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Blocked aircon drain, 147GTA

10K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  Martin Casey 
#1 ·
Chaps,

Got the old blocked drain from the aircon with the passenger footwell getting damp whenever it's switched on. I've tried to follow some of the threads here to unblock it but I can't really see where the drain is when under the car (and it's quite difficult with the car just on axle stands to get enough clearance under the car to see what I'm doing).

I just asked my local dealer for a quote on unblocking it as apparently there's an official Alfa fix for it which involves lengthening the outlet pipe. Having fallen off my chair after receiving a quote of £274.62 to unblock a bit of pipe, is this something which I can attack myself a different way, or something a local competent indie garage can do in a short time?

cheers...I probably made the mistake of telling the guy it was the GTA which allowed Alfa to stick their 25% GTA tax on top.

Tank
 
#2 ·
Well, this isn't going great. Mike at A&M doesn't know how to do it. My local indie garage is confused as to how to do it even with instructions from here. Is the GTA somewhat more complex than other 147s to get to the drain?
 
#3 ·
I have no idea if this is a good advice as I have not investigated A/C related topics but recently when I had the engine out I have seen a rubber drain pipe outlet located under the A/C cooler pipes / under the ac radiator in the dash. Its not well visible in the picture, there is a pipe with flat end going out from the heatshield, where I marked it red:

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee114/gotcha147/Various cars/drain.jpg

I dont guarantee its AC related, it might also drain water from under the wipers... I haven't really inspected it. But worth to have a look.
 
#4 ·
Thanks gotcha, I think that's the one after reading all the material about this problem. I'm going to see my local garage in an hour so I'll pass the picture to them and see what they say.
 
#5 ·
Right, went down the garage and got on the ramps. I can feel the outlet from the top of the engine bay, but the thing is impossible to see from underneath at all. We had a go at putting some stuff up the outlet but I think the cable tie we used was too wide. Terrible design by Alfa, how the hell are you supposed to get to this drain properly without dropping the exhaust and rear manifold off?
 
#7 ·
Bryn you did well to get the air hose down there, there's very little room.

Well, it's done. What a ballache of a job. Good job there are no kids living on my street as I would have dropped them stone-dead with the language coming out of my gob today. I ended up cutting the rubber "mouth" lengthways with a stanley knife (this is in itself a contortionist's feat) and rodding the horizontal pipe directly instead of having to negotiate that silly 90deg bend.

For anyone searching:

1. Go in from the top nearside over the wheel. Use a headtorch or similar.
2. Unbolt the power steering reservoir and move away from you towards the middle-rear of the bay.
3. Follow the pipes down from the power steering reservoir - where the left-hand pipe joins onto the hard pipe with a clip, this is the height level of the drain. (There are two different drains on this side of the car - the passenger scuttle drain is the other one but it is a fair bit higher than this and closer towards you).
4. Slide your hand between the two power steering pipes at this level and feel on the bulkhead; you should feel the soft rubber drainpipe. The two sides of it converge at the end like a "mouth". This is the end of the drain.

The following diagram of the setup uses my amazing Paint skills. Look upon my works ye mighty and despair. Yes, I know the rubber flap looks a bit like a knob. Stop being a pervert.



From here, as I could see it, you have three options. The "normal" way is to use a bendy bit of cable, like a cable tie or bike brake sleeve, to go up the rubber flap and then bend 90degrees into the pipe. This is annoying and time-consuming.

The second option is to do what I did and cut away some of the soundproofing covering the flap, then cut the flap itself until the pipe is far easier to access and you can virtually feed your "rodding device" (NOT your penis for any fetishists, this will hurt and you will get it oily, good luck explaining that one to the wife) into the pipe. I don't believe having the pipe exposed will cause any problems as long as there's still some flap covering it. Wiggle it about until it goes in as far as it can, you may get some water out once you clear the blockage.

The third way I guess it to give it a blast with compressed air as suggested above - I don't have access to one of these, and probably for the best as I would be trying it out on next door's cat.

You should be all done now.

Vaughan
 
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#8 ·
Hi. Did this have a long term cure?

Used out V6 GT for the forts time in ages this weekend & the passenger footwell is wet :(

It was peeing down in the Midlands so I initially thought scuttle drain but I checked that & it's 100% clear so I guess it must be the aircon drain.

Car will be doing the SCARB run on the 21st of this month so this could be a problem.

Cheers,
 
#9 ·
Mines doing it again now, had it fixed last year by an ex-alfa indie who said there was an official Alfa fix for this which he did and it had been fine but ive had the clutch done since and think the movement in the engine bay trapped it again....
 
#10 ·
Hi guys, I haven't had a problem since I did it; it's been a good fix for me. I run the climate control pretty much constantly as well.

I think to be honest even if the pipe itself isn't blocked it would be possible for the rubber and sound-deadening to get squished against the end of it and cause a backup.
 
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