Chrysler Town & Country water leak inside the van

tcminivan06

I have a 2006 Town & Country. Last weekend, I noticed that the rug in the back storage compartment of the minivan was soaking wet. I thought one of the water bottles had exploded. It took a week to dry out the rug. I put everything back in, and noticed today that the rug is wet again, but not as wet as before. The moisture is odorless, clear, and is not sticky--just like water. Does anyone have any ideas as to what is causing it?

asdrew1

Chances are that the condensation drain hose for your rear AC is blocked. In Florida we have that problem frequently because our home & auto AC lines don't get a lot of "dry time."

I don't have my 2006 anymore to check the drain location, but if you can find it you can use a fish tank "bottle brush" thingy to clean it out.

BTW don't wait too long to dry the carpet out or it won't be odorless and clear too long!

ohvan

My carpet on the front passenger floor is soaked. We started to notice it about one month ago, which is about the same time we started running the a/c hard - fulltime. We also had the van in the shop from transmission work about a month ago - we started to notice the water shortly after the shop visit.

I tried drying it out only to find it "resoaked" agains hortlu after drying. It doesn't appear to be coming from the door or outside of the vehicle. It must be from the underside.

Any advice or help ould be appreciated!

asdrew1

See my previous post about the rear AC.

On most vehicles that I've had, the front AC drain tube is right in front of the passenger seat and will flood as you described when it is plugged (notice that it is the location that normally drips when you park the car after using the AC).

You need to find the drain tube and clean it out.

ohvan

Thanks for the response asdrew1. Is the drain line typically found from the top under the hood or do you need to place the vehicle on a rack to view the underside?

tedebear

Read this that I just found from doing a Google search.

AC Draining Water Inside Cabin

Many more discussions and solutions can be found here:

2003 T&C AC Drain Tube

ohvan

Thanks for the information tedebear. I guess I'm the first to experience the problem.

scotabroad

Another reason other than AC - Just under the windshield at the front of the van is the external air intake. Air from that intake comes into the van just above the floor (behind the glove box) on the Front Passenger side. Underneath the external air intake is a plastic trough with two drain tubes (One on either side of the van). If the drain tubes for the trough just under the external grill (just below the windshield) gets blocked in anyway the next exit place for that water is into the van at the front passenger area. Stick your head under the glove box and you might see some water. Visit www.autoleak.com for an example solution. However what is not mentioned on that site is that sometimes when a windshield gets replaced, the rubber along the part of the intake grill that touches the windshield is not put tight against the glass or is even missing. On a heavy rain day, water floods down the windshield and into the trough and then into the car as the trough can't cope with the amount of rain plus it pushes lots of dirt into the trough causing the drains to block. Secured rubber between intake grill and the windshield avoids these problems.

dgilbeau

So after reading these post regarding the AC leaking under the dash on the passengers side of the van here is what I found. If you call the dealer its an major repair and could cost several hundred dollars as the dash may need to be removed. So before doing so here's what I found out. If you remove the air cleaner cover as mentioned in a previous post and hoses then look for a black plastic tube about 2 inches long coming out from the cabin wall, ( it will be wet, also has a notch cut out on the underside of the tub about an inch long) Put the 5/8 inch diameter radiator hose with a elbow in it on the tub (i had to cut mine down a bit) and presto no more leak. Cost $9.99 and about 20 min of work. Thanks to the previous posters.

rrservices

I just finished working on a 2007 T&C with the same problem. I found #1> The cabin ac filter needed changing. It is located under dash near the passengers left foot area, a long one inch wide slot facing down. now with the ac off, pull it out clean and vacuum up the area and install new. you can use black duct tape to cover the bottom side of the filter entry, I did to stop air leaks and less fan noise. #2> The ac drain tube, You can see the drain tube near the exhaust manifold on the fire wall by looking under the van. It is too short and it has a cut out slot on the bottom side and the condensate water will run back to the metal hole cut out which is the floor board plate, so I installed a 2 inch long 5/8" rubber heater hose with hose clamp and extended the drain. Fixed the problem. It is a tight spot to get to but you can do it from the under side of the van. find you a friend with thin arms. Do not take it to a shop unless the ac is not cooling. You can do it!! The hose will be close to the exhaust manifold but the manifold has a heat shield. It will be just fine. I ran the ac on max cold and Instantly I saw the water running out of the hose as it should.

nomoreleak

rrservices is correct. I think most of the water comes around the tube with the notch in it. It always leaks where the condensate drains only leak when plugged. I took the hose repair one step further. I went to Advance Auto and asked them to look for a 5/8" (I think) I.D. hose that comes out 2-3 inches and then makes a 90 degree turn. After a few minutes the guy brought me one (about $6-7). The other thing I do is apply a large bead of silicone to the end of the hose and then shove it on the tube with the slot. Make sure no silicone is on the inside of the hose when you put it on. This seals the hose to the firewall and it won't leak again from here. Put the hose on so the other end is facing towards the ground. Also, if you have a sunroof, you should find and blow those drains out also before the sunroof leaks. Usually there is a drain at each corner and the drain comes out under the vehicle.

nomoreleak

One other point I forgot to say. I did put a hoseclamp on the end near the firewall, then add more silicone around the hose to seal.

cenz134

Here is what I did to fix my issue. Glad I documented it. Hope this helps you. 
http://youtu.be/oM_snejc5uE

stever

Cool - have to remember this if mine leaks on my '09 Grand Caravan.

gerhartr

Everytime i go thru the carwash water star dripping down from the passenger side.thru the dash board.

stever

My guess is a leak around the windshield or in the cowl area. I had a cowl leak in my Quest minivan that I fixed with some silicone. Haven't popped the cowling off my '09 Grand Caravan but I suspect it's got a "catch basin" under the wipers and some drain hoses. Maybe one of those is clogged. In my case the water drained the catch basin edge had separated a bit and let rainwater drip onto the floor under my brake pedal - not sure how far up the dash my leak was.

You could tape off the cowling with plastic and then run a hose along the windshield to try to see if the weather stripping is letting water in. If that seems okay, then run the water into the cowling area.

Oh, if you have a sunroof, that'd be the first place to start. They have drains (tubes) and they can clog up.

gerhartr

I dont have a sunroof.none of the wiper water drain are plug.

stever

I dunno then - water leaks can be notoriously hard to find. @Mr_Shiftright may have some ideas.

And I guess it's just water and not "oily" water that would indicate a coolant leak in the heater core.

gerhartr

No.is like if im in the carwash u can see that water dripping under the das on the passenger side and after

wesdann

Unfortunately I'm very late to this party... Water has leaked from the drain at the firewall and has soaked passenger and driver side. I've read the hose extension fix. My question is does anyone have any recommendations for drying all the carpet out? It has soaked into the padding and everything. Only thing I could figure short of a whole vehicle reinstall was cutting out front section removing to dry then reinstall?

PoppysigmonS

06 town and country antifreeze leaking from the drain for ac I am loosing coolant and I have bypass the heater coil