Originally Posted by clancy

The evaporator condensation that exits through the passenger floor is not easily accessible from under the car. If fact you usually cannot even see it. Do not see how you could get a shop vac on it from underneath.

Originally Posted by alternety

I know this is old, but so is the leak.

Of course, I only found about about the settlement for paying for repairs today. Audi dealer previously told me it was only for VWs. I hate when that happens.

Primary question. I have all the stuff removed from the passenger side
to get the carpet out of the way to access the evaporator drain (as shown in original post). I am just not strong enough to get the carpet away from the drain (old codger). Is there any helpful hints for getting the carpet pulled back.

Grab a good hold and pull from the uper left corner closest to the hump. It will feel like it's going to break but keep pulling towards the left and back and it should fold.

You're going to need someone with very skinny arms and hands to get in there to take out the two bolts and you may never get one of them back in. It's a biotch for sure. If I recall correctly there's one on the top of the gizmo and one on the bottom. Then it does not want to come off because of the shape of the lip on it and the foam piece that is the "seal" yeah, right. I would glue mine back in if I still had the car and it still leaked.

Originally Posted by Audi-A6-Rookie

I was talking about vacuuming the outlet for water from ac which is in the wheel well. The water in the foot well is water that was suppose to flow out of the car, rt? and it is in the footwell becuse there's some block, did i get that right?

Originally Posted by soilsampledave

I am currently going through this same process of drying out the passenger side after enough water had collected to make the TCM go haywire. Is there a trick to drying out the foam padding attached to the bottom of the carpet? I keep trying to squeeze the water out, but it seems to be a never ending reservoir. I did put a dehumidifier in the car and closed the doors. I was worried about heat build up, so I checked it several hours alter and the car felt like it was 120 degrees inside. I wish there was a way to duct the exhaust from the dehumidifier out of the car. I am wondering if running the dehumidifier with the windows cracked would do any good?

Originally Posted by georgeb944

Running a dehumidifier with the windows (or doors) open is tantamount to dehumidifying the room in which the car is sitting, or the entire outdoors, if the car is outdoors. A better idea, which I have used myself, is to use a fan with the windows or doors open, and let it run for several days. Unless the ambient humidity is greater than 90 percent, it will eventually remove the moisture. This method works well after trying to remove as much moisture as possible by towels or other absorbent materials.

As to drying out the TCM, cooking it in an oven at 120 degrees F for several hours may bring it back to life.

Of course, you still need to address the original problem as to why water is collecting in the footwell, or the problem will happen again.

Originally Posted by soilsampledave

So...what should I spray under the carpet to help with residual odors and keep mold at bay in case a little moisture escaped my attempts to remove?

Originally Posted by georgeb944

I have had good success with renuzit and febreze. If it persists, you may have to cut out the moldy pieces and throw them away.

Originally Posted by QCRAZY

<b>Purpose:</b>

Nice work! Very well written and showing in pics!
Thanx


The evaporator drain valve is used to get the evaporator water to the outside of the car. Over time this valve can become plugged with debris and the performance of your A/C will suffer and/or the dampness of your interior will increase. ;-)

How do I know if I need to clean it?? The most obvious indication that you need to clean out this valve is that there is water in the passenger side foot well. Another indication is if you're A/C performance is bad when at idle (but good while cruising); this valve could be partially blocked. There are many things that can give bad A/C performance while at idle (dirty pollen filter, low freon, blocked/dirty condenser, bad cooling fan, etc.) this is just one possibility.

<b>Tools needed:</b>
Phillips screwdriver
Flat screwdriver
¼" drive ratchet
¼" u-joint
¼" extensions - a few different lengths
8mm socket
Compressed air

<b>Procedure:</b>
In this procedure the evaporator drain valve is cleaned out from the inside of the car. The valve is accessed and then blown out with compressed air. The following are the steps I used to complete this task.

<i>Step one:</i>
Remove the glove box. This is done by removing five 8mm bolts. Two bolts are found where the red arrows are pointing:

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1889/gloveboxscrews2.jpg">

Next, open the glove box and remove the last three bolts. Two of these bolts are circled and one is just off the side of the picture below.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1889/gloveboxscrews.jpg">

With all the screws removed the glove box assembly will be free. Once you get the last bolt out close the glove box so nothing falls out. Then lower the glove box assembly to the floor. Next, remove the connector circled below and then pull the glove box out of the car.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1889/connector.jpg">

<i>Step two:</i>
Remove the small panel near the floor just in front of the passenger front door. Remove the screw cover using a flat screwdriver and then remove the two phillips screws circled below.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1889/panelscrews.jpg">

Next, pull the lower portion of the panel to the side; you will NOT be able to completely remove it. Then loosen the door trim by simple grabbing it where the panel was covering and pulling up. It should look like this when done.....

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1889/actrim.jpg">

<i>Step three:</i>
Peel back the carpet so you can get at the drainage duct. Once the carpet is peeled back you will be able to see the drainage duct coming out from the center console. Now you need to remove three bolts that hold the drainage duct in place. Two can be had with extensions and an 8mm socket. The farthest bolt back (where arrow is pointing) you need to use a u-joint so you can remove it. The drainage duct and the bolts are shown below:

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1889/drainduct.jpg">

You won't be able to remove the drainage duct. Now that the bolts are removed swing that drainage duct up so you can get access to the evaporator drainage valve.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1889/acvalve.jpg">

Then simply blow out the valve with some compressed air. I used about 50psi when I did it.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1889/airvalve.jpg">

Reverse the procedures to put everything back together. Don't forget to hook up the electrical connector to the glove box panel.

<b>Keywords:</b>
A/C, AC, drain, line, hose, evaporator, valve, clogged, blocked, plugged, passenger side, wet

<b>Disclaimer:</b>
This is the procedure that I used to clean the evaporator drain valve on my 1999 A6 2.8. According to Bentley, this procedure will be applicable to the C5 A6's (all engines). This procedure may be similar to the B5 A4/S4's, as well. The previous was just a description of the procedure I used to clean out my evaporation drainage valve. Attempt at your own risk.