water leak behind dash on 2009 S80 (at recirc damper unit?) Topic is solved

[FMradio]

Greetings!

I am trying to diagnose a water leak into the right side floor of a 2009 Volvo S80. During today's heavy rainstorm, I found water running down the footwell's back wall. Water comes from behind the dashboard at right of its center.

I see water running down from the right edge of the recirculation damper unit. It's running on the inside edge of a foam seal around the recirc unit.

Or perhaps the water is coming from above the unit, unless you know there's no other openings water can possibly come from. (Glovebox needs to be removed for me to see better)

This car has a new windshield, so I hope the factory Volvo windshield leak issues aren't in play here!

My research:

• Volvo sells seals for the hvac system, but I'm not sure if any are for the recirculation damper unit.
  https://www.volvocarsoempartsdirect.com ... t-31305739

• Here the seals look like foam, which I doubt is meant to seal off water: https://www.volvowholesalepartsdirect.c ... 5739.html

• Is rainwater expected to reach the recirculation damper? On this new S80 model, I don't see an obvious drain tube in photos from a thread by VCA about the blower motor.

• And the gasket looks to be non water tight foam.

• Aforementioned Volvo parts website does not have any drain tubes in an HVAC diagram apart from the AC drain tube, I think.

Then surely water is not supposed to get to the recirculation unit like it has on my car, unless it is dripping from above.

VCA's blower motor post: viewtopic.php?t=62130

Is water expected to drain into the recirc damper unit? If not, then how should I fix it? Thank you a lot for looking at my post! You make owning these cars a lot easier and you do a great service for us.

Photos and video attached

Additional question:

Does the recirculation damper unit attach to the a/c evaporator box above it? Maybe rain is getting into evaporator box, and instead of draining thru the a/c tube drains down into the recirc damper unit. As you can see in diagram from Volvo parts website:
(Parts website)https://www.volvowholesalepartsdirect.c ... 65938.html

But why would they make a part without a drain the lowest point in the system?

[FMradio]

If I find anything out I'll be sure to let you know. Despite the hard rain, the amount of water was minimal. The problem is that it accumulates under the carpet and can't dry easily.

My theory is that there is a drain tube further up in the HVAC system, perhaps under the cowling, that is not draining fast enough and allowing water to go further down into the HVAC system.

The AC drain tube seems to be draining well from draining the AC, but maybe it's partially clogged

But maybe it is instead something above the recirculation damper that is leaking. It's weird to me that the damper will leak from the side rather than the bottom edge, since I'd expect the bottom edge to be leaking where water naturally accumulates. (But the seal is not watertight so it's possible it's leaking as soon as the water contacts it on the right side. Other explanation is that a point above it is leaking and running water down the side)

[FMradio]

I found it. I think.

It appears the water is most likely coming from slightly above where i circuled in the previous photo, which is another air vent with a light colored (like masking tape) foam gasket.

And I took off the cowling under the windshield and I found a opening for the air vent, where the recirculation damper or some kind of door is. (On the right side of the car)

And it was wet so water was probably getting in there. So I got a sheet of aluminum and covered it up bending it in a way so water will drain off the sides of the aluminum covering. (As there are some electric connectors in the cowling area in front of the vent opening that I don't want water draining on to constantly)

And it appears that the plastic cowling is supposed to go into a grooved rubber seal at the bottoms of the windshield, but that doesn't work perfectly or may even be disconnected and water will wick under the cowling onto your vent.

I circled in the photo the vent I covered up to prevent water from entering, and I will post a video after editing it to show how I did it. But I'm sure you can figure it out yourself It's fairly simple.

It does appear water is expected to get under the cowling because there's drains in the compartment under there and it was already wet after it rained (unless it's just because my car is old and water is not supposed to get in there). But most of the water is supposed to run along the cowling off the sides of the car rather than into that compartment under the cowling.