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2012 Prius C Wet Front Passenger Floor

Discussion in 'Prius c Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by dtotzz, Oct 31, 2018.

  1. dtotzz

    dtotzz New Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius c
    Model:
    I


    My wife's Prius consistently is saturated on the front passenger side floor. All signs on YouTube and this forum seemed to point to a clogged AC line. I pulled back the carpet and the line was not clogged, it was blowing air out, but no water. I tried sticking a plastic straw up the tube, no gunk, and it made it back to the plastic housing. I let the car run with the AC on full blast for about 5 minutes and didn't see any water coming out of the rubber hose and didn't see any water dripping onto the carpet. The foam under the carpet near the hose didn't feel wet either, so I'm not confident I've found the source of the leak.

    At this point, I think the hose is fine and I either have an internal AC leak, or the water is coming in through another source. It has been rainy lately and I've seen some posts to this effect, but not this specific location.

    I'm including some pictures to show the rubber AC tube and the plastic box it's running to.

    A few questions:
    -How long do I need to run the AC before I see water coming out of the rubber tube? If nothing's coming out of the tube then I'll know it's going somewhere and can confirm an AC issue.
    -If the water is never making it to the tube, where is it going? Is it possible to reach the middle of the carpet without any dripping/soaking the foam around the rubber tube?
    -What else can I do to troubleshoot this? Can I remove the rubber hose where it connects to the plastic housing and spray AC cleaner directly in at that point? (this is the thread I'm getting this idea from: How to Fix water leak onto passenger floor (w/ pics) | PriusChat )

    Edit: I did change the cabin air filter a couple months ago. Not sure if there's anything I could have screwed up in that process that would impact this.

    IMG_3967.JPG IMG_3968.JPG
     
  2. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius c
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    Two
    Cabin filter shouldn't have made any difference to this.

    Is there a crack or tear in the hose? A straw would be guided through to the box, but water would leak.

    (unlikely) A crack in the box itself?

    If the car is parked on level ground, you should get water discharge just seconds after feeling cold air out the vents. It really doesn't take long, and 5 minutes is plenty for a test (given warm humid ambient conditions)

    Most cars have a cowl drain somewhere along the plastic between the windshield glass and the hood. This typically drains to the street below. If it clogs, the next best is to drain into the air intake, where it would drip (eventually) into the air box and out through the condensate drain. But I don't know if Toyota followed convention on their cowl drain.
     
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  3. ILuvMyPriusToo

    ILuvMyPriusToo Senior Member

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    A poor windshield replacement job can also be a source of water entering the vehicle, but I would check that drain first!
     
  4. dtotzz

    dtotzz New Member

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    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius c
    Model:
    I
    Thank you both for your replies. Some new information, this issue is affecting both the front passenger side and front driver's side, which led me to focus on the sunroof drains (car is parked outside under trees).

    I cleared out the sunroof drains with some insulated wire and compressed air this weekend. I was able to test them with a water bottle and they were both draining pretty well.

    I also popped the hood and used compressed air to clean out some plastic grates that were pretty much completely clogged. I think this might be the area Leadfoot was referencing.

    The only thing I haven't been able to confirm is that water is draining out the AC hose as intended. I'm going to keep monitoring the water level and see if any progress is being made. Hopefully one of these two things fixed the issue.

    I don't think it's the windshield because the car didn't have this problem until recently. We've owned it for a couple years now and haven't had the windshield replaced, as far as I know, it is a factory original windshield.
     
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