My drivers side floor mat was soaked thru, so i lifted it out of the car and the foam underneath was saturated with water. so i felt under the dash, and there is a box behind the center console that was covered with condensation. how do i fix this problem?

'88 XJ6 incase anyone needed to know.

Thanks in advance guys,

-Zippo

 

Seems the forums aren't working quite right. E-mail me at keith.loretta@sbcglobal.net, and I'll try to answer your questions. Keith.

 

I know it's an inconvenience but could you re-answer the question here on the forum, Keith? I think the forum's working now and I for one would like to know the answer to this one. My wife's 04 XJ8 has a slight musty smell from the A/C that I attribute (possibly) to condensation in the system.

 

One thing I do to help eleviate the musty smell is when I get close to my destination I shut off the compressor, turn the fan on highand allow the system to blow out most of the moisture.

 

The 4.2 has a programming thing for when you turn off the car, it will operate the blower motor on high for up to 20 minutes to get rid of moisture.
WDonovan, You likely need to first change the pollen filter. Right side under the little removable panel on windshield cowl. Also, then make sure the drain tube is clear in front of the filter. I have seen those get blocked with leaves and crap then flood the evaporator box and get into car. Also ruins the ecm.

 

Thanks FJT. The car only has 22k miles and the filter didn't smell musty but for the price of a filter, I'll replace it and check the drain tube. I once took the filter off and sprayed Meguires car odor remover into the intake while the A/C was running. I then repeated this with the heat running. It cleared up the smell for a few days but it came back. I think I'll try repeating this procedure once a week for a few weeks. Based on your remarks and those of George, this sounds like a (semi) chronic problem. I'll bet it's made worse by the filter itself which prevents air fromcirculating while the car is parked. I'll also put it on my "programming wish list". When I get to a half dozen or so changes, I'll make an appointment and have the dealer hook up the umbilical cord.

 

From my experience with cars, when you start getting water on the floor, it is either from the sunroof or the evaporator drip tray. Normally the sunroof issue is pretty self evident. The drip tray isn't quite so obvious. The drain tube for the drip tray can easily get plugged. I normally clear it using a bit of compressed air and blowing it from inside the car to the outside. Once all the water is drained, you can try running a bit of chlorinated water (bleach/water mix) through the drip trayto kill any mold/mildew that may have formed to get rid of the musty smell. I now have a set of special tools that I connect up to my air compressor that I can feed through the vent system to apply the compressed air to the drain.

Chris "Thermo" Coleman

 

thermo, so we're on the same page.... Is this drip tray actually the bottom of the housing in which the pollen filter sits? If not, where is it? I don't have any water in the passenger compartment, just a smell that comes when the A/C or heat is first turned on.

 

You probaly have a little standing water in evaporator case. Unfortunately in your car wdonovan, you need to remove dash to access it for cleaning.

 

It was the drain plugs that I was referring to. The drain lines come out of the car on either side of the transmission, under the car. You'll know if its coming from the AC pan, when you turn a corner rather sharp, you'll get a splash of very cold water on your feet, or worse yet, your wife's feet!

 

Also, as stated, the sun roof is another know leak source, the vent in front of the windshield wipers, both have drain tubes. Also, not quite so well known, but just as aggravating, the windshield wiper posts, where the wipers are attached, can, and will leak where they go through the firewall. A dab of silicone from under the dash will take care of that, but a little hard to get to. Front and rear windshield seals are also known to not seal like their intended to. Door seals also. Think that just about covers it. You would think the British would have better water proofing, being from a country with so much moisture!

 

i was able to fix the problem. it was the evap box under the dash that had water in it. the drain tubes were clogged, so i used my air compressor and blew all of the crap out of them. also as a future precaution, i used some RTV silicon to seal the tubes to the outputs. i will also keep in mind to check the evap box itself for any condensation every month or so. thanx for all of the help guys.

 

I love it when a plan comes together! I just re-read my last post, and I put drain plugs, but should have been tubes. But from my description of where they were located, you could tell what I was talking about. Anyway, I'm glad it was something so common, and really easy to take care of. Good job Zippo!