Mystery water leak...?

tbunch · Oct 23, 2016

This has me a little puzzled, parked my truck today and an hour later noticed a good sized puddle underneath, found it was just water, but it dripped pretty constantly for an additional hour+. Must have been 1-2 cups of water. It was about 65 degrees today, haven't run AC in a month, it's not coolant, plain, clear water, no smell or texture (other fluids full). Tracking it up it seems to be coming from the HVAC system, from the seam of the box right behind the AC condensor. No driveability issues, and it's probably nothing, but it struck me as odd as it's. never done it before and figured I'd see if anyone has had the same happen, specifically on a cool day with no ac?

94, 4.0l standard cab, manual.

85_Ranger4x4 · Oct 23, 2016

Running the defroster?

tbunch · Oct 23, 2016

I did, earlier that morning, far before the leak. I didn't think it would cause such a large leak, at this point it may be the only explaination. The water has to come from somewhere and since I don't store drinking water under the hood it's gotta be coming from condensation, but it's more than I ever got on hot summer days running the AC all day.

RonD · Oct 23, 2016

Just to be clear, the AC condenser is in front of the radiator, but from what you said I assume water was leaking out nearer the firewall?

The AC evaporator is the equivalent of the heating systems heater core, so I guess it could be the cooler core

And that is what is used to Cool and Dry the air in the cab so will collect water, but it will have a tray under it to collect the dripping water and a drain hose where the water would drip out onto the ground.
(this drain can get clogged, but wet passenger floor is the result)

So there shouldn't be water dripping out of a seam in the AC box on firewall.

Yes, if Defrost is selected on the climate control the AC system will cycle on and off to keep Evaporator cooler than outside air, this is just to Dry the air, remove moisture, this makes Defrosting of the windshield much faster.
So AC system would collect water and it would drip out.
But out of the drain tube not a seam.

Could the hood gasket be leaking?
So rain water is getting in?

tbunch · Oct 24, 2016

Great feedback, it was leaking from the seam of the AC box on the firewall, not from the drain tube, or from the condenser. It hadn't rained for a while... like I said, it has me stumped. I haven't driven it until this morning so Ill check at lunch if there is another puddle underneath. I'm not gonna lose sleep over it, just scratching may head at this one.

tbunch · Nov 11, 2016

Head scratching continues. No leaking for a few weeks, came home to a HUGE puddle running down my driveway, appeared to be several quarts worth of water. Hasn't rained for a couple weeks either, I run defrost each morning, but this is a huge amount of water all at once. Anyone ever had a clogged drain hose? Maybe it gets backed up until it pours out... its weirding me out...

pjtoledo · Nov 12, 2016

try cleaning the drain

ericbphoto · Nov 13, 2016

Have any friends around that like to play practical jokes?
My coworker told me a story the other day.

On a previous job, he had a coworker who bought a new truck and continuously bragged about how great that truck was, how great that brand of truck was, all the awesome attributes of his new truck and how everyone else's truck was inferior. He wouldn't give up. So some of the guys took a cup of hydraulic oil out to the parking lot and poured it under his truck. They brought it to his attention that he might have an oil leak. So he took it to the dealer to get checked out. They continued producing the oil leak under his truck for quite some time and it drove him nuts. He eventually traded the truck in. Never noticed that it only leaked at work. :icon_twisted:

They also played a joke on another man, by adding 1/2 gallon of gas to his tank every week. He though he was getting awesome gas mileage and would brag about how good it was. Then they suddenly stopped.

pjtoledo · Nov 13, 2016

ericbphoto said:
Have any friends around that like to play practical jokes?
My coworker told me a story the other day.

On a previous job, he had a coworker who bought a new truck and continuously bragged about how great that truck was, how great that brand of truck was, all the awesome attributes of his new truck and how everyone else's truck was inferior. He wouldn't give up. So some of the guys took a cup of hydraulic oil out to the parking lot and poured it under his truck. They brought it to his attention that he might have an oil leak. So he took it to the dealer to get checked out. They continued producing the oil leak under his truck for quite some time and it drove him nuts. He eventually traded the truck in. Never noticed that it only leaked at work.

They also played a joke on another man, by adding 1/2 gallon of gas to his tank every week. He though he was getting awesome gas mileage and would brag about how good it was. Then they suddenly stopped.

hell, that one's ancient

back in the early 60's on the TV show Dennis the Menace they added gas to a neighbors VW Beetle and watched as he bragged about the mileage for months

then they began removing the gas nightly and laughed as the guy tormented the dealers mechanics about his poor mileage.

Mystery water leak...?

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