Leak in Passenger side

[gdemmanuel]

I have a 2000 Grand Prix GT and I have a leak in the passenger side of the car. It seems like water, and the A/C works fine...and I hear a sound comming from behind the glove box when I make left hand turns. If anyone has any ideas...Please let me know.

George

[BIG-L]

There is a drain tube that comes out of the heater box under the car by the fire wall on the passenger side that vents water out of it on to the ground....It could be plugged with debris and wount drain.In the pic you can see the drain tube.Id give that a shot first.

As for the noise it sounds like its full of water.

~Larry~

[leeker2]

I know exactly what the problem is. I just had my car serviced. The cowl (the black piece that lays against the windshield underneath of the windshield wipers) on my car was one piece and it was warped. Since the car was made Pontiac came out with an updated 2-piece version because they had a problem with the car leaking. The mechanic told me that because this cowl or plenum (they used both terms) was not laying flush against the windshield it was allowing water and leaves to get down into the evaporator box. The first thing that they had told me to do was to insert a drill bit (by hand) into the drain hole of the evaporator box in the fire wall. It was hard to get to. We tried it and it still poured water into the floorboard. They fixed the cowl problem and couldn't get the car to leak. I knew that the car leaked when it rained and when you ran the AC. I asked them if they took the car out with the AC on and made left hand turns..??? They did not but assured me that the car was fixed. It was not. I took it back and they drove the car w/ the AC on and sure enough it poured water out of the passenger side. When they got the car apart a second time, they found that the evaporator box was full of sludge..(decomposing leaves and water). The sludge had clogged the drain plug. They said that there was no way that the drill bit would have been able to work in this case. When you run the AC, the evaporator box fills up with water and has nowhere to go. It then spills out (mine only spilled while making left hand turns) onto the blower motor. My husband told me to leave the motor running so that it throws the water away from the motor windings. The first owner replaced the blower and I had to replace it after I bought the car. The dealer cleaned out the evaporator box and put everything back together. No more leaks.
My only issue is with GM. The Lemon Law only applies to the car if you are the first owner and after you have attempted to fix the car 3 times to no avail is the car considered a 'lemon'.
The first owner had tried to get it fixed at the dealer and it didn't work so he got rid of it. The plenum / cowl is not a moving part and since it was a problem since the car was new I think that GM should have paid for this. I didn't even go to them when the blower went bad. We fixed it ourselves. The dealer charged me a total of $995.00 until this was all said and done. This doesn't include the $100 it cost for the blower.

I know its long but I hope it helps. The mechanic told me that this was wrong from the factory and the fact that the original part was updated tells me that the original was flawed.

It's been hot and rainy here and I haven't had any leaks...I'll be calling GM this week.

Let me know how you make out.
This must be a common problem since the mechanic first gave us a printout that was titled 'Customer complains of leak on passenger side'.

I also had a problem with the steering...I couldn't make a quick left-hand turn...the car would 'dog' and whine. But it was only when I turned left. The mechanic said that it was low on fluid but my husband had been checking it and made sure it had fluid. That problem has gone away too.

[BIG-L]

Ill keep mine shorter In most cases (85%) is related to the drain tube being cloged and there is also a fix for under the cowl... Under the black plastic cowl that covers the bottom of your windshield,that the wiper shaft goes through, take that off and you will see a 2 ft. long piece of weather stripping. It deflects water away from your ac blower vent and is more than likely falling off. Get some weather stripping glue and put it back on and that should fix it

[gdemmanuel]

Thanks for all the information...Big-L, I tried getting to the drain tube but it seems like you have to get it from the inside. I did pull out a little 90 degree rubber tube that I'm assuming connects to the train tube and I cleaned that out (even though it wasn't that dirty). That seems to have solved the problem. If the problem starts again then I'll have to start taking apart on the inside.

Thanks again.

[lancej70]

I had this problem also with water leaking in only on the passengers side floor. One day after a hard rain a few months ago is when I notice that the carpet was soaking wet. Until yesterday I finally found the water leaking from above and running down the firewall to the floor. So I knew it was coming from around the windshield. I saw somewhere that the windshield isnt always sealed well. I took the wipers and the cowl piece off and took the hose and sprayed water under the windshield where I couldnt see that it was sealed. Then I noticed the the 2 foot long U-channel laying in the blower inlet. This was my problem as it is used to direct water away from the blower.

The wipers are a pain to get off since they are spring loaded, but you just push it down hard to get them back on.

[GPheat]

Im new to this forum but I am glad I found it. I have been reading other messages regarding the "leak" and I am too another victim. I have had my A/C drainage tube replaced before and thought that this new leak was indeed the same problem however it only happens after it rains. I took my car to the dealership and they ran water over the windshield but could not duplicate the problem. Any suggestions on trying to find the cause? I live in Miami and since it rains here every ten minutes this is an urgent problem. Plus I heard that GM may help in correcting this problem. Anyone have their contact number.
Much appreciated
GPheat

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by GPheat

Im new to this forum but I am glad I found it. I have been reading other messages regarding the "leak" and I am too another victim. I have had my A/C drainage tube replaced before and thought that this new leak was indeed the same problem however it only happens after it rains. I took my car to the dealership and they ran water over the windshield but could not duplicate the problem. Any suggestions on trying to find the cause? I live in Miami and since it rains here every ten minutes this is an urgent problem. Plus I heard that GM may help in correcting this problem. Anyone have their contact number.
Much appreciated
GPheat

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