Air Conditioning water exit

[yoseff]

Few days ago i put A/C to work , however i saw no water falling outside the car. I'm currently with center console "half dismantled , as today i decided to fix the bizone AC sending warm air to one side and cold to other,

My question is: Where can i find the tube from A/C? (where water gets expelled outside)

Thanks

[Peter.N.]

You will only usually find water running out after you turn the aircon off and the frost melts.

Peter

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes ^ it's more obvious in warmer / hotter temperatures where the water evacuation can be seen more prominently.

[yoseff]

My question is because when i got the car , i had water in the driver's footwell (Left Hand Drive) , and i had several suspects , like the clogging of that area near windshield or the sunroof. However , i keep the AC condensation evacuation tube (Probably it has a more technical name , but i guess you got what i mean) clogging also as a suspect. So , as i probably without disassemble much more , may access that tube , i'd like to check if it is clogged. It will be better now , that to find that on summer , when beside being warm , i'l have way less spare time to disassemble things

By the way - i Disassembled the A/C console to clean inside , but i just found a fan inside without any visible temperature sensor... Maybe this one has the interior temperature sensor in other place?

[GiveMeABreak]

Pop the VIN up (please post your VIN in full without spaces - it will be automatically masked from public view after submitting your post & will only be visible to staff) for the specific vehicle you are talking about as there are different systems for both models and trim levels.

[yoseff]

Pop the VIN up (please post your VIN in full without spaces - it will be automatically masked from public view after submitting your post & will only be visible to staff) for the specific vehicle you are talking about as there are different systems for both models and trim levels.

Sure. It's an Citroen C5 Break 2.2 Hdi from 2004. Here is the VIN: VF7**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]
Thanks

[GiveMeABreak]

Ok, so the water evacuation pipe is on the left hand side of the heater unit and should go directly out to plug at the other end that may or may not have a further hose for the water to fall onto the road.

If you have water on the left side of the car, consider:

1) Leaking Heater Matrix
2) Water accumulation in the front door from blocked water holes underneath bottom of the door (where the sill is). Water gets in via the window channels and weather seals and accumulates there. Whenever the door is slammed shot it causes small amounts to get ejected and this then fills up on the floor over time. Check the small holes are unblocked.
3) A bad rubber seal in the door weather strip.
4) A crack or bad seal in the windscreen seal

[aspire_helen]

Regarding the condensation drain. The quickest way to check it is remove the cabin filter and pour some water inside. If the pipe is still connected and not blogged the water will immediately drain out of the pipe on to the floor.

Beforehand, I recommend you poke a camera inside the cabin filter aperture. You will see the photo below ie the front face of the evaporator matrix (and the cooling fins for the fan resistor). If the car has ever been run without a cabin filter, or a damaged filter, you may find debris inside. Also, expect to find some green mould. In a worse case, if the pipe is blocked, I suspect the water level would rise until it reached the cabin filter aperture. The drain pipe is actually connected to rectangular tray directly under the evaporator. The tray runs the full width of the heater unit and has a seal. It is retained by 2 screws at one end and plastic tabs at the other. I doubt its seal has failed.

[aspire_helen]

Regarding the heater unit controller. The tiny PCB-mounted fan draws in cabin air and passes it over a thermistor to measure its temperature. The photo shows 2 types of thermistor used. The right one with the orange blob is obvious. The tiny component on the left is less obvious.
This was the state of mine before I dusted it off last year (after 20 years).

[yoseff]

Great information you shared here.
Like i said before , i disassembled those to repair the problem of cold air to one side and warm to other. Is there already some info about that fix here?
As i learnt a lot about that in a Spanish Citroen forum , i can share some of that info here and what i learnt on the (hard) process ( Maybe in a new post , or in viewtopic.php?t=73160&sid=b366a44b2b340 ... 44814f6e8c - Citroen C5 Mk1 2.2 hdi needing "some" care ? )
Probably in your cars is the same, but as steering wheel is in the other side , the access may be a bit distinct.
Till now i just repaired the left side (One of the 2 motors - need to do the same to the second one on the top, to prevent problems in the future)
It's incredible how Citroen kept using the short shaft motor for so many years , even knowing the problem... If i'm not mistaken , only after 2006 they start using the "better" part from Lucas , with the long shaft.

