AC clogged completely. Literally.

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Old Aug 2, 2013 | 09:11 PM
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perilousp's Avatar
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AC clogged completely. Literally.

So I did look at https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-problems-fixes-114/c-drain-plug-clogged-738490/ however that didn't 'really' tell me anything.

Seems like my AC has been clogged for a while since about 6 months ago I tried to use 1Z Einszett Klima-Cleaner Air Conditioner Treatment and the AC starting stinking after not even a week again (I have used it successfully on my dad's and brother's Hondas). Figured I just did something wrong and thought nothing of it.

A few months later when it was raining day in day out it seemed like if I ran the AC to defog my windows, then turned the AC off it would spit moisture back at the windows and fog them back up instantly (also had quite the musky smell). Worse yet was that if I ran the AC, then tried to run the heat, I would have to deal with musky, moist, cold air for 5 minutes before any heat would come out. Logic dictates that the water that my AC is pulling out of the air is just sitting and not draining at all. Sure enough, no matter how long I ran my AC, no matter how moist or hot it was, not a drop from my evaporator tube.

I have been under the car, checking that the tube isn't clogged right at the end, but I'm not sure what else I can do. Is there a way I can safely access the tube from behind the glove box so that I can just shove a long tube in to hopefully push out whatever is clogging it?

Any help would be appreciated!
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Old Aug 2, 2013 | 10:56 PM
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My advise is to be careful, since clogged AC drain lines kill ECU's. Even a small amount of water on the ECU will kill it. I would get under the passenger side dash and try to find the AC drain and not use the AC in the mean time.
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Old Aug 3, 2013 | 09:30 PM
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Well I do have the passenger side dash completely taken apart, but I have no idea where the drain tube is unfortunately
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Old Aug 4, 2013 | 02:39 PM
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jack up car firewall passenger side near the side of the car. there is a little hose coming out at the bottom that you will need to clean out.

Also remove cabin air filter and use a shop vac to clean out that space. also remove blower and clean out that space. use a towell with bleach/water on it to sanitize you evaporator when you are done cleaning out the mess. 2 caps of bleach per gal of water
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Old Aug 4, 2013 | 07:35 PM
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^^^ OK, I have an RDX but the basic parts are the same - so, how does the drain hose get plugged in the first place, i.e., how do leaves etc. get past the cabin filter? And is the drain hose accessible from inside the car, once the blower motor is removed? is that a serious suggestion? seems quite difficult.

Is there a risk of clearing the drain hose from under the car, such as pushing something up the hose and damaging the evaporator? Also, seems like pushing something up the hose will only push whatever is inside the hose, back up into the evaporator cavity, not really clearing the hose. What are you actually suggesting?
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Old Aug 5, 2013 | 02:25 PM
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I think this is the tube in the floor. So I could just cut into it, use a shop vac, then seal it all back up?
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Old Aug 5, 2013 | 02:42 PM
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how did you get the dash "half apart"? the dash is 1 piece single piece. its a super hard job removing the dash and takes forever
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Old Aug 5, 2013 | 02:48 PM
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Oh well the 1 piece single piece dash is still on my car. I took out the metal center console thing (the thing that always get banged up), the glove box, the piece behind the glove box, and the immediate side panels to the glove box. I can take a more zoomed out picture so you can have a look.

edit:
and here they are!


Also I didn't have to cut into the tube luckily! I just kept squeezing the tube while the AC was running on maximum and just that kind of pressure moved whatever was clogging it!

Last edited by perilousp; Aug 5, 2013 at 02:59 PM. Reason: uploading more pictures. Fixed!
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Old Aug 8, 2013 | 08:24 AM
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Originally Posted by dcmodels
^^^ OK, I have an RDX but the basic parts are the same - so, how does the drain hose get plugged in the first place, i.e., how do leaves etc. get past the cabin filter? And is the drain hose accessible from inside the car, once the blower motor is removed? is that a serious suggestion? seems quite difficult.

Is there a risk of clearing the drain hose from under the car, such as pushing something up the hose and damaging the evaporator? Also, seems like pushing something up the hose will only push whatever is inside the hose, back up into the evaporator cavity, not really clearing the hose. What are you actually suggesting?
hose gets clogged by crap that gets pulled into your fresh air intake. I just did my cabin filter at 120K miles (third time since I had the car) car had 40K on it when I got it so I did the filter at 60K, 90K and 120K). Each time I changed it there was all sorts of crap on it and in the box... so I removed the filters and cleaned out the opening with a shop vac (small one for cars).

you can run a pipe cleaner up your hose every time you change your oil and you should not have a problem. But the best defence is to keep stuff out of the cowel area and to use a shop vac to clean it out every time you change your cabin filters
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