well, IMO, you need to run ur airconditioning often to make it work. You can't expect for something to work perfectly after not using if for a decad!! (exaggeration) but u get the pic. as for the water, it is prolly condensation, no biggy. It is normal. Have u checked ur coolant???

 

Dirt clogs AC drain holes ..... common problem, no matter how much you use the AC. If you have a cabin filter, and never drive with the windows down, it's less likely to happen.

I use compressed air to unclog the drain. But that just blows the dirt further back into the evaporator, and needs to be done over maybe once a year. You probably could try a wire.....not likely to hurt anything.

A clogged AC drain usually results in a bunch of water on the passenger floor....not nice. The alternative solution would be to entirely remove the evaporator/heater core housing, and clean it out....a last resort obviously.

 

How about it's not the drain. Those drains are not that easy to clog.

First off, we need to know what year and body style your Focus is. There is a cabin air filter that might be mildewed or even decayed as a result of age. This could be on all Focis made from 00-04. In 05, the cabin air filter is discontinued. To find it you'll need to remove the plastic cowl cover. Pop the hood, and look closely at the cowl. It should be two separate parts that wrap from just below the windshield to down a few inches on the firewall. Separate any lines or wiring that is connected to the cowl cover. Use a screwdriver to disconnect the plastic clips, should be 2, on the firewall side of the cowl cover. After that you should be able to lift it. The windshield side of the cowl cover is held in by clips that should pull up easily, if you lift it from the firewall side, the other side should just pop up.

After you get the cowl cover off, you'll see the cabin air filter. There should be a couple of nuts that hold it down, remove those, and the air filter can be removed. You'll have to find a new one at the dealer. I suggest spraying some sort of Lysol aerosol cleaner, or some other mold and mildew destroying cleaner that will not be toxic to the plastic down into the hole after removing the cabin air filter.

 

Hi,

Thanks for your input - Sorry if I didn't give enough info.

I have a 2000 Focus ZX3. It did NOT come stock with a CAF. I installed one last year. This year after everything starting smelling like dust and musty, I opened it up and took out the CAF. It of course had lots of dust and leaves in it. I took it out about one week ago now. So as of now I don't have a CAF currently.

I don't have moisture on the passenger floor at all. I just have a musty type of smell. The smell is almost gone though because I used some a/c spray I got from a car parts store, to hopefully kill the mildew.

So besides the smell, which I think I can control if I get the correct cleaner, I was mainly concerned if the a/c was draining properly and how to try to clean out the drain. I only wondered if the drain may be "clogged" because I don't see large volumes of water coming out of it. It does drip some but not much, and only after running a while. Maybe the drain is fine, but my evaporator is just really clogged up! I'll have to try some compressed air probably, but I'm not sure where I can go yet to try that out.

I've been looking around / calling around for the evaporator foam, but haven't found it just yet. Not sure if I'm ready to drop $60 on a can of foam yet either Kinda of poor these days. Otherwise I guess I will just put up with it for now ....

-niko

 

Take it somewhere and have the oil changed. Tell them to blow out the drain....maybe show them where the drain hole is located. Cheap fix.

Oh...that might not fix the musty smell. You can get something like Lysol....spray it into the air intake, and all the vents. Turn the blower on low for a few seconds (sucks the chemical into the system). Allow it to sit for a few minutes before using the blower.

 

Without a cabin air filter, you will be more likely to have dust and crap build up in the evaporator and the rest of the cabin air plenum. This will reduce the effectiveness of the evaporator, and help to retain moisture. If you have a cabin air filter, you should replace it, and keep replacing it every 3 months. I REALLY need to go find an earlier model Focus to steal a cabin air filter holder out of- it fits right where my screen does. I know there's tons of crap building up inside my air plenums that will cause me problems in the future.

I wrote earlier that it's not easy to clog that drain hole- but it's not impossible. Any paper stickers that were on the inside of the evap housing might have peeled off from moisture over the years, and any small paper or leaf that has been able to sneak past the cabin air filter holder will also end up somewhere in the plenum causing issues for you. Taking it apart means removing a good portion of the dash on the passenger side, and if you continue to have problems, then you should do that.

