AU Falcon AC Drain

[madmelon]

This post is intended to help those with an AU Falcon locate the position of the air conditioning drain from under the vehicle. Having searched high and low on this forum and the internet abroad, I couldn't find a picture or description of the location for the AU- only EL and prior and BA onwards.

The symptoms of a blocked AC vent include: visible moisture around footwell components (esp passenger), damp footwell carpets including mats, water expelled into footwell during cornering, excessively fogged up windscreen and/or other windows, difficult to demist, stale odour in cabin after car unused for a while, stale/stuffy smell from cabin fan, especially during and after AC use.

The vehicle in question is an AUIII XR8 but it will be the same for AU and AUII, 6 or V8. The images start at the front of the vehicle and work inwards so it should be easy to follow...

The drain is on the firewall on the passenger side, behind the brake lines.











This is the vent. It's not a flexi plastic tube like some vehicles- just a plastic fitting which appears to sit almost horizontal- could explain why it blocks up.



A side on view, looking upwards from under the gearbox (and in the case of V8s, over the passenger side downpipe/cat). I apologise for the picture quality- the gap this was photographed through was small and the flash was obscured.



Once you've found it, you can try using some form of vacuum to suck through it, a coathanger to poke into it or compressed air to blow into it. I tried all three and was successful in clearing it but it is fairly confined where it is so be careful. For those with V8s, you'd be wise to allow the engine/exhaust to cool right down before attempting this as it's very close to lots of hot stuff- particularly if you're trying to manipulate an unfolded coathanger in there. I found that quite difficult.

Run the cabin fan on high, heater on, footwell and face outlets operating with all the windows down and the AC on- this will help to clear any moisture which has built up. Also, if you've used compressed air, it will help to clear any particulates that have been disloged (mine briefly smelt like cigarette smoke unfortunately).

The drain tube should visibly drip after the AC has been running for a little while.

Hope this is helpful to someone. I've used as many common terms as possible to make it easy to find in searches.