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water leak ac drain hose clogged from spider web ????
i was told last week a spider formed a web in my 2020 nx 300 ac drain hose and flooded inside my car during the rain. also that this cause isnt covered under warranty. the repair there asking for is 6800.00
did any one else suffer this diagnosis from any other dealer. mine was lexus of route 10 in whippany nj. when i wa s told by them your insurance denied there claim to come get my car . and when i picked it up i notice parts in the back seat and front on the floor. missing bolt covers on center console too. i have pictures but cant upload them as of now for some reason
Last edited by user 76208230; 10-22-20 at 10:51 AM.
Reason: update
I can't see how plugged AC drain hose has anything to do with exterior rain flooding the interior. With that said, animals can do nasty things to vehicles. Neighbor had a rat eat his brake line.
The NX evaporator drain hose is unusually long and convoluted, so an obstruction is certainly possible. A blocked drain hose will permit evaporator condensate water to spill onto the front floor whenever the air conditioner is on. This spillage does not require rain. Forgetting to fully close the sunroof or a window will allow rainwater to accumulate inside.
Evidence of console disassembly is consistent with accessing and removing the drain hose for inspection.
Obstructed A/C evaporator drain hoses are a longstanding known issue with several Lexus vehicles. After numerous owner complaints were received by NHTSA, Lexus issued this technical service bulletin to advise dealers how to prevent recurrence of the problem: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...31864-9999.pdf
A quality-oriented car manufacturer would have applied this remedy at the factory instead of waiting until their owners suffered the consequences (primarily moldy carpeting).
In addition to replacing the hose, repair likely involves removing & replacing the carpets and floor insulator pads. You might get a much lower price from a body shop or auto upholstery shop.
Do you have "comprehensive" insurance coverage?
thank you for the information last night lexus 1-800 called me to let me know they are still not warranty this known problem and they left my car disassembled for leaving bad review on google.
The point being, a blocked AC drain hose will NOT flood the vehicle interior. There had to be other factors at play. So of course it is not a warranty item in this instance.
I didn't think so either because of the amount of water coming in but they insisted that what it was. . I think something came loose or fell off during the week prior service
Last edited by user 76208230; 10-22-20 at 12:21 PM.
Reason: update
What was done during the "prior week service"?
Where did you see the water, and under what operating and weather conditions?
How much water do you estimate leaked in?
I just ran my A/C for ~15 minutes and used my oil drain pan to collect the condensate water. The total amount collected was just under 1 quart, which is an approximate rate of almost 1 gallon per hour. Local temperature during the test was 75F and relative humidity was unusually high at 90%. Had the relative humidity been 45%, I expect the amount collected would have been halved.
You can perform a simple test to rule out other common causes of water leaks: a failed windshield seal or dislodged sunroof drain hose. Tape a garden hose to the (closed) sunroof (assuming your vehicle has one), without a nozzle, and let the water dribble out for at least 30 minutes. Check the floors for any new intrusion of water.
well it was the 10,000 mile complimentary service so whatever that includes im not sure this is my first lexus.but I did ask them if they knew this is a common problem why isn't air blown threw drain hose as preventive maintenance. they have it on lift to change oil im assuming it is right there anyway. it was raining very hard and I told them my feet were almost submerged in driver side floor. I need a cup to bail it out and 2-3 rolls of paper towels and rags to dry it somewhat. it was coming threw access panel of center console I seen later that night while running heater/ac to try to dry up
Some elementary math might be useful here. I measured the driver foot well (floor pan) and it is approximately 320 square inches in area (16 inches x 20 inches), If the average depth of the water was 2 inches, then we have a calculated volume of ~640 cubic inches, which is ~ 0.37 cubic feet. Since there are ~7.48 gallons per cubic foot, estimated water volume is ~2 3/4 gallons. Even with 100% relative humidity (rain conditions), this seems too much to attribute solely to condensate, based on my 15 minute condensate volume measurement at 90% RH. The amount of water extracted by an air conditioner evaporator is not impacted by how hard it is raining. The relative humidity of fog is ~100% as well.
What you could have is an obstructed cowl drain, possibly due to excess body sealer applied at the factory, or an accumulation of debris from trees. If the cowl (where the windshield wiper motor and linkage is located) fills with water during a heavy rain, the excess water can pour into the heater/AC air intake, which is typically about 4 inches x 6 inches in size. Since the evaporator drain hose is probably only ~3/8 inch in diameter, it could not possibly keep up with the rate of incoming water, even if unobstructed.
You can easily test for a cowl obstruction. With the heater running, pour a pail of water onto the passenger side windshield, then see if any of that water makes its way into the cabin. Also check if the top of the cabin air filter is wet. There should be some YouTube videos showing how to remove it, if not familiar with its location behind the glove box.
THis is somewhat common problem especially on Toyota/Lexus. Had it happen to my daughter's 2011 CT200h. The car sits a fair amount and isn't driven a whole lot. Has absolutely zero to do with rain. It's the condensate from running the A/C and/or Defroster. The drain pipe gets clogged and the water that is supposed to be discharged under the car backs up in the tray and spills out under the dash. Luckily, we caught it early so they had to take out carpet and dry it/spray it to keep from mold building up. Not much in the way of part replacement, just lots of labor.
Only ended up being a modest $2400 or so.. (ha ha). My comprehensive insurance actually covered it minus the deductible. They ended up putting a pesticide tip inside the hose to prevent bugs from getting in there in the future. . Bugs like it in there as it is dark and damp up there. Makes you wonder why Toyota/Lexus doesn't put that tip in there from the factory.......
i was told last week a spider formed a web in my 2020 nx 300 ac drain hose and flooded inside my car during the rain. also that this cause isnt covered under warranty. the repair there asking for is 6800.00
did any one else suffer this diagnosis from any other dealer. mine was lexus of route 10 in whippany nj. when i wa s told by them your insurance denied there claim to come get my car . and when i picked it up i notice parts in the back seat and front on the floor. missing bolt covers on center console too. i have pictures but cant upload them as of now for some reason
Disassembled car parts when returned to me Wet pieces to my car left in my back seat Parts of my car Missing part Water leaking in while running heat to try to dry
This piece is the missing forward section of the console to the right of the accelerator pedal.
Insert tab A into slot A, then slide the panel forward until tabs B and C align with slots B and C. Lock in tabs B and C by hitting the panel with the side of your fist.
The larger piece is the instrument panel under cover.
Last edited by n0v8or; 11-05-20 at 11:30 AM.
Reason: dumb spelling error