Wet Carpets - Leaking Air Con Condensate

[volestrangler]

Hi, after a long battle I finally solved the mystery of wet carpets in my 2003 megane II 1.6 Privilege (climate control), I had suspected the AC unit as the source as the water was clean and only seemed to collect during the summer months when the AC was in use. I did many searches including this site but could find no information about the location of the obvious condensate drain pipe.
I finally located it by removing the side panel on the drivers site kick plate, the one you remove to replace the pollen filter.
Anyway with this removed I could see that under the HVAC unit (big black pastic thing) is a rubber topped foam pad, umm why could that be rubber topped I thought!, I managed to squeeze my fingers between the pad and the HVAC unit and could feel a little plug hole, about the size of a fat finger, I managed to bend my finger down into it and felt that it was full of water and a sludgy material.

I used some stiff curtain wire and prodded into the hole and flicked out more sludge. I then used some small tube, the kind used on washer jets and manouvered this into the plug hole ( not easy ) and blew water through it to flush it out, violla ! drips started appearing beneath the car and then a steady trickle. A bit more prodding and flushing just to make sure and the job was done.

I'm sure the root cause of this was the pollen/particle filter not being changed regularly enough, when I changed mine it was black and totally choked with leaves and crud, some if this must of got through and blocked the drain.

Hope someone finds this useful and you dont loose too much skin off your knuckles doing it!

Nigel

[dwgendy]

I had the same problem, but it was even worse. Cause when I drove for a while with the AC on, then took a left turn, or a U-turn, I could see a jet of water being flushed onto the matress!! I took it to the so called Renault Egypt, they lifted the car up and had some idiot looking worker poke the car with a thin iron stick introduced into the drain from the buttom of the car (reverse of what you did). That didn't work the first time, so I had to take it back again, like with every single problem I ever had, and they poked it agian, only this time more agressively and the problem was fixed. The the silly looking worker said, your AC filter is old, you need to change it. I said I just changed it last week when it was poked the first time, only then he pulled it out and said, oh, ok then it was damaged by the water, which was clearly not true, So I told him to leave it alone. The car has been ok since then.
In my opinion, this is best done after some good period with no AC, then remove the filter and either back flush the drain with air, or try and force air vacuum it. if not, then your method is the safest to make sure not to damage the AC pipes.

[terry_mccann]

@volestrangler

interesting way of tackling this....only that I dont understand how you exactly mean this with the foam piece and stuff....you dont have a picture of this by any chance?
the standard way of cleaning this tube is from the underside - somewhere under that alloy cover of the exhaust you find the lower end of that tube. it is closed by a little flap which after years gets stuck and thus does not leave any more water through. normall, cutting this flap away cures the problem for good.

[volestrangler]

Hi Terry, unfortunately I dont have any ramps or axle stands so couldnt get underneath the car.
If you have a haynes manual, look on page 3.12, there is a picture 1.63 that shows the heater assembly being removed, you can see the black rubber foam pad it sits on and also the circular 'dimple' that the condensate drains through, this is the bit that I could just about get my finger in and clear with the curtain wire. I do have small hands though!

Nigel

[terry_mccann]

No, I dont have that Haynes Manual, but I do have those Dialogys Service PDF files....I will check these....

[dry_flood]

Are your PDF files in English?

[terry_mccann]

No, sorry, they are in German, but somewhere here there is an english version available as well....

[Bumpy macaroon]

I do have small hands though!

You know what they say about blokes with small hands?

























Small gloves!

yep they have wives or girlfriends with even smaller hands, Its true took me years to find a good women with really small hands. but it makes me look bigger......

[MrG]

I tried from underneath but on my wife's Megane CC there is a large catalytic converter at the point where you have to lower the heatshield. I could lower it a little but I could only get a finger in the drain outlet and, unlike other reports, it did not have a flap, it was just a stumpy rubber tube, about an inch long which ended in a 90°bend pointing rearwards. There did not seem to be much debris in it and try as I might I could not get a wire or tube more than an inch up into it. It seemed to hit something. Is this all very short and it was hitting the base of the HVAC?

I then tried your way from above. I could create a gap between the HVAC and what I assume to be the drain pipe (inserting and twisting a tyre lever) but could not get my fat fingers in there and yes, I now have no skin on my knuckle. My wife's slim fingers couldn't get in either. I did get a bit of a tube in but I'm not convinced it went in far.

So, I wondered how long this drain is? If it just above the floor tunnel on the top and no more than an inch protrudes under the car, how long is it and where exactly is the debris?

I also wonder what shape this all is. I can't see any images on the web. Is the bottom of the HVAC a kind of tray that is full of debris from the pollen filter rearwards or is it just the approx thumb diameter sized tube?

Any further thoughts, images and advice much appreciated as I'm not convinced I've solved this (I got very small amounts of debris out on the various tubes and wires I tried to insert) and we had a 2" deep swimming pool in the passenger ear footwell it would be nice to remove!

[jcheek]

Bit of a necro post, but still a very relevant topic for those of us with older Renaults ....

I had the same issue with my 2005 Megane II Dynamique. With the help of the info in this thread (thanks, all!), I managed to locate and clear the condensate drain, but wow, it's a mission!

The condensate drain is (perhaps) best described as a kind of rubber "funnel" that presses up against a drain hole on the underside of the HVAC heater box. The funnel is very "flat" (meaning it has virtually zero vertical height) and the central "neck" of the funnel forms the drain tube that leads down to a right-angled rubber outlet that sits fairly central between the two front seats, above the exhaust pipe but completely obscured by the aluminium heatshield. You will not be able to see the outlet elbow even after dropping the heatshield; it would be visible only if you remove the heatshield completely.

Here is how the "drain funnel" appears when viewed from the right-side of the car (this is an RHD car) :


The funnel is pressed tight up against the bottom of the heat exchanger box but you can work a finger between them. When I did so, condensate that had built up inside the heat exchanger box ran out, confirming the problem. Getting a wire (or fingers) into the drain tube is virtually impossible (well, it was for me, anyway) although I did manage to pull out a bit of sludge. I was also unable to clear the blockage by injecting water or compressed air down into the funnel.

I then put the car up on ramps and tried to access the outlet tube from underneath. Fortunately some condensate droplets gave me a clue where to look for it. If you loosen both sides of the heatshield, you can work your hand behind it (ie between the heatshield and the body) and feel around for the outlet tube. Once you've found it, you can insert a finger into the end and you will probably feel sludge, as I did.
I was then able to work a length of flexible plastic tube into the end of the outlet elbow and have someone else blow compressed air into the tube while I held it in place. I had used some tools to prise the drain funnel away from the HVAC box and create an opening. This is of course blowing the sludge the "wrong" way (ie upward) but it worked - out spat a big piece of sludge into the interior and after some blowing and cleaning, voila - the drain tube was clear and proper condensate drainage restored.