QuestionOur 1996 Land Rover Discovery has a leak from the air conditioner into the passenger side foot compartment. It is just clear water that is leaking. Since it is my husband's car and he usually drives, my feet are cold and damp and he doesn't really see it as a problem. We have figured out that it is probably a drain for condensation that is dribbling on my feet. He is pretty good at car repair, but has never tackled the AC. Is this something that can be repaired by an average do it your-selfer, or do we need to take out a loan and go visit our mechanic?
AnswerHello Jenny,
this is a terrible problem with most LR Discovery owners. My wife too complains of the damp carpet. I would leave the AC alone for the moment. Condensation is normal with AC and it depends on where you live and how you use your AC.
I will say that (with my wife just over my shoulder) the ingress of water into the passenger footwell is a known problem and there may be ways to fix it.
One UK owner has suggested that you run a Stanley utility knife around the footwell carpet as far up as you can reach. You could do this with your 96 but you can't do this with a Disco SII, as the carpet and insulation are one (lots more work and effort involved). You could then take out the carpet...dry if out and then easily replace.
If this area is so wet I would check the body mountings on the bulkhead (where it mounts to the chassis). Down here, with rough roads, a lot of them break up and the bulkhead joint cracks. When driving in wet conditions or an AC with excessive condensation, water ingress is thru the cracks and saturates the carpets completely. Another '96 Disco owner complained of this. His solution was to either a) take EVERYTHING out then weld and repair the mountings, or b) expend 2 full tubes of silicone sealant around, over and through the cracked area and then stick the carpet back in (a much easier solution).
I had heard of a LR technical bulletin on this fault published by LR a few years ago. If you ask your dealer, you could ask for a proper repair kit, BUT it was only supposed to happen to a handful of vehicles used in serious off road conditions. Yeah, right!
SO, have your husband take a flashlight and take a very close look throughtout the engine compartment. ALL cable and wiring harness that appear to enter into the chasis (body) of your vehicle are potention entry points for water. Take a close look at the mountings in the engine bay as sometimes the cracks are not that obvious.
Another Disco owner suspected that the ingress was ABOVE the footwell so he layed out paper towels (sort of a litmus test) and waited to see if they became wet. Sure enough, he found that water was trickling in from the top of the windsheild, down along the passenger corner post and in thru a small crack in the body of the vehicle. It took him many hours of watering the car, checking the paper, drying the car to determine this flaw. Solution was to remove the rubber trim above the windshield and apply an extra amount of sealant then reinstall the rubber trim. Very difficult job but this handymand was able to do it.
Since you suspect the AC is the source of the water...and knowing that water ALWAYS takes the easiest route...trace back from below the AC and seal anything that looks like a entry (gateway) for water ingress. I would clean the suspected areas carefully then spray the sealant or caulk the sealant heavily. Allow the sealant time to dry and set before exposing it to water and moving vibrations.
I wish you and your husband much success with this very annoying problem,
JohnMc
