Aircon Drain

[Frank.A]

As I believe in prevention being better than cure,I am going through all the usual areas to keep my 2002 Passat TDI water tight.I have reseated the pollen filter housing and removed the plenum chamber drain grommets and checked door drains and sealing rubbers.

After reading so many tales of woe about leaky Passats,it is easy to become paranoid about water leaks.

Where is the aircon drain tube and how do you keep it unblocked?

Thanks,
Frank

[bora(ing) nick]

EDIT:The air con drain tube runs from the heater box behind the dash at the front passenger footwell. its under the glove box and under the carpet.

I believe it's under the battery....

Nick

Big edit as i was blatently wrong the first time round :-)

[shooey88]

no its not.....the air con drain tube runs from the heater box behind the dash at the front passenger footwell. its under the glove box and under the carpet.

going from underneath the car...you remove the silver heatshield at the front of the car near the exhaust. ....along the floor of the car on passenger side look for a grommit with a flap and cut the rubber flap off as this is what gets stuck closed stopping the water from the air con to drain out of the car.

[shooey88]

and well done for being sensible and preventing these problems...you are right porevention is better then cure
we maintain cars to prevent problems...as if you dont keep the oil level, coolant level at a sufficient level you then cancause major problems. for example, engine wear, headgasket blown, etc

[Frank.A]

Thanks for the replies.

Shooey,Are we talking about the aluminium heatshield protecting the 'tunnel' or the rear half of the belly pan which is silver coloured?

As far as preventive maintenance is concerned,34years spent in aircraft flight and structural test engineering has made me a tad particular.Owning a car such as the B5 Passat or some othe VAG products with so many designed in problems needs a preventive approach.

My wifes C Corsa is a well designed small car which I am unable to fault.It just gets serviced and driven.

I ran genuine Saabs for 20 years with no problems.

I wouldn't buy another VAG product.

Cheers,
Frank

[shooey88]

its the aluminuim heat shield. just take the front section of closer to the engine off...its held on with star clips that pull off and press on.

as for your comments about VW...very harsh. they actually do recalls to stop common problems and design flaws....so never by an early model on a new car.
as for the CORSA they are ****.....your wife probs dosent have any problems yet as they have very little technology on them to go wrong...if they do they use the same technology and design for years without making huge advances.

[shooey88]

its the tunnel aluminium heatshield.....and respect for working on aircrafts.....would have loved to change careers into that field.

[Frank.A]

Thanks for the reply Shooey.

The Passat is our 3rd new VW.The previous 2 were Mk11 Golfs,the 2nd being a 1.8 Driver which was no bother until sold at 120K.

My point is this.The Corsa is fit for purpose as a small cheap runabout.

Check out the plenum chamber,pollen filter and drains on a Corsa,it's not rocket science.

The Passat is not FFP unless used in a totally dry climate.These water ingress issues also apply to Audi A4, A6 and others which cost considerably more.AFAIK there have been no recalls to address the various water ingress problems.

Checking and clearance of drains are not mentioned in maintenance schedules.

In the USA there are current legal battles with VAG on these issues,mainly due to VAG refusing to pick up the huge bills for rectification of the results of water damage,due to poor placement of electronic modules.

I love the Passat,but I believe that a manufacturer shouldn't allow the customer to pick up the tab for their poor design.

Cheers,
Frank

[shooey88]

supposedly there is kinda a recall....reports from vw says all passats coming in for a service should have the seal renewed for the pollen filter. but i found the main dealers wasnt doing it....this being why prevent it when they make alot of money fixing it. im more of a fan of the golfs and they show true build quality.

as for the corsa yes they are easy to work on....but why make things easy to work on? VW tend to design components so special tools are frequently required. this stops DIY enthusiats or back street garages. meaning not losing any business and revenue.

[Wurzle]

Thanks for the directions, Shooey. Made it as far as taking off the ali heat shield with no probs then faced with a layer of felt, also held on with star nuts. Even lifting this up and checking all surfaces adjoining failed to show any sort of rubber grommet let alone one with a flap.

My Passat is an '00 1.9Tdi 115 Estate. Could they have routed the A/C drain elsewhere? I feel like a member of AA (not the motoring kind) ie currently dried out but fearful of the next storm. I've cleaned the plenum drain and checked and changed the pollen filter so the A/C drain was the final precaution.

Having just handed on my 20 yr old Passat Topic with 200K on the clock I feel somewhat cheated with this new marque. How any reputable manuf. could come up with anything as tacky as the plastic windscreen spoiler and integral pollen filter draw just beats me. It's such a fiddle to replace it is no surprise that service agents seem "accidentally" to miss it out!

It isn't much consolation but I visited a couple of mates to share my sorrows with this w/e. One had just lost his Laguna with a known gearbox fault - £3K!! and the other was mopping out the boot of his BMW so we aren't the only ones to be caught.