Water in passenger footwell, blower motor

TexasViper35

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Hey guys,

Bad news for me today. Recently we’ve been having quite a bit of rain and the car has been outside at night. I’ve been noticing that my AC blower motor would squeal the next morning, for a few seconds, and then it was fine, until the next rain and dry out over night occurred. So I need a new blower motor, right? Well I went to pull it for inspection and found the carpet wet under the mat. Looked up and I see water dripping from two separate wire connectors, see photos; mostly from one set of wires (really the connector they are plugged in to) closer to the seat and also from one set of wires closer to and coming from the blower, but nothing coming from the blower. I stopped there and took the photos. How is water getting in the car? I always use the recycle air for AC options, but when I turn the car on I hear a door of some sort related to the AC close.

Please advise. Thank you in advance for any and all replies!
 

MoparMap

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You might pull the HVAC air intake under the hood. I'm pretty sure the way it's built should prevent that though as I thought the air basically had to turn a corner to get in. You might check the drain tube that attaches to the transmission tunnel and make sure it's clear. I know mine came off once and it poured water onto the carpet, but only because my A/C was running and dumping moisture.
 
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TexasViper35

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You might pull the HVAC air intake under the hood. I'm pretty sure the way it's built should prevent that though as I thought the air basically had to turn a corner to get in. You might check the drain tube that attaches to the transmission tunnel and make sure it's clear. I know mine came off once and it poured water onto the carpet, but only because my A/C was running and dumping moisture.

Thank you! I don’t know where any of that is or what it looks like so I went to my dealer to get a printout of the schematic, but they couldn’t find the two parts you mentioned. We only found what I would guess is called the blower-box that the blower is housed in. There is a tube in one photo with a round piece, but it’s just a photo and not shown in the diagram. I looked again inside the car and I think that tube is mounted right to the bottom of the blower box.

I’m kind of thinking a bit differently about the water. I’m wondering if the amount of water (volume per minute if you will) can overwhelm the basic design that would normally let it harmlessly escape and cause it to overflow in to the blower-box??? It came to mind because after one of these downpours the next morning I actually found water had pooled and filled up the space under the intake manifold. Now I check it but I haven’t seen it reoccur.

Please keep sending me direction on what to look at, and perhaps some info on where those things are on the car.
 
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MoparMap

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The HVAC "intake" is the giant plastic box at the rear passenger side of the engine bay if you pop the hood. It connects to the grille that is just in front of the windshield on the passenger side. Basically, fresh air comes in that cowl vent then has to go down and around through the "intake" plenum of the HVAC piece. The drain tube should attach on the bottom of the blower box on the inside of the car in the passenger footwell. It should be clipped into the transmission tunnel. It's harder to find a picture of, but I can always take one of my car if it helps. If you are sitting in the passenger seat, the tube should come down out of the bottom of the HVAC box and then go left into the transmission tunnel. It would be around where your left foot would be as I think my wife or I might have accidentally knocked it off with our foot when mine was dumping water.

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Blue Vert

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Hi BYAIC, I had the same problem, and MoparMap's description is right on. Took my older brother (big feet) for a ride, and afterwards had water in the passenger side, after running in hot weather with the air on. Amazing how much condensation water can dump from the drain tube. It was unplugged from the HVAC box, and is very obvious. If yours is partially unplugged, not so obvious, but I would suggest pulling it out, and using a bead of silicone sealer on the gasket, then replacing. Prior to replacing, check to see if there is any debris that may be clogging the drain tube or intake that would not allow the water to drain. My blower motor did not make noise, I am not sure if the 2 issues are related. Some pics attached for reference.

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