2008 XC70 AC water leak - not drain?

[meehaneo]

Hello all,
I really need your help! Today I decided to clear that AC drain hose in my 2008 XC70. Its an EU RHD car so its a but awkward to keep the carpet pulled back! I pulled the hose from the plug and was really surprised that no water came out. I tried pushing a cable tie down into the floor valve, and it went in about 2 to 3 inches and then seemed like it was hitting a hard block. Couldn't get it past. Tried a length of strimmer wire and the same. Gently tried a coat hanger and the same - stopped at about two/three inches. It didn't feel like a spongy blockage, more like it was hitting a plastic ridge. But there definitely no water coming out of the disconnected hose.

Left the hose disconnected, put a towel under it and took the car for a drive with the AC on full.

When I got back the hose was dry, no water in the towel, but there was water in the rear right hand footwell again. The carpet liner sponge along the tunnel side (at the tunnel/floor crease) was wet too. But I could not feel any obvious wetness along the tunnel side, where it might be dribbling down to the floor.

So the water only appears in the rear right hand footwell, when I use the AC or demister, and its clear, and only about a tablespoon amount, so it's definitely AC related. But its not trying to exit via the hose.

Any pointers? I'm at a complete loss! Am I looking at bringing it to a Volvo dealer (kerching$:( )

Can't put the rear carpets back too until I get this fixed ...
For ref I saw this rust, but it was dry to the touch after the drive

[lrock]

is the car garage kept? have you had rain or any kind of precipitation before driving and finding the teaspoon of water? if the normal drainage passageways for water are blocked, it can sometimes find itself following weird paths, least resistance of course, but moving the car up hill, down hill, acceleration, deceleration, etc etc can cause water that had just been sitting somewhere along the way to finish it's journey. point being, don't get stuck on thinking it's condensation from the AC until you rule out other probabilities

in another thread you can read about a few of the problems that affected other vehicles and may or may not potentially affect yours; this will depend on whether or not a particular feature has been redesigned.

viewtopic.php?t=74089

[meehaneo]

Thanks for replying!

No the car is not garaged, it's open to the elements. I bought the car about two months ago, and discovered it had the issue with the windscreen sealant failing (the windscreen moved when I pushed it from inside and there was water on the inside after rain) - felt the rear carpets squelching - pulled the rear carpets to find about 2 inches of water! Pumped out the water (!), and got the windscreen resealed. The tech said the windscreen seals were indeed in a very bad way. Dried the carpets, and thought "that's it" - then saw the dribble of water.

I've tested it, and it only appears if I use the Aircon, either chilling or demisting. It doesn't appear if its been raining, and its always about a tablespoon of clear, clean water. Using brown paper it looks like its starting from the transmission tunnel side, going under the seat, then over to the right and settling in the rear right corner of the rear footwell.

I checked the sunroof drains and I *think* they are clear.

Someone had a problem on a different model Volvo with water coming in from under the windscreen cowl, where a piece of the aircon piping went through the bulkhead. Water worked its way under the cowl, down onto the pipes, through the bulkhead, behind the dash area to the aircon machinery and then down onto the transmission tunnel. He put a piece of curved plastic above those pipes to direct the water away and that seemed to work. Haven't gone down this road yet, cos pulling that cowl looks like a lot of work!

Just to add, I looked into how the evaporator box sits in the "climate box frame" and it seems its pretty open - condensation that forms on the evaporator fins, drops into the bottom of the climate box frame where there is a drip tray of sorts which I assume is connected to the drain pipe.

So I took a 10 inch piece of cable tie and pushed it up into the drain tube. I wondered if there was some gunk blocking the drain hole in the drip tray. It went all the way, but didn't release any water, and when I took it out there was no evidence of any blocking gunk on the end.

I'll run the AC again and see if water appears, If it doesn't then maybe the drip tray blockage was the problem. If not, back to the drawing board!