Chronic A/C issue

On my 1996 RMW my ac leaks in one little spot under the dash and moistens up my carpets. Latley I've been going with the windows down. How do I fix this issue. I re installed the rubber elbow join. My mechanic who flushed it for next to nothing the first time and free for me the second time said he doesn't wanna mess with it and didn't feel comfortable because he thought he'd do more damage. Since I'm in college and don't have time to work on it myself I thought I'd pony up and take it to a dealer. Does anyone know what exactly is wrong? If it is a quick fix I might be willing to take it on myself though.

You may have a heater core leak, which would moisten the carpet. It would also have a sweet smell. If you turned on the defrost, you possibly could have a film on the front window.

I would not bring it to the dealer, unless you can afford the bill.

Tom

Ok when I put my nose to the carpet it smells more like a gym bag or locker room. They said they'll flush it for 135 but if they have to take apart the dash they'll charge 1400. How hard a job is it to replace the heater core, I'm near home so I could spend a weekend doing it. And the leak is water, not coolant. The water itself smells and looks just like water.

My 1996 Roadmaster wagon did the same thing. There is only one drain for the tray under the evaporator, and it exits the passenger-side firewall. You've already located the rubber elbow, so you know where the drain is. I don't know what your mechanic did to "flush" the system, but it really is not "flushable" in the sense that all you can do is blow a solvent into the into the only exit.

Here's what worked for me: Remove the rubber elbow and fit a 1/2" section of soft rubber or plastic (Tygon?) tubing to a vacuum cleaner hose. Insert it as far as you can into the drain and work it around to see f you can pick up any schmutz that is in there. Next, hook the same tubing to a compressed air line (I used a pancake air tool compressed air tank at 60 psi) and blow a few shots of compressed air into the drain to force out more schmutz. More suction, then replace the elbow and hope for the best. It may work for you, it may not. But, it's a cheap and easy fix if it works, and it will do no harm.

There are foaming cleaners that can be used to kill mold and mildew on the evaporator, but I doubt that's an issue here. They don't open clogged drains.

If it is not a plugged drain, then you'll need advice from a mechanic that is familiar with the AC issue with this particular model car. I suppose the tray coudl be leaking, but that seems less likely. The most common issue seems to be impacted drains.

If it is antifreeze in the carpet, it will smell sweet, and will feel slippery between your fingers, and will not dry rapidly on your fingers. Old gym bag smell sounds more like just a wet dirty carpet. Are you losing coolant?

He just tried to clean it out. He said there was a ton of leaves too. I'm tempted to take it in and loose 147 bucks just to have someone who knows the car look at it and clean it out or whatever needs to be done. I know I'm an idiot for taking it to a GM dealer but if they try to charge too much I'll just try fixing it myself. Also my mechanic as honest as he is he can't speak English well so some things are lost in translation.

Not loosing any coolant. They water was sitting for a while so that might also contribute to the gym bag smell.

Leaves?  In the AC drain?  You might have leaves and a mouse nest in the air intake at the base of the windshield.  But you don't usually find stuff like that in the drain for the evaporator.

Try what I suggested.  What have you got to lose?

I will try that!

atlantadan wrote:

This is all until Phantom 309 emerges from underneath his troll-bridge and tells you that I'm doing it wrong.

Laughed so hard when I read this I spat my drink on my keyboard. Well done, atlantadan

Thanks for that! and hahaha! I wish I to be honest had the time for it. Not that I should even take it to the dealer but if i told the technician to read this post and then do the job they would probably throw me out of the dealership.

I found a crack in the drip pan at the drain, and that was the source of the constant leak in my OCC.

The pan is a pain to remove. You need a 5.5mm socket, and open end wrench (91-93 uses 7mm). The hidden screw at the firewall is the most difficult to remove, and you may need a flex shaft, or a 1/4 inch drive long socket with a long hex screw driver bit, and a 1/4 inch battery ratchet to get it out. You must put all of the screws back in, to seal the gasket. I also put some RTV on the gasket to make sure it seals. To get to it, you must remove the front door sill, under dash insulator, kick panel, and pull the carpet back.

If it is cracked, you can heat weld it back together. Make sure it does not have any resistance when reinstalling it. You can crack it again very easily.

atlantadan, that was actually good advice, why did you delete that? Thanks a lot theroadmasterking... I'll take a look again at it fred! ThankSS