The hole you see goes directly to the evap core housing, anything that gets in there will drain to that hole over time- liquid goes fairly quickly. It's not like there's a long tube with a lot of bends in it going to the evap housing. It's a short tube, fairly large in diameter compared to old vehicles, and it's straight. What you have is buildup over a long time of dust, and then moisture, and maybe some organic material that is decaying and causing the smell.

 

Thanks for the input guys.

whynotthinkwhynot The only problem is I don't really see anything draining anymore. Only maybe after running for an hour or so do I see some small drippage coming out. This isn't normal...

bluefront: What about maybe getting a small diameter hose and shoving it up there and then blowing thru it as hard as I can? I think I may try that. Of course I will keep myself at a higher level so I dont get any nasty feedback so to speak.

-niko

 

Well you certainly could try blowing in there by mouth....or you could get one of those small air tanks from Auto Zone or somewhere. Fill it up at the service station. Much better chance of success.

If it really is clogged, you might get as much as a quart of water splash out when the blockage is cleared.

FWIW....my own Focus doesn't seem to drip out as much water as my Sentra. Can't explain it. It cools normal.

Oh....the other way crap gets in the evaporator is by getting sucked out of the open-top glove box, when you're on recirc.

 

Google "TSB 02-25-1", and search this form for "cabin leaks" Study the TSB, and read the posts. All sources of interior leaks are addressed, and all leaks can lead to dampness and mildew. There are 2 general catogories-

1-water from rain coming in through several places (usually the cowl) into the front interior, (pretty easy fixes).

2- condensate (water) from you AC condenser finding its way into the heating system and flowing out of the heating ducts under the rugs and padding of the front interior.. This can be caused by a clogged condenser firewall drain hose(easy fix) , or a bad condenser/case assembly ,or bad seal between the condenser /case assembly and the heating system (hard and expensive fixes($$$) . The whole dash has to come out to get to the condenser/case . Good luck.

 

Well sticking a wire up there must have helped - this morning is was very humid since it had rained overnight. After my 1 hour drive to work, I had the a/c running, and when I got there I got out and looked under the car and it was draining a LOT of water compared to what it used to. A nice puddle. I opened the hood and yep water was coming from the a/c drain area (just below where the heater hoses go into the firewall). So it seems I hopefully knocked something loose.

Now to ensure that the dead mildewy stuff is really dead....Still would like to get my hands on some FrigiFresh. Guess I'll call the local Ford shop and see what they got and how much it is.

I'm thinking if I have to get closer to the evap with the stuff, I could probably get access to the heater core / a/c evap housing easier by just taking out the radio and it should be right behind it there?

I noticed over the weekend that although the heater hoses enter thru the firewall near the bottom passenger side (to the right of the center of the firewall), the a/c lines connect up at the center top of the firewall. So the evap must be higher, or up high..


-niko

 

The amount of condensation that comes out is in direct relation to the size of the unit and the amount of humidity. If you live in a dry climate, you won't see a lot of condensation coming out. whereas here in the south, you should see the beginning of a river if your car is idling for 5 mins with the air on in the summer time.

I get hit with a bit of a musty smell when I first start my car and a/c. Funny thing is, my wife's brand new sentra has that same bit of musty smell to it when it starts up and we first turn on the a/c.

Welcome to the south I guess.

 

A/C Smelled musty, then like foot cheese

[drummer]

Thanks ti Niko!

I just did like he said, jammed a wire up the A/C drain line, then sprayed lysol through the system from under the coyle and in the vent behind the glove box. To remove the glove box there are three screw bolts at the base. Easy. It looks like R2D2 when you turn the recirc on and the vent opens behind the glove box, sprayed lysol in there too. Now my car makes a nice puddle when the a/c is on. SMELL IS GONE!

