water leaking into passenger floorboard...

[EastAl]

i just moved to Houston, and i've been running my A/C almost non-stop.
the other day i noticed that my floorboard on the passenger was soaked with water.
i asked some of the guys here, and only one of them had ever had that problem fixed, out of the two that had noticed it.
now i was told that before the dealership actually fixed it, they replaced the windshield, and most of the right side weather trim.
now i know this was not the problem, it has to do with my A/C unit.
the first thing i want to check is the drain for the evap core, but i don't know where it comes out at.
could anyone help me at all?
i really don't want to have the dealer start ripping my windshield and door rubbers apart.
when i know it has nothing to do with weather seals.
Thanx, Al.

[swooshUSN]

there is definitely a fix for it. There is an older TSB out for this fix, and I had it done on my 2000 ZX3. They have to reseal some stuff underneath the dash(sorry for the non technical explaination. I really don't remember what they did). Walk into your dealership and have them pull up SSM's and TSB's for your VIN number and they'll find it

[Sartre]

Just as swoosh said, there is a fix for it. I had the same problem witht the air conditioner leaking water. I am not sure what they did, but I think I kept the description they gave me. If you need it, let me know. But this was a common problem on the escort. Sartre

P.S. It did not require moving the windshiled or anything like that

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[Ed]

Yeah, I had that happen to me too. It was a plug on the evaporator housing that popped out.

Ed

[EastAl]

Ed, did you find that plug?
and if so, where is it?

[noresull]

There is no plug on the housing. If you found it, it wasn't the evap housing. If the dealer told you that, they were not being truthful.

There is a fix for this, it is sealing up a few things on the outside of the vehicle and there is an updated evap housing.

Take it to the dealer, they will fix it.

[EastAl]

noresull, do you know the campaign number for this fix.
i've talked to a couple of dealers in my area, and they are puzzled by the symptoms.
i don't want them to start trying to replace unneccesary parts.
i'de like to be able to walk in, say here is the campaign number for this recall, fix it now!

[noresull]

I don't know the numbers, but if you take it in, they should run the OASIS and get them for themselves.

[Capitalist]

My wife had a similar problem with her ZX3. After trips to THREE different dealers-- and multiple trips to the dealer where we originally bought the car-- it was finally determined that the leaking problem was due to the A/C housing being mounted improperly on the firewall. It was remounted, and we have had no such problems since (given the demonstrated lack of competence by Ford "service", we have our fingers crossed).

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'01 ZX3-- only mod (so far): intake resonator removed
'00 ZX3-- bone-stock- for now

[Keith Rubenacker]

Hello Everyone,

Well, it looks like I have the same problem with A/C condensation coming into the car. I have a 2000 ZTEC Wagon, with 45,000 on it. Water is comming out of the passenger side duct.

I first thought it was a clogged drain, but I pulled the whole thing apart, and it was't plugged. I pulled the heater core out and the whole nine yards, but could not find any sorce for the leak (no cracks or anything). My thoery is that it is the gasket where the the A/C lines come throgh the firewall/evaporator box. I am giving up and taking it to Ford.

I talked with my local dealer, but they could not find the TSB discussed in this thread. Could someone forward me the number? The only one they could find was for the problem with water comming from the outside through the pollen filter area. My problem is definately A/C condesnsation.

Sinse this looks like a common issue (for once, I have a comeback to the answer "We've never seen this befor") do I have a snowballs chance of getting some good will coverage? I would hate to have to pay out pocket for a known flaw in Ford's design.

Lastly, does anywone know why there is no shutoff valve for the heater core when the A/C is on? The heater core on mine gets hot water 24/7. Every other car I have ever owned had a valve to shut off the heter core when the A/C was on. 200 Degree air just bellow 50 degree air seems like a really bad idea to me.

Any help befor I continue with Ford would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[G1-Focus]

The heater core is on all the time to allow the driver to blend the air coming out of the vents for comfort; that is if you want cool, but not cold, dry air, you adjust the temperature to a warmer setting and thus blend the air.

To have the heat shut off would require some kind of control valve, which means more costs per vehicle, the potential for more to go wrong and more space for the valve. I think it could be done by using a heater control valve from an older GM model car, running a vaccum hose from the engine into the cabin so you could manually shut off the valve.

As for the cabin filter idea, the cowl cover has a lip on the inside that hangs down just past the windshield so ideally there should not be a problem of water coming off the windshield and into the air-box, but... according to the manual, you are supposed to install a bead of caulking at the cowl edge where it sits on the windshield edge to prevent additional or extra water from infiltrating the air-box and/or having water behind that insulation padding that is the psudo-firewall inside the engine compartment.

I think that, as mentioned, the air-box was never properly sealed to the firewall and the fact the drain hole for the air-box is slightly higher than the actual bottom of the air-box that water has the potential to leak into the cabin.