conaero
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As the better weather starts to come round again, be prepared this year and not have water dripping on your open toes in you Jesus creepers, clean out your pollen filter and aircon drain:
You will need a new pollen filter (DESMO B838 £20-40) as you old one will be soaked and not usable.The drain tube that goes throught the transmission tunnel just by the drivers left foot gets blocked and then the water backs up into the matrix, then the pollen filter and then over to the blower motor on the passenger side, leaking out of the seals in the motor or where the wiring for the fan unit is.
Quick Fix
There is a big black drain tube that runs from the middle of the tunnel top to where the foot rest is for your left leg. Remove the tube by pulling it up and out and the unit should dispense all the water on to the carpet, so have a cloth ready. Where the tube entered the tunnel there is a square rubber surround with a funnel end that goes to the outside of the car, remove that and you will probably find its blocked where it narrows at the bottom. This is to stop stuff from coming back into the car from outside. I cut the end off mine to stop it blocking again, much easier. Replace the square funnel, check the rubber tube is not blocked by running the fans (in econ mode) and you should be able to feel air pressure thought the tube. If all well then refit the drain hose otherwise check that the tube is not kinked or blocked.
If water has got as far as the passenger foot well then you are going to need to clean everything out and probably a good idea anyway as the original blockage looks to be caused by a small build up of decaying matter from either the internal vents or the outside vent. First off make sure you have a replacement pollen filter DESMO B838 although most motor factors have them listed from the cars make and model. Remove the middle wiper arm with a nut and a small amount of prying. Remove the scuttle panel (lots of screws) only unscrew the top screws a few turns as they have square block connectors that should pull out and will fall off it you unscrew too much. The scuttle panel hooks under the windscreen so gently ease it out. Disconnect the washer jets or just place it out the way. There is an additional panel with four screws on the passenger side that revels a mess covering the air intake for the fan, remove all this and clean out the leaves and vac out fan motor to make sure there is no leaves in their. Water was visible in the bottom of the fan motor. Next remove the wiper arm motor (two bolts) so that you can move it out of the way enough to access the centre panel. Remove the Allen key bolts in the centre panel and the cover which will then allow you to access the pollen filter. The pollen filter is held in place with two bolts and then you need to move the wiper arms in order to get the filter out. Mine was soaked and again full of water and leaves. Clean all of that out (we used a Henry wet and dry vac with a thin hose attachment) and fit the new pollen filter. We also ran a blower into the fan motor area to dry out the area before refitting everything in reverse.
Shot of car once you have removed the wiper cover and intake grill. The metal cover for the pollen filter can be seen on the left of the photo.
Shot looking down inside the fan motor where water can been seen collected in the base of the unit. Left there and it will rot the electrics for the car.
Shot of engine bay with pollen filter cover removed, note the removal of the wiper motor required to allow you to lift out the pollen filter.
Shot of inside the pollen filter housing, swimming in water and leaves that have worked there way past the fan motor.
Shot of the large black drain tube easily accessed by the drivers left leg foot rest. Check out the wiring loom and the silver a/c collant pipes that can sometimes get condensation on them.
Shot shows the drain tube working back towards the centre of the a/c unit and the circular, remove the drain tube from the rubber surround and then remove the surround.
Shot of drain tube removed and blocked with gunge and the famous words "Made in Italy"
Shot of drain tube cleaned and modified by removing the restrictive end.
Removing all these parts and cleaning out all areas should be a mandatory thing for all owners to do to prevent future issues.
Hopefully this should be enough to help people work it through.
You will need a new pollen filter (DESMO B838 £20-40) as you old one will be soaked and not usable.The drain tube that goes throught the transmission tunnel just by the drivers left foot gets blocked and then the water backs up into the matrix, then the pollen filter and then over to the blower motor on the passenger side, leaking out of the seals in the motor or where the wiring for the fan unit is.
Quick Fix
There is a big black drain tube that runs from the middle of the tunnel top to where the foot rest is for your left leg. Remove the tube by pulling it up and out and the unit should dispense all the water on to the carpet, so have a cloth ready. Where the tube entered the tunnel there is a square rubber surround with a funnel end that goes to the outside of the car, remove that and you will probably find its blocked where it narrows at the bottom. This is to stop stuff from coming back into the car from outside. I cut the end off mine to stop it blocking again, much easier. Replace the square funnel, check the rubber tube is not blocked by running the fans (in econ mode) and you should be able to feel air pressure thought the tube. If all well then refit the drain hose otherwise check that the tube is not kinked or blocked.
If water has got as far as the passenger foot well then you are going to need to clean everything out and probably a good idea anyway as the original blockage looks to be caused by a small build up of decaying matter from either the internal vents or the outside vent. First off make sure you have a replacement pollen filter DESMO B838 although most motor factors have them listed from the cars make and model. Remove the middle wiper arm with a nut and a small amount of prying. Remove the scuttle panel (lots of screws) only unscrew the top screws a few turns as they have square block connectors that should pull out and will fall off it you unscrew too much. The scuttle panel hooks under the windscreen so gently ease it out. Disconnect the washer jets or just place it out the way. There is an additional panel with four screws on the passenger side that revels a mess covering the air intake for the fan, remove all this and clean out the leaves and vac out fan motor to make sure there is no leaves in their. Water was visible in the bottom of the fan motor. Next remove the wiper arm motor (two bolts) so that you can move it out of the way enough to access the centre panel. Remove the Allen key bolts in the centre panel and the cover which will then allow you to access the pollen filter. The pollen filter is held in place with two bolts and then you need to move the wiper arms in order to get the filter out. Mine was soaked and again full of water and leaves. Clean all of that out (we used a Henry wet and dry vac with a thin hose attachment) and fit the new pollen filter. We also ran a blower into the fan motor area to dry out the area before refitting everything in reverse.
Shot of car once you have removed the wiper cover and intake grill. The metal cover for the pollen filter can be seen on the left of the photo.
Shot looking down inside the fan motor where water can been seen collected in the base of the unit. Left there and it will rot the electrics for the car.
Shot of engine bay with pollen filter cover removed, note the removal of the wiper motor required to allow you to lift out the pollen filter.
Shot of inside the pollen filter housing, swimming in water and leaves that have worked there way past the fan motor.
Shot of the large black drain tube easily accessed by the drivers left leg foot rest. Check out the wiring loom and the silver a/c collant pipes that can sometimes get condensation on them.
Shot shows the drain tube working back towards the centre of the a/c unit and the circular, remove the drain tube from the rubber surround and then remove the surround.
Shot of drain tube removed and blocked with gunge and the famous words "Made in Italy"
Shot of drain tube cleaned and modified by removing the restrictive end.
Removing all these parts and cleaning out all areas should be a mandatory thing for all owners to do to prevent future issues.
Hopefully this should be enough to help people work it through.
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