.

The seal is kinda spongy but it still seems to be leaking around the seal mores than directly though but hard to be sure. The hose appears to attach just fine form what little I can see.

I'm also not clear if what is leaking is condensate(water) from the HVAC evaporator drain itself or if the cold air blowing out through the drain hose is causing condensation to form on the outside of the drain hose and seep in around the seal.

My car is a 2005 US-spec 3.0 AWD Automatic X-Type Sportwagon (estate).



Here's the leak. it leaks on both sides


Tried butyl headlight sealant caulk and it didn't seem to help much

Highlighted where it's leaking

Outdoors face ion the seal

Indoors face the seal

eBay pic of the outside

Hard to see but seems to be attached fine and no obvious signs of trouble

Here's where it was tucked behind the tunnel heat shield

Untucked. blew it out and no signs of blockage or dirt.

No responses so far. So I took out the heater core & drain pan. It looks like the water is wicking into the car through the spongy rubber bulkhead seal, the lower half of which is drenched. The drain hose fits on a bit wonky and the plastic outlet pipe is no longer round so I think that’s where the water is coming from.

Unless other have suggestions, I’m thinking seating the drain hose more deeply and maybe using a different style clamp (possibly supplemented with some silicone or buytl sealant around the outlet).

For the seal itself, it hopefully won’t be an issue if the leak source is cured but it still seems like it’s bad to have a non-waterproof seal. The part is no longer available and I’m less sure what to do about that once I dry it thoroughly… maybe soak it with something like a thinned out water cleanup silicone sealant (but I worry it might no longer compress adequately after that dries), or just heavily treat it on all sides with silicone grease. Recasting it in rubber or silicone or rubber seemed like overkill… anyone have thoughts?









There wash a spring clamp, it’s just not on in this pic