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A/C Drain Clogged?

30K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  rollers888 
#1 ·
so the drain is clogged and my passenger floor board is soaked. I found the drain and took a hanger and shoved it as far as i could down it to try and unclog it but still no luck. What else can i do?
 
#2 ·
Goodluck with it man! Its a pain in the ass but keep trying to coat hanger you have to make sure it makes it up into the actual tube and not just the drain
 
#3 ·
The drain doesn't have to be plugged to have soaked floorboards. I've had two Dakotas that both did the same thing, and my wife's Grand Cherokee shared the same problem.

From the factory, the drain tube only sticks into the engine compartment by about an inch or so. When you're driving a lot with the air conditioning on, the underhood air currents blows the condensation around, and it can inevitably soak the foam grommet in the firewall and allow water to return back into the passenger footwell. I took the entire carpet out of my last Dakota and went for a drive. It didn't leak much - maybe a small bead of water running down the firewall every 5 seconds or so - but it obviously added up over time because I had an quarter-inch of standing water in my floorboard when all was said and done.

So if your drain is not really plugged, then the solution is to remove the passenger side wheel and fender liner, and then look for the shiny tin shield that covers the drain outlet. After removing the shield (two 10mm nuts), I then attached a 90 degree PCV (as in Positive Crankcase Ventilation) elbow and a 5 inch long section of rigid PCV tube that I picked up at my local Pep Boys for about $5. This routes the water down and away from the grommet. The top of the shield will need to be notched with tin snips if you want to reuse it, or you can discard it all together since it won't really be needed any longer.

It's maybe a 20 minute job, tops, and this procedure cured my water woes in all 3 of my vehicles that had it. Good luck.
 
#8 ·
Is it soaked with water or antifreeze? The heater core going will leak onto the passenger side.
 
#10 ·
Mine didn't drip freely on the ground either before I fixed it, reason being I guess is the exhaust pipe heating up the shield and the water evaporates right when it hits the shield. I went to the dealer about it and apparently there's a TSB on the issue. They gave me a rubber 90* pipe to stick on it and all was said and done, no more soaked carpet! You should be able to get it on without taking anything apart. I was able to reach my arm back behind the wheel well cover from the side and just barely reach the drain tube.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Yeah, your local Dodge dealer should have it, or be able to order one. It only costed me $5 and a few minutes of my time. And it's exactly as 024x4Sport said, the stock drain tube is so short it lets water run back on the foam grommet and it soaks through. Having a tube as an extension and a 90* turndown will keep the run-off away from the grommet.
 
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