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a/c is leaking water in my floor board

103K views 157 replies 90 participants last post by  Rei The Mitsclipse 
#1 ·
what the hell is goin on, i think i am losing a/c charge :confused:
 
#4 ·
I literally just came inside from fixing this issue. I drove from Atlanta to Montgomery AL Sunday night, when I got home there was over half an inch of water on the drivers side floor board.:(

I had to take out the center console to get to the condenser pan and I still could not get the pan all the way off. I was able to open it up enough to use a long attachment to vacuume most of the crap out.

The condenser was really covered in crap also. No wonder the a/c didn't work well at idle.

Thank you Mitsu for removing the cabin filter so all the crap clogs the drain and covers the condenser in funk.:nuts:
 
#61 ·
Here's some pics.
The cover is this one that you can see hanging down with the flashlight shoved in. Take it down and you can see the evap core. It is big enough to be able to brush of the core and vacuum everything out. You can't really reach the drain hole if it is plugged though.
 
#9 ·
I am so glad that I found this thread... I was about to go crazy trying to figure out why there was a puddle of water forming in my floorboard! It started on a trip back from Nashville on one of the hottest weeks that we have had here. Now every time I go somewhere and use my AC, I have to dry my floorboard out. Thanks for this tutorial! I will have to demolish my interior pretty soon, I suppose. :(
 
#19 ·
well, after picking up a shirt from my back seat I realized that it was soaking wet.. i pulled the front mat and the same thing. Would the condensor being like this also cause the light to blink when the AC is turned on.. I've checked my pressure several times.. sometimes the AC will work sometimes it won't. I will try and does this tomorrow as long as it's not raining here in Houston.

Erep for the How-To
 
#20 ·
I got water under my driver side mat today after wash and waxing. Found a hole where some previous owner ran speaker wires. Caulked it up with silicone. But after reading this, I think Im gonna go out tommorow and check out my AC drain plug. Question tho. I have a 00 GS with the cabin air filter and actually replaced it about 6 months ago. Anyways would I even need to worry about cleaning the AC drain plug if I have this filter? Thanks in advance
 
#22 ·
Everyone calls it a condenser. It's actually the Evaporator. Just FYI. I'm knocking on wood that I haven't had this problem so far. Eight years next week and not a drop, and the AC is still good and cold.
 
#23 ·
I had 3 inches of water in my car last week....yes i measured. Over that past week i had driven near 1700 miles. AC in use the entire time.

I ripped out the interior of the car and was able to jamb my hand and a shop vac into the back and rip out the crud, leaves, and pine straw. How in the shit did that even get in there. Hopefully i wont have any issues. A/C is a lot cooler now thats for sure.
 
#67 ·
I ripped out the interior of the car and was able to jamb my hand and a shop vac into the back and rip out the crud, leaves, and pine straw. How in the shit did that even get in there. Hopefully i wont have any issues. A/C is a lot cooler now thats for sure.
How in the shit is right...looked like I had enough red thread in there to sew a Chinese flag. And BTW ripping out the interior sucks, but look here for help:
http://www.club3g.com/forum/maintenance/526-how-remove-front-seats-carpet.html
You *will* be able to get the front carpet out without having to take the rear seats out, but you will need to lift them: look for the little black ring, and pull/hold that so that the seat will lift freely.


I hope you guys are all pulling up the carpets and drying them out with a fan or something over night. Otherwise it will be stinky mildew city in there.

I pulled my console, seats and carpet the other night.
I have been driving around with the console and carpet out for a day or two to make sure the leak has stopped after blowing it out with compressed air and it has not!!!!! It is unclogged but I dont know if the rubber is rotted away and not sealing or if I blew compressed air too hard or what.

There is alot of water that gets trapped under the tar mat too and it will rust if you do not get it.
I did the same thing, it's gonna have to stay out for a few days till I get around to completely fixing the problem. I need to clean them (they were already mildew city to the point where my car was getting moldy, no wonder), but I am also thinking about taking apart the lower half of the evap case because I couldn't get it as thoroughly cleaned as I would have liked. I'll try running the water trick first, but running the A/C didn't seem to cause any leakage.


