Middle of 3.5k mile road trip - need A/C help

[DaveO9]

Hi all, I’ve got a small (I hope)A/C problem. I’m almost to the midpoint of a long trip in the north Midwest (hot and humid). My symptoms: blowing mist out the vents when A/C is on, PS footwell carpet is sopping wet, but just water, and I’m hearing a strange hissing noise from same spot at slow speed, esp when turning or braking. I think hiss may be water spraying on to the exhaust. I figured all this out late tonight so I haven’t had time to do any diagnosis. I’m hoping it’s just a clogged condensate drain? Can I take care of that on the road?

On a good note, the Hoe is behaving well otherwise. Turned 200k on the odo yesterday. Temps have all been pretty good, oil press a consistent 35-40, even averaging 17 mpg, with a couple 19 fill ups. My wife and our 3 kids flew out to visit family in Wisc, I’m meeting up with them in Minneapolis tomorrow. Wife is flying home for work, but I’ll road trip back with the kids and we’ll hit some national parks and other fun stuff on the way back. Northern route thru MT and ND on way there, SD, WY and ID on way back. It’d be great if have reliable AC!

 

[OR VietVet]

It likely is a clogged a/c drain. You said is water for sure, right? The other option could be coolant but that is way different than "just water. You can crawl under the vehicle on passenger side and look close to where firewall comes down and have a flashlight and look for the drain. Don't stick anything sharp in there and damage the heater core or evaporator. The heater core may be walled off to protect but I am unsure. Maybe even use a can of compressed air. I have used a bent over piece of hanger metal and used the rounded end to wiggle around in there.

 

[j91z28d1]

hopefully you can get it cleaned out on the road. I had a camaro that got clogged up once, took an exit off the interstate pretty quickly and cold water poured out of the heater vent onto my legs. was definitely a wtf moment.

good luck with it.

 

[DaveO9]

hopefully you can get it cleaned out on the road. I had a camaro that got clogged up once, took an exit off the interstate pretty quickly and cold water poured out of the heater vent onto my legs. was definitely a wtf moment.

good luck with it.

LOL, I had that WTF moment this morning, but it was good!

I used this vid to locate the drain. And I used his suggestion of a zip tie for the cleaning tool. Found the drain and poked the zip tie up there, immediately water came gushing out and got my arms wet. It peed for 2-3 minutes! Probably at least a gallon in there.

Finished the drive to Minneapolis this morning, which is as far east as I'm going. A/C worked great. Met up with wife and kids, wife on a plane back home. Kids and I start our trek back tomorrow.

Thanks to you both!