I'm going on a description my wife gave me after taking my stang to work today.

First off, I live in tidewater Virginia, and it's been 40's and rainy here today. My wife drove my stang work and when she got in it to come home, she noticed a puddle of water on the passenger side floorboard. She then noticed it was dripping from the bottom of the dash (I'm guessing floor vents). When turning corners, she said she could hear it sloshing around in the dash, and noticed it coming out worse when she switched the climate control from outside air, to recirculating air in the cabin (I know there's a panel that flips in the ducting to do that).

So I put the stang in the garage, pulled the floormat, and put a bunch of towels in to soak up the water, and some more to keep pulling it up.

My guess is that there is a drain in the air duct system that is plugged, but I've never pulled the thing apart, so I'm totally guessing. Has anyone had a similar issue? I'd like to have some idea so the dealer doesn't have to tear my car apart with no idea what it is.

Also, would this be a warranty issue? My stang was bought 12/31/07, but I got the ESP for it.

 

drains under cabin air filter- i'll post pics again, as I just dug them up for someone else a couple days ago...odds are mine will be plugged again tomorrow

I took pics when I cleaned mine out while changing hoods- you wont be able to see down in there, but the pics show you where they are- just reach down in towards the tranny tunnel and pull out the little handful of crap on the drain rubber, its like a dirtbike airbox drain, kinda a flattened tube on the bottom thats supposed to open to let water drain, but supposed to stay shut so water dont splash in...once the 'stuff' is cleared, push any in the center of the drain thru with something to make sure it opens

 

Very common problem, just to bad you found out about it the hard way.

 

There ought to be a sticky on this to advise people to check the drains periodically for blockage. I don't even park under trees and when I changed my cabin air filter recently there was a large piece of debris stuck in that rubber drain grommet.

 

I removed my grommets on both sides because in FL it is always raining and I got tired of cleaning out the year round leaf fall.

BTW. Ford4v429, how did you get your wiper arms off? I know this sounds stupid but I remove the nut on the arm but can't get the arm off of the screw. It is like they're welded on.

 

I dont even remember pulling off the arms? I thought all the Fords just had a tab under the arm you pressed while rocking it to pop it off the spline...my memory on some stuff really sucks, cant remember pulling them at all, but must have to pop the cowl panel off?? in any event, I'd wrap the arm in shoprags or something so when it pops free you dont hit the hood with it...

 

Argh! and Whew! all at the same time. lol!

I have this Mimosa tree in my yard that just rains down tree debris, which I'm very sure is the culprit. But I'm glad I can do it all myself. Thank you thank you thank you Tim for the good advice. I agree, someone should do a step by step and sticky it.

So to be clear, pull the panel over the air cabin filter, and then the drain should be right under it? Is this the only drain I need to worry about? I know it'll be helpful not to have a hood in the way, but will it involve some serious hand-yoga if I have it on there?

Also, as a separate note, I was getting ready to get a furnace filter to cut as a replacement air filter (I like that high end furnace filters get a lot more junk out of the air), so will it expose the drain better when I pull the filter frame?

This might be a convenient time to go ahead and mount my hood struts anyhoo. lol

 

no, the filter sits up high, the drains are way down below (these drains are outside the filter, at the bottom of the vent opening, not inside the heaterbox)...dont think you can see down in there with the hood on, but you can get a hand down in...someone commented yes there is one on the other side too, to open that side the wipers have to come off...weve got pines that shed, and my cars been out all year...if I get time I'll pop it open tonight again, its probably due. last time was in a hurry, just excited to get my painted hood on

the filters get damp (I assume) just because of where they are, a furnace filter might not hold up...it does look like a HEPA style filter from the factory though


edit took it apart again, since last year, still clean. I didnt clean the drivers side, will do it from below, dont feel like pulling the wipers off... I'll put some more pics later, but to clean the passenger one (always the problem one from what ive read)just turn wipers on, shut off engine with wipers up on the glass, pop the hood(watch the wipers clear- they do on mine), take out the 2 plastic "screws" at the left cover then push the pins up and out...lift the center part of the cover and pull forward, theres 4 clips below the glass. My 'glass hood is really thick at the back, I had to close the hood halfway(hooked proprod on the latch) to get enough clearance for the last one at the hood corner...tight fit.
with the cover off, you can look at the drain from the side at the hood edge, tight fit, but if you see crap in the drain, a small hand could get down in there- or maybe a small shopvac crevice tool...

 

This happened in both my 2007 edge and 2004 taurus in the past 6 months. Both times caused by my condenser.

The taurus' rubber/foam gasket was soggy wet and the drain water was leaking right down around the seams and getting into the vehicle, the solution was to caulk the gasket on both sides (2x) of the fire wall, shop vac the carpet, leave carpet propped up for 3 days to dry out.

The Edge has a different drain for the condenser- the drain hose was plugged up and it backedup into the car. I unglogged it and dryed the carpet.


I would reccomend checking the A/C drain and do not use a furnace filter.

 

Thank you for the great pictures!

Looking at it's placement, yeah, the furnace filter idea is a bust. On my old Celica, the cabin filter was in a protected (non-exposed to moisture) spot. This obviously isn't going to work, I'll just get another Motorcraft one when I replace it, unless you guys have other recommendations.

 

Just wanted to follow up. I pulled the cover over the cabin filter, and sure enough, Lake Michigan. So I unplugged the drain and got all the gook out. I"m concerned about possible rust, but I didn't see anything, should I be concerned? Thank you so much Tim for your helpful photos, you really made the job easy as pie.

Next question. I didn't pull the wiper arms to get the other side off, since it didn't look like I could see any standing water over there. Is there another drain I need to worry about, or is it all pretty much on the passenger side?

 

no problem, glad you got it opened up...I'm a worry-wart about rust(actually tore mine apart-fenders/hood/doors/rockers and spent a week under it sealing everything and putting roll-on bedliner on everything rocks might chip, when it was 3 days old) but think the cowl should be fine, mine was mostly leaves/pine needles, none of that salt/silt stuff that gets in door bottoms and such...not at all like lowerbody stuff. if you are worried about rust, I think the first rustholes that are gonna appear on S197s are gonna be the inner rockers/behind that 'flap' just in front of the rear wheels- of our 3 cars only one side of 2 cars was sealed, the others you could see dirt between the inner/outer panels- gotta have a mirror to see behind there though...you could see on the brand new car how the undercoat wand was sprayed at a angle which 'shadowed' that seam by the flap, leaving it open.
search for a thread called 'you might want to look under your car', I put it up with pics on here, mustangforums and fordmuscle, actually got kinda ridiculed a bit for tearing apart a new car, but hey, thats fine

On the drivers cowl, theres another drain over there, but I havent read of any floods on the drivers side(yet). looks like a PITA to get in there- on my hood anyway, think it would be awful easy to hit the hood when trying to get the wiper splines off, but dunno...put a rag around them, maybe ductape the hood edge...I'm just gonna try and find mine from below next time its on the lift, but got my rusty old lincoln sitting there for a bit...I need to take another look, maybe drivers side drain can be seen thru the vent slots- I didnt even try to look...

 

Rust shouldn't be an issue with thest cars for along time, other than the unpainted rear axle. Like most modern cars the are dunked in a electro static primer that gets in the nooks and crannies.