Water Leak?

[jka]

I've noticed that the grass I park my car over is starting to die - just below the engine bay area. I presumed I had a leak and had a nosey and there was a little trickle of water coming from one of the pipes coming from what I presume is the air conditioning/climate control radiator. This only seems to happens after a journey and not when the engine has cooled down.

Am I right in thinking that when the air conditioning is on the car should lose some water? If so, should it also happen when only the climate control is on?

Should there be much differecne in the cold air blown out between climate control and air conditioning when set to their coldest as there is very little difference between mine. Could someone actually explain the difference between air conditioning and climate control to me please.

Thanks very much.

John

[AJA]

My air conditioning is considerably colder than normal mate. i'm not sure about you loosing water though when switched on (someone will be along soon though I'm sure)

climate control - this is where you can actually set the temperature you require as opposed to just a cold air blower.

[Duncan]

It's quite normal for water to appear under the car when using air-conditioning. Air conditioning works by extracting the heat from the air and the moisture along with this - the moisture has to go somewhere, that place being an outlet under the engine.

As Alex said, climate control is where you set the temperature and the car will use the heating or air conditioning to maintain the temperature - dependant on what temperature you have set and what the outside temperature is.

I'm not actually clear as to whether you have just AC or you have climate control. If you just have AC and set it to it's coldest setting, the air will feel considerably cooler than the ambient temperature. If you have CC and set it to the minimum temperature, the air may not 'feel' as cold as it does on an AC only car, but the CC system will increase the fan speed automatically to cool the car equally quickly.

If it really doesn't feel cool at all, then you may be needing a regas of the AC system

HTH

D

[Andy]

mine has the standard aircon and i always have it on, even in winter. I have a huge puddle (about 1ft dia) under my car when i park up.

[chrismiller]

I have a puddle agter a journey with the A/C on but as it uses extra fuel only use it when its realy hot lol..

[jka]

I generally just use the climate control. So if the outside temp is warmer than the temp I set the CC at then the airconditioning will cool the air and then it's fair to expect water under the car.

Does anyone know where this water should come from as I would have thought there would have been a drain pipe or something under the car but mine comes from one of the pipes at the top of the radiator.

Even if the leak is normal should it not just be normal water that comes out not whatever it is that's killing my grass.

Cheers

John

[Andy]

mine drips from a small pipe in the bottom of the bulkhead, right down behind the engine.

[Duncan]

Does anyone know where this water should come from as I would have thought there would have been a drain pipe or something under the car but mine comes from one of the pipes at the top of the radiator.

Even if the leak is normal should it not just be normal water that comes out not whatever it is that's killing my grass.

Sounds like you may have something else leaking there? Possibly the AC system itself? May explain why it's killing the grass.

As Andy said, the AC vents the excess moisture from a pipe under the car.

D

[jka]

Thanks for the help guys. Sounds like Mr Vauxhall can get it sorted then.

Cheers

John

[Allan-Sri]

I noticed the other day after having the air-con on for a while a steady drip that ran down the back of the engine to just behind the inside of nearside front wheel. Checked coolant level etc all seemed to be ok, put a container under the drip to check it was only water but seemed to gather quite a lot, have put it down to the air con, unsure if this is normal or a possible fault. Seems the Vectra has some toilet issues going on... lol