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Trouble cleaning out drain tube

pippo on Tue November 03, 2015 3:57 PM User is offline

People,

Have a 2010 Cobalt, and water from evaporeator backed up in cab and swamped the floor in passenger side, and so I jacked up car, got underneath, and tried to clean out the tube. That tube is strange looking- just a stub maybe 3/4" long, and it has a divider in it. Not the usual round black plastic tubing.

Anyway, I tried to stuff a stiff plastic rod up there but bottomed out within just about 2". Then, I took a bicycle pump and awkwardly pumped air up the tube, and much water gushed out!! I figured "great"!! But next day, water in cab leaking again. Any good way to clean out this tube? Geez, never seen this in a car just about 5-6 years old....

Thanks.

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Dougflas on Tue November 03, 2015 4:08 PM User is offline

Do you have enough of a stub sticking out that you could rig a suction hose from a wet vacuum? It will have to be fastened so that it is air proof and try vacuuming the line.

pippo on Tue November 03, 2015 5:22 PM User is offline

Thanks, Doug, I thought of that actually, but Man, its so tight under there for a vac hose setup. Guess I could try it though, Id have to cup my hand around the end of the vac hose cuz it will suck in air from around it, since it wont fit air tight. Should work. Ever hear of this problem in auto ac?

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beware of the arrival

GM Tech on Tue November 03, 2015 5:49 PM User is offline

Cut the divider out- they do that to try to lessen the air flow that escapes out the tube- but the more air flow out, the less likely to plug- so sacrifice a little cool air to maintain a good drain flow....try cleaning it out with blower motor on high- and notice the air flow when divider is opened....

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The number one A/C diagnostic tool there is- is to know how much refrigerant is in the system- this can only be done by recovering and weighing the refrigerant!!
Just a thought.... 65% of A/C failures in my 3200 car diagnostic database (GM vehicles) are due to loss of refrigerant due to a leak......

pippo on Tue November 03, 2015 7:25 PM User is offline

good tip, GM!! What a pain, that design!! Should I be able to cut it out with the tip of a utility knife? Hopefully, that divider is no more than 1/4" to 1/2" deep. otherwise, maybe a hack saw blade tip will be better(?)

I will also have motor on high whilst I do it.

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Dougflas on Tue November 03, 2015 8:44 PM User is offline

you could fasten another hose to the vacuum hose and tape it up. The just slide the new smaller hose onto the evaporator hose. aAso try GMtech's advice.And yes, I have seen the darin get stopped up; not completely but particially.

pippo on Sat November 07, 2015 8:05 AM User is offline

OK, now after applying a massive amount of vacuum with a 10 gallon wet vac, there is still a tiny leak in the cab/under dash. Sheesh. Now what should I do? I sucked the smitheroines out of the drain tube, and bfore that, it was even dripping along the area above driver's pedals!

So, I still have leaking (small amount, say, 2 oz a day) on passenger floor. What could be causing this? Do I have to yank the entire dash board?

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pippo on Sat November 07, 2015 4:59 PM User is offline

thought I would bump this thread up for any ideas........dont know what to do.....

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beware of the arrival

Cussboy on Sun November 08, 2015 9:47 AM User is offline

On my home AC once, I pumped water backwards up the drain, and then all sorts of gooey slime came out, but that did clean up and clear the condensate drain.

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