Help! Cabin Water Ingress and 1st Rant...

After what was an awesome drive home today, I set the parking brake and (looking towards the passenger footwell) noticed water had been dripping down from the bottom of the passenger side dash. It had only created dampness in the floormat and a tiny spot on the carpet. I pulled the floormat and used one of my drying towels (I panicked) to sop any remaining water.

I'm aggravated because this is the first day since fixing the shifter rattles that were ruining my drive (rattle when coasting and a constant squeak on all shifts). All my dealership experiences regarding the front left wheel squeak have come back disappointingly negative. When I called to see if I could purchase the OEM Recommended gear shift grease (Shell Sunlight2) they told me each mechanic uses his own and that my p/n from the manual wasn't valid. To cap it off, when I removed the driver side dash panel to look for the infamous broken tab dash-rattle, one of the retaining tabs broke and it took me two weeks to find a loctite that would weld polypropylene.

Back to the problem...

It did rain really hard today but I've never noticed water there before... The A/C had been on for 30-40 minutes on a humid day. Also, when I opened the glove compartment, it looked like there was some paper-filter element pushing on the open top of the back of the box. I'm not sure how the cabin air filter is retained...

I need to make 100% sure this is fixed because I'm planning on owning this car till it dies so I can't start letting it slip at 20k... Oh and I'm not bringing it to the dealer unless 100% necessary.

What do you think?

Sounds like the evaporator drain which is very easy to fix. You need to get under the glove box and take a look.

2nd. While I have no experience with this on the Legacy, its a common problem on my Nissan. I was able to disconnect a rubber hose, force some compressed air through it and the reattached it. All in a St. Louis Walmart parking lot!

I've removed the:

Console Box

Passenger side console trim

Glove-box and lower cover

When I removed the glove-box lower cover and tipped it outside the car, a puddle of water came out from directly beneath the blower fan. I'm now letting the insulation on that panel dry out in the air-conditioned office.

I can't see the drain tube yet... do I need to pull the blower motor unit?

Bump...

I tried blowing through the tube... it seemed completely clear.

The water must have come through the blower, the puddle was directly beneath it. Chalk it up to running the AC on defroster and a really rainy day? Maybe a chunk of ice temporarily blocked the passage?

I have a bunch of pictures as well... It definitely appears to match up with Vaca Pix, HVAC System, p. AC-5, Item 12.

To cap it off, when I removed the driver side dash panel to look for the infamous broken tab dash-rattle, one of the retaining tabs broke and it took me two weeks to find a loctite that would weld polypropylene.

Let me guess, you broke the bottom clip. That bottom clip happens to be different than all the other ones on that panel AND all of the clips on the passenger side. Why they change 1 single clip design on two panels beats the hell out of me and I'm a mechanical engineer. Best way to remove that panel is to reach in through the fuse access panel and push the tab out of the clip. Or else it'll be about 1-2 weeks and $40 to buy a new one. Gee, I wonder how I know that.

My dealership found the same problem on my car.. the line was clear but the blower 'box' was leaking or something like that. Got it fixed under warranty after having to prove that it wasnt my boost gauge flex line that ran through the gromet right there.

Thanks for the heads up... it has never happened before or since so I'm going to hold off on digging in further.

The glove box and center console have been reinstalled (how the heck are you supposed to reinstall the center console with those 2 white posts?) and I've left the lower glove box cover off so that any dripping is immediately apparent.

Any more details, maybe from the write-up they gave you, would be very helpful for identifying the part in the vaca pics...

Let me guess, you broke the bottom clip. That bottom clip happens to be different than all the other ones on that panel AND all of the clips on the passenger side. Why they change 1 single clip design on two panels beats the hell out of me and I'm a mechanical engineer. Best way to remove that panel is to reach in through the fuse access panel and push the tab out of the clip. Or else it'll be about 1-2 weeks and $40 to buy a new one. Gee, I wonder how I know that.

Bingo!

Alternatively, the loctite "all-plastic" adhesive I bought was $4 and the repair job is almost completely undetectable.