A friend of mine has I think a 2002 Dakota (whatever year it is, it has a 4.7L and does not have a V8 Magnum badge on the side). Anyways, while we were at work he noticed water underneath the passenger side of the truck. I thought it was nothing unusual until I heard him complaining after he opened up the passenger side door. The carpet was wet and it was quiet apparent that it had to be from the A/C as nothing was spilled. He claimed there were no signs of dripping coming from the vent and the situation was quite confusing on how this took place. My theory is that it is suffering from a similar problem that my father's 04 Taurus has. My theory is there is a blockage that is preventing the moisture from the A/C system from getting out as it is supposed to. Do any of you have any advice on what it is and how to solve it?

 

The little hose that comes out of the firewall on the passnager side might be blocked or plugged, easy fix is to just make it longer and seal it a bit better. Some people have added a Elbow hose to it to help drain it and not have it come back into the cab.

 

you could always put in a u-trap like your house plumbing!

 

I have the same problem. It does look like the water is coming from the hose at the firewall. It looks like it has become separated from the firewall. To really get at to seal it good, looks like I'm gonna have to remove the instrument cluster bezel and the heating/ac console. Someone more technically proficient then myself may be able to seal the spot better without removing all that stuff. Also, your friend would be best served to remove the whole carpet and let is dry. The carpet lining is thick and acts like a sponge, the water will stay there forever and get moldy (and SMELL). Of course, to remove the carpet, the bucket seats and the center console will also have to be removed. Nothing is easy, hahahaha
Good Luck
Ara

 

Hi, I am new here, but I have done some reading and I have found that the "water on the passengers side floor" problem is fairly common with our Gen II's. I recently experienced this problem with my '01 Dak Sport 2wd, 3.9 and I went crazy looking for it. I found that the box that houses the heater core and the AC evap coil has a short drain nipple that extends through the firewall by only an inch or so. The pipe exits horizontally, so the water has a tendancy to roll around the lip of the tube and try to come back through the firewall. There is only a small double stick foam doughnut/gasket on the inside, in between the plastic box and the firewall that breaks down and, in my case, became separated from the firewall itself. It is a total pain to remove the entire dashboard and air box to replace this gasket, so I just pulled it out with a pair of needle nose pliers as best I could (it came out in pieces), and I gooped the entire junction up with silicone sealant. I then added a short section of tubing to the nipple in the engine bay and ran it downwards and zip tied it off to anything I could find.
The water problem was fixed, but there is still a problem. If I run the AC for a long time in very humid weather, the core will freeze up and no air will flow, so I suspect that there is some kind of drain blockage internally. I poked around and even made a custom vacuum attachment to try to suck any crap out of the bottom of the box, but the problem is still there.
I suspect that there is some "growth" of fungi or bacteria in the air box and was wondering if there was a way to introduce chemical treatment (alchohol?) to help aleviate it.
There is no way I am taking the dash apart to go after this problem.