Prius (Gen 2) :: AC Water Leakage Onto Passenger Floor

Leaking A/C water onto the passenger floor problem. If you’ve gone on a long trip and ended up with a pool of water on your passenger floor, you know what I’m talking about. It seems to be a common problem, especially if you live somewhere hot and have to keep your A/C on the coldest and strongest setting nonstop like I do. This is a very simple job and takes about 20-30 minutes.

All you need is: duct tape, a wire hanger, a few towels, and a wet/dry shop vac. (If you don’t own a shop vac, borrow one or rent one if you must, but it is a good investment if you don’t own one already).

Step 1: Remove the plastic cover under the dashboard. This piece just pops off, there are no screws, so give it a good tug down and outward and it should come off easily.

Step 2: Once you have that piece out of the way, reach up to the left corner of the carpet and pull it back, you don’t have to pull it very far to see the A/C drain tube.

Step 3: Pull the tube out from the hole on the firewall, and look at the end. If there’s water dripping your clog probably isn’t that bad. Take the wire hanger, bend it straight, and stick it as far up the tube as you can, wiggling it around and pulling it out to wipe off any gunk on the wire. Try to reach the metal pipe that the other end of the rubber tube is connected to if you can, but do NOT pull the rubber hose off the pipe, it will be hard to get back on. Also, be sure to have your towels ready because you may have up to a liter of water pour out the end when you unclog it.

Step 4: Turn your A/C on (make sure the car is fully on) and wait a minute. Look at the end of the drain tube. If it is dripping water quickly, and you don’t see much water coming from anywhere else under the dash, then you are done. I would suggest to still continue with the next steps just in case, but it’s up to you. If, like mine, the tube is fairly dry and you still see water dripping from further towards the inside of the dash, then your clog is further up the pipe and not in the tube itself. In this case you’ll need the shop vac.