Thanks! Mike

 

I've had this problem with my SVT since I bought it last year. I had a pretty good idea that the water on the floorboards was from the a/c system because of what I had read and that it only happened while I had the a/c turned on. I finally decided that I didn't like hot water spilling onto my feet while making a turn, so I borrowed the neighbors ramps and decided to fix this annoyance. After locating the drain, I wasn't quite sure if I had the right piece because it had so much gunk on it that it looked like there was a cap blocking it off. I touched it and made sure it was the right thing, and the "cap" felt slimy...so I ran a cable designed for cleaning the bore of guns all the way up and a slow trickle of water came out. This worked, and there was so much wiggle room for it, that I decided to run a 9mm bore brush on the end of it. To my surprise, well over a quart of water poured out as fast as the little drain hole would let it, and on the end of the bore brush was all kinds of crap from inside the drain. Time will tell, but I am guessing that this will solve my problem. Thanks for the pictures!

 

The 2007 SE I bought new has produced a "stink" from the A/C from the first summer. The dealer, in Bakersfield, Ca., told me TOO D__N BAD. Running the fan for several minutes after shutting off the A/C to dry out the condensate is the dealers fix.
The unit does drain some when the car is stopped on an uphill driveway.
I saw a post years ago that showed cutting off the top edge/grill of the climate control intake under the cowling in front of the windshield-it's on the pass. side. It's plastic and about 2" tall. Then cut a piece of air filter for a tight fit into the intake housing. I bought a three phase electrostatic furnace filter at the hardware store. It's pricey but the smallest size will make several filters. After forgetting about the filter for 2 years I changed it. The old one started out bright green and came out black. The filter doesn't work when recirculating cabin air but it is better than oem, which is none.

 

The best way I have found to clean mine is to use a wet/dry vac.

1. Rod the drain tube with something soft like a 12” ty-wrap or a stranded wire so as not to damage anything inside.
2. Slip some ½” heater hose over the drain tube and secure the other end onto your wet/dry vac with duct tape.
3. Remove the left center air vent in dash.
4. Turn on vac and pour a ½ gallon or more of water down the air duct. You will hear your vac sucking the water and crap out.

That’s all there is to it. Plain water will work fine, but adding a little pine scent Lysol wouldn’t hurt. If you haven’t cleaned yours before, you might be surprised at what comes out!

 

Simple household bleach makes a good cheap mildew killer but you use it in a fashion so that you are not breathing it. We used bleach commonly on cleaning a/c unit mildew clogs.

 

You might want to think about before trying it. Bleach is corrosive to evaporator coils. So, if you use it, you would have to make sure it is rinsed off completely. Also, you would want to be very careful not to spill it in your car.

Bleach works great in home A/C condensate drain lines. But again, don't spill it on your carpet.

 

Passenger Floor Well Flood

So just to clarify for myself ... the drain line out of the evaporator just used gravity, not a pump or anything ... is that right?

If you blow air back through the line from the outside in, wouldn't that push the crap back to the evaporator and gum *that* up?

 

Flooded Passenger Floor Well

So just to be sure (I don't always follow things smoothly) it's a gravity feed out through the firewall to the drip, is that right? No pump involved?

If you blow the line out w/ compressed air starting at the outside (where it drips out) in toward the evaporator, isn't going to leave all that crap at the evaporator ... and not really solve the problem?

 

Yes, it is gravity drip out of the evaporator case.

I wouldn't blow it at all! That just puts all the crap back in the case. Use suction to clear the line.

If you really want to give the evap case a good cleaning, then remove the blower and resistor block and get inside the case with the wet/dry vac using the small hose. You may have to use a mirror to see what you are doing, but you can get it super clean that way.

My evap case had a bunch of leaves piled up in there because it didn't have a fresh air filter.

 

PhilZ - you could also have water getting into the air inlet from the top, that won't drain through the condensation drain - it ends up on the floor instead.

Plastic cowl is supposed to divert it to the side when intact & working right so it doesn't go down the inlet.