Blower drain pipe...

[raindog]

So I found water in my passenger footwell and assumed the worst, that I'd be needing a new heater matrix.

Jumping feet first Into the project I set about attempting to remove the dash, I removed the seats, centre console, all the fixings behind the windscreen wiper assembly and all the retaining screws and bolts I could see and access.. and the dash was still barely moving.

While under the dash on the passenger side I noticed the pipe was not connected to the drain on the bottom of the blower at which point I promptly stopped disassembling everything.... DOH!

Had this been the cause of my woes all along? does enough water normally enter the fan and pass through this drain to have made my carpet wet? the carpet isn't wet to the touch, but the foam underneath is soaking wet, which is something I had only discovered whilst adding some sound deadening insulation last week, since then I've noticed the car has started to smell quite foisty on hot days...

How does water get in the fan in the first place? I'm assuming It's from the A.C.

Is it safe to assume the water was from the fan drain or should I be looking at cracking on with removing the dash to replace the matrix while I'm this far in?

Thanks

[Jed Clampit]

Have you check the scuttle tray by the wiper arm's it may be full of leave's and other rubbish filling up with water over flowing check your BSI is not getting wet under the bonnet it's on the right :thumbsup: if it were the matrix you would smell antifreeze or sweet curry

[raindog]

Have you check the scuttle tray by the wiper arm's it may be full of leave's and other rubbish filling up with water over flowing check your BSI is not getting wet under the bonnet it's on the right :thumbsup: if it were the matrix you would smell antifreeze or sweet curry

I checked the scuttle trays they were pretty free of debris... I did get a slight curry smell for ten seconds or so on first switching on the heater last winter but saw no cause for alarm as I wasn't getting a wet footwell at the time.

[homeruk]

Firmly rexattach the pipe.

Throughly dry out your carpets and underlay.

Put everything back together.

See if the problem reoccurs.

Buy a Haynes manual to make the job quicker

[raindog]

Decided as I was halfway through already I'd crack on and get the matrix changed, in the process I managed to break several lugs and clips, and the steering rotator collar thingy for the airbag... It snapped open exposing the metal tracks inside, i managed to push it back together but it does feel like there's more resistance in turning it now..

I'm most of the way through rebuilding everything but I'm more than a bit worried that If that rotator is broken inside, should those tracks make contact with one another the airbag might decide to go off when I turn on the ignition or turn the steering wheel.

Is that something that could happen? That would really mess up my day.

Looks expensive, should I replace to be on the safe side?

Thanks.

---

Ah, its called a clock spring, that's what I damaged! And as for the matrix, it was pretty cruddy and had been leaking coolant from the top but not much, I'm pretty sure it wasn't the cause of the wet passenger footwell that led me down this long and weary road, on the plus side however, I shouldn't have to do it again for a while.