Fluid leak in passenger footwell

[trovergraywilson]

Already searched, can't seem to find info on this.

2002 LTD, love her to death. Ran errands all afternoon and went through an auto carwash, high-pressure, no brushes, before I came home. Spent a few min detailing her afterward and went to grab my backpack out of the front passenger seat. Blue fluid leaking from the top right corner of the front passenger footwell. Flipped my unholy $#!% and cleaned it up before I thought to take a picture (kinda particular about this car). Maybe 4-6 oz all caught by the WeatherTech liner, just a bit of carpet damp. Clear/black plastic housing in top right of the footwell seemed to be the culprit.

Hasn't happened before, but I will say in the high-pressure carwashes I'll occasionally get water in the fan from the fresh air intakes - sucks but chocked it up to a design flaw, and I love my boxy design-flawed-T4R. Crank the defrost with AC and run it on max heat for a few min to evaporate any water that got in.

Thoughts? Sunroof drainage? Another leak? Thanks.

 

[GGFerrier]

Check the splash guard... Water intrusion from the antenna grommet. Also check the firewall where the wires come into the passenger side.

 

[GGFerrier]

Fix- flexible marine sealer

 

[RPS99SHO]

What color is your windshield washer fluid? Was the car wash soap blue?

 

[trovergraywilson]

What color is your windshield washer fluid? Was the car wash soap blue?

[MENTION=133963]GGFerrier[/MENTION], thanks, did all of that, no further leak right now. [MENTION=135299]RPS99SHO[/MENTION], I think the washer fluid is blue and checked the line up to the spray jets on the hood, no problem. Yep, on point, the foam wax in the wash was bright blue, same color. Figure some of that got in through the fresh air intakes. Also, got her waxed a couple of weeks ago and have been cleaning wax off the roof rack rails, weatherstripping, antenna grommet, basically everything (sloppy) incl the sunroof, plastic and rubber - was rubbing and compressing the weatherstripping from up top for a while tonight.

Blue fluid in a puddle underneath the RF firewall and AC condensation seem fine. May've just been the carwash. Any tips on ways to avoid this?

Thanks again. :cheers:

 

[SnoViking]

My truck leaks at the same spot if I have the ait fan running with the fresh air intake open during a car wash. I'm guessing it is coming in when the underbody is washed. I now flip the air to recirculate when going through.

 

[Myrunr2010]

Any tips on ways to avoid this?

Thanks again. :cheers:

A 5 dollar bucket and sponge with a little dish soap?

 

[trovergraywilson]

[MENTION=100632]SnoViking[/MENTION], nuh-uh. Sat in line today and clicked it over to recirc, and then clicked it back and thought, "can't be that easy." If recirc is on and water is forced into the intake, is it blocked or would it still be able to find a way into the fan? Thanks.

 

[trovergraywilson]

A 5 dollar bucket and sponge with a little dish soap?

If only, no hose/spigot that'll reach the street. City problems. Miss it, remember washing cars in the driveway growing up.

 

[diverscale]

A 5 dollar bucket and sponge with a little dish soap?

That does not solve the water intrusion problem, thanks to these kind of advices, he could come up with corrosion problems inside his fresh air intake piping if nothing is looked at. (which is happening to mine)

I have the same problem with my truck, happened during heavy snow-melting a week ago, while running through a lot of water puddles. Water was getting all over the windshield and wipers area (where the fresh air intake is located)

Water was dripping from the fan assembly. Took the fan off and had a look, seems like it is not the first time. All the metal parts in there are light to medium corrosion, enough that if let alone it could cause some failures, so this is a problem that must be solved. I guess there is something like a drain, where the outside fresh air intake is located, that when blocked prevents the water from running out of the surrounding location. I'll take the trims in front on the windshield off as soon as it gets warmer here and have a look at it. I also had a look at the A/C drain, used a small stick through it, but it didn't seem stuck.

 

[trovergraywilson]

[MENTION=84331]diverscale[/MENTION], thanks, let me know if you find anything else. @ this point I'll def check the blower to ensure no corrosion. Needs to be lubricated anyway, getting a chirp when it's on high.

 

[Myrunr2010]

That does not solve the water intrusion problem, thanks to these kind of advices, he could come up with corrosion problems inside his fresh air intake piping if nothing is looked at. (which is happening to mine.

I think the OP realized it was a joke, guess you did not...

 

[diverscale]

[MENTION=84331]diverscale[/MENTION], thanks, let me know if you find anything else. @ this point I'll def check the blower to ensure no corrosion. Needs to be lubricated anyway, getting a chirp when it's on high.

When you remove your fan, get under the resulting hole with a flashlight. Look up there and this is where you'll see if it's been dripping for long or not, with the said corrosion.

In mine, I could see that water was splashed everywhere, and its probably been like that for a while, it just never had enough water to drip down the fan into the cabin.

Worst case, I'll have to take appart the dash and look further into it, and clean the AC evaporator at the same time.