9-5 aero HOT leaking water into rear footwell

[derek adams]

Hi
I have an Aero HOT estate (Jan 2002) and all is well except for a bubbling sound we recently heard in the car – just after turning the key to restart it after leaving it standing on a warm day – and noticed the rear – drivers' side – floor was wet (my wife thinks passenger side rear floor is damp too). It's obviously something to do with the air con. The pipe beneath the car does drip condensation as it's meant to but I'm wondering whether it's not dripping enough and the pipe/s is/are blocked and it's backing water up into the rear foot well. The air con still works fine. hope you can help.
Derek

[Al's Red Wagon]

WELCOME!

Had this problem right after I bought my 9-5.

I got it used with 25,000 mi on it in 2002. It was a 1999 though. This led me to believe that it sat on a lot for at least a year somwhere before I found it.

Definatley have heard the bubbling before (under your seats?). And once they get full and you get the car going in the right direction(s), the water (condensation) will spill out of the recirculate intakes under the seats.

Now I don't know how they fixed it, but they did tell me that both of my condensation drains were plugged (waranty repair). I think I've read something about using an air compressor to blow out the lines, but I'm not quite sure.

In either case, I'm quite sure that there should be TWO drips of condensation coming from under both the driver's and passenger's side from both of the drains.

Good Luck,

Al

P.S. Might want to do some drying out of your interior to stave off the ensuing mildew problem that comes with this issue. Open up the car doors for a couple of afternoons on sunny days and let the air blow through and maybe hit it with some Lysol. I put a room fan on the door and raised theseats as far as I could.

[derek adams]

Thanks for the quick reply Al

We'll look into it and in the meantime follow your advice to keep mildew at bay

all the best

derek

[Kermit]

Derek, if you can wield a screwdriver you could check it out yourself........instructions below.

[derek adams]

what an amazing site this is. many thanks for your instructions Kermit.

all the best

Derek

[DoctorPhill]

A little add-this hose clips are hard to open-so do it with instrument-i prefer surgical needle holder with lock on,but there must be similar pincers also.
Before start with dash opening,you may lift the car and with small screwdriver
reopen the hole-it has a kind of diaphragm which clogs up from mud ,oil etc.I clean it with some alcohol and both of valves work ok now,but if it doesn't help-open and pass the air or water with big syringe through it .

[Galen]

I have the exact same problem in my 2000 9-5 wagon . . . I just finished sopping up about a full liter of water from both rear footwells.

Can you clarify what the instructions mean by "filter housing"? Does that mean the center console cover? Or is this something I can get to from under the car?

Thanks, Galen

[Kermit]

If you look in the passenger footwell there is a "lump" beneath the glovebox on the centre console. Its attached by 3 studs...push the middle in approx 5mm to undo the studs, push the centre out from the rear and then click the centre of the stud flush to reattach.

[Galen]

Kermit, thanks for the tip, that diagram was the trick. Pulled the drain hose & the outlet was completely plugged. Drained more than a liter of water out of the carpet & drain combined, letting things dry out as I type. Hopefully this saves me an expensive trip to the dealership!


Galen