I think the evaporator has packed it in!!

Post by **tailor** » 26 Jul 2008, 20:48

List of faults:
1) swishing water sound when the fan is on high
2)water coming into the passenger side when turning left
3)fan bearing starting to groan when turning left
4)sucked out about 2 litres of water from the fan housing, see 3rd pic.
Now other than these problems..... the A/c works and keeps us cool.
No fault codes either!
What do you learned folks think?

In spite of my cabin air filter you can see junk at the bottom of the fins .

The above pictures are taken through the blower motor housing. The orientation is correct.
Just very damp inside, all the water had been removed with vacuum pump, see below.
We have had an extraordinary amount of wet weather here in Toronto, I had put it down to a leak through the windshield

and the fact that I park on an incline.

Vacuum pump/brake bleeder

Any idea if I can drive around with the blower motor out and should the A/C cycle? It will be Monday before I can get my hands on some parts.

chuckcintron · Post by **chuckcintron** » 26 Jul 2008, 21:03

You sure your climate box bottom drain port wasn't plugged? You shouldn't get anywhere that much water sitting in there...

-Chuck

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 26 Jul 2008, 21:05

I agree...you have a major clog. If your Evap isn't gone yet, it will be soon as it will basically rust out from all of that water. Btw, it won't cool and it will keep loosing its gas if the evap. is truly gone.

Post by **tailor** » 26 Jul 2008, 21:17

You sure your climate box bottom drain port wasn't plugged

And just where is this drain port you refer too!

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 26 Jul 2008, 22:09

tailor wrote:
You sure your climate box bottom drain port wasn't plugged
And just where is this drain port you refer too!

well, so now- that's the problem...it's at the edge of the pan that the evaporator sits in. There is a drain hose that meanders from there to the bottom of the car but it's very very hard to get to from below the car- and you know that to get to the evaporator and pan you basically have to take the dash out.

Maybe someone else has a suggestion for unclogging everything....drano???

chuckcintron · Post by **chuckcintron** » 27 Jul 2008, 06:18

I think it'll have to be gotten to from under the car and cleared with a wire rod or some similar implement. I think you'd have to pour way too much household drain cleaner into the unit before you'd have any chance if it getting to that drain. It'd have to seep past the evaporator, as well.

See the photo on the left side of page 18 in my evap writeup (linked in my sig)...you can see where the evap sits...the drain is on the bottom, behind it.

If it's that clogged up though, then the evap itself probably looks like the one in that photo...and you know what I'm going to say next...

-Chuck

Post by **JRL** » 27 Jul 2008, 08:53

This is what can happen when the cabin filter isn't changed regularly

Post by **tailor** » 27 Jul 2008, 08:54

Thanks a lot guys....Jrl would have already said it !
I will give it a go and see what the best angle of attack is.

Post by **vegasjetskier** » 27 Jul 2008, 08:58

Find the drain hole in the bottom of the car and suck out the clog with your shop vac.

You can drive the car with the blower motor out, but shut off the a/c or the evaporator will ice up. You won't get any cooling effect from it with the motor out anyway.

Post by **holler1** » 27 Jul 2008, 09:41

In my 98 V70 AWD I can get to the AC drain hose from inside the car, just to the passenger side of the front of the center console. Just pry up or aside the liners and look for a white hose coming from the AC to about maybe a foot in front of the gearshift etc. The hose pulls loose from the floor drain and you can squeeze it or probe it a bit to clean it out. I cleaned mine a couple of years ago and it fixed the problem with water swishing around, slow fan, etc. I have photos somewhere, but don't have time this morning to find them. I'll look again tonight. This drain is very hard to get to from outside the car at least on my AWD.