[yoseff]

Regarding the heater unit controller. The tiny PCB-mounted fan draws in cabin air and passes it over a thermistor to measure its temperature. The photo shows 2 types of thermistor used. The right one with the orange blob is obvious. The tiny component on the left is less obvious.
This was the state of mine before I dusted it off last year (after 20 years).

Mine has the small thermistor. I did clean it all with a brush, but didnt thought that such a tiny part would be the thermistor. It's free from dust, anyway , and after i take care of the rest of the motors, i'll check if inside temperature read is correct, with Diagbox.

Another thing to sort out is that dammn gummy stuff on the rolling buttons. They are super sticky at the moment - yuck

[yoseff]

Ok, so the water evacuation pipe is on the left hand side of the heater unit and should go directly out to plug at the other end that may or may not have a further hose for the water to fall onto the road.

If you have water on the left side of the car, consider:

1) Leaking Heater Matrix
2) Water accumulation in the front door from blocked water holes underneath bottom of the door (where the sill is). Water gets in via the window channels and weather seals and accumulates there. Whenever the door is slammed shot it causes small amounts to get ejected and this then fills up on the floor over time. Check the small holes are unblocked.
3) A bad rubber seal in the door weather strip.
4) A crack or bad seal in the windscreen seal

Well , Eliminating possibilities:
1 - Water Matrix i dont think it is , as i change the water for citroen coolant , and nothing yet appeared inside again.
2 - Front door , it seemed too much water on the floor to be that. Anyway , i already unblocked water holes there, "justincase"
3 - The seal was bad , at the level of where door locks. Already changed the whole door rubber and now it seems to seal well
4 - The windscreen seal o dont think it is , specially because water seems to have come from the center console (The bolts where SRS box is secured, are a bit rusted , so there is signals that water traveled by there)

So , my bets are either that area between the engine compartment ans windscreen , where air is collected to come inside - it had a ton (literally) of trash from being under some trees... And was clogged. Now is clean and water have way to pass , or that tube from AC , and that's what i intend to check as soon as possible , before reassemble the bits inside.

With the great info i got , it will be easier to look if the tube is clogged.

[GiveMeABreak]

I forgot to mention that last one regarding leaves blocking the scuttle area water drainage - evacuation slits are in the wheel arch linings. These do get blocked and water can overflow into the vehicle air intake, so do check those carefully.

[dulenator]

Great information you shared here.
Like i said before , i disassembled those to repair the problem of cold air to one side and warm to other. Is there already some info about that fix here?
As i learnt a lot about that in a Spanish Citroen forum , i can share some of that info here and what i learnt on the (hard) process ( Maybe in a new post , or in viewtopic.php?t=73160&sid=b366a44b2b340 ... 44814f6e8c - Citroen C5 Mk1 2.2 hdi needing "some" care ? )
Probably in your cars is the same, but as steering wheel is in the other side , the access may be a bit distinct.
Till now i just repaired the left side (One of the 2 motors - need to do the same to the second one on the top, to prevent problems in the future)
It's incredible how Citroen kept using the short shaft motor for so many years , even knowing the problem... If i'm not mistaken , only after 2006 they start using the "better" part from Lucas , with the long shaft.

Can you send me the link for the "one side cold, other side warm" repair?
I looked through the forum but found no posts about that. There is probably something, but my search hints returned nothing useful.

[aspire_helen]

Ref the "dammn gummy stuff"......the soft touch coating can be removed by abrading with WD40 on a cloth, resulting in a smooth black finish (see photo). Since then I have also done the radio volume knob.