'One Off' Leak

[dannyboy413]

I was parked up for about ten minutes whilst waiting for my wife earlier today. The car was in 'Ready' mode and I had a cooling box plugged in to the rear 12v accessory socket and the air conditioning was switched on. Whilst parked, I think the ICE switched on once for a short time. When my wife returned to the car, she remarked on an amount of liquid on the floor, which had run to the side. I had a look and it appeared to be water. The 'water' looked like it was dripping from the middle, at the rear of the engine, roughly in line with the front of the footwells. I lifted the bonnet, but could not see anything amiss, although given the site of the 'leak', there was too much engine and things in the way. After sitting there for another 15 minutes or so, I drove to another place we wanted to visit, about 3 miles away. There was no messages or warning lights illuminated at any time. After being parked for about 15 minutes, we returned to the car and there was no sign of a further leak. I then drove home, a distance of about 25 miles without problem - no warning light or anything and the temperature gauge remained roughly in the middle of the gauge. I intended to let the car cool down and then check the fluids, but it has been raining since we got back! I will obviously check everything tomorrow, (rain permitting), but does it sound like I have anything to worry about, or is there something I should be looking for? My first thought  was that maybe it was connected to the air conditioning, but that is just a wild guess on my part. The car is two months old.

[Derek.w]

Is it flowing from the cool box you have in the back?. 

[dannyboy413]

No - can't blame that. 

[RedToyota]

Water leaking from under the car can be normal, especially on hot days when you've been cranking the A/C at full blast.

The system cools the cabin by pulling humidity from the air, and that moisture needs a place to go. Car A/C systems are designed to allow water to drain out of your vehicle.

It always seems to happen when you are parked, but then again it is hard to see when you are driving!

[Gray86]

Air conditioning removes the moisture from the air. It dumps it under the car - totally normal & every car does it. My garage is quite wet from A/C water

[dannyboy413]

Thanks @RedToyota and @Gray86 I can sleep easy tonight! 😁. It looks like my first thought was correct, but I will still check things tomorrow, even though the car drove perfectly normal on the way home.

[dannyboy413]

9 minutes ago, RedToyota said:

It always seems to happen when you are parked, but then again it is hard to see when you are driving!

I wonder if my wife loves me enough to lean out of the car whilst I am driving ...................maybe not!

[RedToyota]

8 minutes ago, dannyboy413 said:

I wonder if my wife loves me enough to lean out of the car whilst I am driving ...................maybe not!

An easier test is to "touch/ feel" the liquid. Condensate is just water whereas coolant would have a slippery feel due to the glycol additives. Just don't be tempted to pick or taste it 😱

[bathtub tom]

Air-con condensate. Exactly the same as moisture appearing on the outside of a glass of cold drink.

[Cyker]

With how hot and humid it's been lately, I'll vote for AC water too!

 

[Max_Headroom]

 

[CruxisCore]

Yeah, happens with every car with an AC being used in hot weathers. And well, homes too. I have this watering can under the outside unit of my home AC. That way I collect the condense water for watering the plants instead of it being dripped near my home's exterior wall 😄

[paul9]

When it doesn't drip, then you have a problem and generally need the pipe blockage cleared before it starts leaking back into the car!

[TonyHSD]

I drove my car yesterday with ac , the weather was hot but not extremely. The car didn’t leak any water or at least I didn’t noticed., no bad smell at all.
These leaks happens usually when you are stationary and it’s very hot and the ac is working full power, for example after a long journey you pull over into the petrol station and keep the car on for few minutes, then she will start dripping water, make a paddle, longer you keep the car and the ac on the larger the paddle will be. Another thing that I noticed was that the car hvac didn’t flip to recirculating by itself on the initial start up of the hvac with ac, might get it check with Carista for hvac settings as I did disconnected the Battery last month for two days and in case hvac went to factory settings., or perhaps was not hot enough for automatic recirculating. 

[Max_Headroom]

9 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

These leaks happens usually when you are stationary and it’s very hot and the ac is working full power,

Sorry but that is not the case the evaporator  runs when  you are travelling and stood still therefore condensate is produced in both circumstances the only reason you dont see when travelling  is because you are in the car.

 

Water Leaking Outside or Inside of the Car

Technically speaking, the A/C's evaporator core condenses the humidity (turns it into a liquid). The liquid then exits the car onto the pavement via the evaporator drain

 

 

[TonyHSD]

55 minutes ago, Max_Headroom said:

Sorry but that is not the case the evaporator  runs when  you are travelling and stood still therefore condensate is produced in both circumstances the only reason you dont see when travelling  is because you are in the car.

 

Water Leaking Outside or Inside of the Car

Technically speaking, the A/C's evaporator core condenses the humidity (turns it into a liquid). The liquid then exits the car onto the pavement via the evaporator drain

 

 

Condensation happens all the time but leaks to see them you need to stop, otherwise the water will go away from the tube as droplets  under the car.