1985 240 DL with mysterious moisture build up!

[85volvo420DL]

Greetings!

I recently bought a 1985 240 DL with 148k miles. The car is awesome and I love it (because it has AC). The only problem other than the engine temp. tends to get hot once in a while is there's moisture build up on the driver side floor. First i though that the carpet was wet from a car wash leak but it's always damp even after I've dried it numerous times.

I haven't gone internal (under the carpet) and snooped around yet; thought I'd ask first.

Any suggestions or known causes? Please help!

thank you for your time~

Owen
(1st post! new member )
1985 240 DL (white + AC )
1988 240 DL (burgundy + no AC )

[billofdurham]

Welcome to Matthew's Volvo Site.

There is a drainage hose from the bottom of the heater which sometimes chokes up. Although the hose is on the passenger side water is notorious for finding its way to other places. It is worth checking to see if this is your problem.

Remove the sound insulation on the right side.
Remove the side panel of the centre console on the same side.
Fold back the carpet at the transmission tunnel and you should see the hose from the heater and disappearing through a grommet in the floor.
Pull the hose out of the grommet then pull it straight down to remove it from the heater.
Use a cable tie to clean out the hose then put it all back together.

Bill.

[wojeepster]

the winshields are also known to leak. Mine had a leak when I bought it and I have heard of others getting a leak when they had the windshield replaced, so another place to look.

[ppcgm]

is the water clear, or is there antifreeze in it ?

[85volvo420DL]

i finally had some free time to look into it and tried Bill's suggestion. there was a ton of gunk in the hose and cleaned it up good. the problem seems to be fixed now. thanks for the help!

O