ROY SIMPSON

Active Member
Disco 2 td5 automatic 2002 pre facelift gs.
As I understand it, the air con evaporator has 2 drain pipes that exit it on the passenger side at the front of the heater/ air con unit behind the air duct by the central console.
What exactly is the path of these pipes and where do these drains empty out.
Roughly what size are they and are they rigid or flexible pipes.
I have just spent an hour under the disco on a friend's ramp feeling for them above the xyz switch without success.
Any tips for finding them, do you need to remove exhaust pipe.
Situation getting desperate as will soon need wellies to drive.
Many thanks.
 
They pass either side of the central tunnel, you can actually get at them with your fingers from inside the car through the gap at the top of the footwell trim.

The run is short, predominantly in soft rubber. In a pinch, you might have some joy just squeezing the duct with your fingers to massage the condensate past the obstruction (worked for me once, albeit temporarily).

Else, it's get underneath and pop off the little rubber sphincter cap things for a proper cleanout. Don't remember them being as high up as xyz switch though, my recollection was they're some way up the tunnel wall but not far.

Edit: No need to remove exhaust pipe. Also, and in case it helps, they were further towards the rear of the vehicle than I expected, I thought they'd be buried deeper in the dash than they were.
 
If they are anything like the facelift D2 then they are one on either end of the little tray below the evaporator and the exit the vehicle quite high up on the transmission tunnel either side of the gearbox.
In the car, if you pull the carpet back just under the heater/evaporator you should be able to see the pipes going to a grommet in the transmission tunnel.
They are known to block and sometimes you might be able to poke a thin wire down through them. I've been looking at trying to cut and re-join the pipes so that if the worse comes to the worse I can manually drain the evaporator tray.
 
I removed the little nipples under the car as I don't go in for deep wading and they seemed to block far too easily. I also fitted a short pipe to the n/s one to take the condensate away from the XYZ switch.

I think the original design dropping the water onto the gearbox was so that it evaporates from the heat of the casing rather than dripping on the road as the N/S of mine leaves a puddle now.
 
Many thanks for your informative replies.
Eventually located them, both blocked, drivers side relatively easy if you have access to a ramp/lift, passenger side more cramped even with lift
The passenger side came away from the car while fiddling with it and proved impossible to refit from outside.
To refit and I would recommend this to anybody who like me are not as young or flexible as I used to be and has blocked drains as an alternative to fiddling about underneath.
Remove central console by
2 screws in storage box and 2 screws under mat at front.
Remove surround from window switches, undo screws retaining plate and manoeuvre switches into void behind.
Disconnect handbrake cable.
Remove gear selector top by pressing trigger and pulling up.
Ease gear sector console up from the front and when free, remove wiring plug (cantilever catch on top).
Unscrew high / low selector handle.
Remove central console removing cigar lighter wiring connectors as you go.
Remove rear air ducts, 1 screw in each.
Remove front footwell air ducts either side,1 screw
Ease carpet back from where the front air ducts were and this expose the air con drains and the grommets where they exit the car body.
Push the grommet out with a blunt instrument keeping hold of pipe and feed back onto car.
Clean out drains on both sides and refit reverse of above.
To refit grommet I put bottom in first, then the sides and finally the top using a screw driver to push the final bit through.
It took me about an hour from start to finish using two screw drivers, one philip, one flatbread and a pair of pliers to reattach handbrake cable.
 

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