Thoughts/experience on pulling the lower half of the evap case off, anyone?

EDIT:
Sh%#...
What's the lifespan on not having to put one in? I'm an '01, and it's made it about 9 years... I'll just have to try to sell it before it comes back!
 
#26 ·
I hope you guys are all pulling up the carpets and drying them out with a fan or something over night. Otherwise it will be stinky mildew city in there.

I pulled my console, seats and carpet the other night.
I have been driving around with the console and carpet out for a day or two to make sure the leak has stopped after blowing it out with compressed air and it has not!!!!! It is unclogged but I dont know if the rubber is rotted away and not sealing or if I blew compressed air too hard or what.

There is alot of water that gets trapped under the tar mat too and it will rust if you do not get it.

THERE IS A TSB ON THIS PROBLEM!!!

It says to install a filter between the blower motor and the EVAP case.

I called Mitsubishi part department about the filter and told the guy what the problem was and he said there is also an updated drain tube modification that can be done with a Galant drain tube. It is $13.00 so I am getting it. I really dont see a way to get the lower EVAP case off and completely out of the dash to install this piece without pulling the dash board.

I will get the part tomorrow and try to talk to the techs. They are really cool with me since I am a tech too. I will report back to this thread and let you guys know if I end up pulling the dash and Evap case this weekend.

I was not sold on just cleaning up the mess and trusting the leak was gone. It is a pain to drive with no carpet for a few days but it is worth it not to have to revisit this issue again and I am laying dynamat on the floor and possibly the firewall too while all this is going on.
 
#27 ·
I have the same issue with my 02 GT as well. This forum in particular has helped to solve my issue and for that I thank you. Expecially Slo Mo for the pictures, you rock!

I've posted this on a few sites.. but here is my experiance with the ac drain and how I fixed mine. Hopefully this helps someone as much as Slo Mo's pics helped me:

1 Check to see if your drain tube is clogged and causing the water to back up into the evaporator pan (the one at the lowest point on the dash). Clearing the tube should be your first attempt to fix it. I used a coat hanger and a pair of pliars to bend the hanger and removed the air intake assembly to access the firewall.

2 Check your evaporator pan to see if it is clogged with junk from the lack of a cabin air filter. Only the 2000-2001 cars had this filter. 02+ do not. You can gain some access to the pan by disconecting the ducting after the blower motor... access it from under the pass side glove box area. I cleaned a whole handful of leaves/hair/gunk out of there. Then flush it with a few gallons of water to make sure your drain tube is working. You can add a cabin air filter pretty easily.. there is still a template on the ac blower for where the filter went on earlier cars. I plan on doing this as well in a few weeks.

3. your drain tube can be fully functional, but have a bad seal around the firewall. This is what was wrong with mine. There is a cheap foam gromet that mitsu used where the tube exits the cabin thru the firewall. Mine was still leaking thur there even after clearing the tube and pan. My answer was to silicone the living crap out of that area around the tube. Its not easy to get to it.. but I was very liberal with the silicone so hopefully it fills in any leaks.

4. could be other things like a crack in your pan... heater core.. ect. However, I would guess its one of the first 3 things. Especially if its pure water.. no antifreeze or anything. I'm new to the 3G world, but in my research on the web... seems like the drain tube is almost always the culprit.

PS your drain tube exits your firewall into the engine compartment on the drivers side... right next to the steering column. You will see a small tube protruding about half an inch straight out from the firewall. It does NOT look like a drain tube and you will probably search for it for at least 20 minutes. I did. Its located right next to the motor mount, twoards the bottom of the firewall and you may have to move some of the heat shielding mat to see it. You will not be able to see it by crawling underneath the car. Best bet is to locate it from the top by taking off the air intake and if you need to, navigate by touch to access it from the bottom. Not a very accessable spot for the tube if you ask me.
 
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