heater leak

[oldman]

I have a 2013 RAV EV with 68,000. Never had any problems until now. When I use the heater a liquid, that seems to be water and not coolant because it is colorless and doesn't seem to have any oily feel, forms puddles on the carpet on either side of the console. I get about a half cup on both the passenger and driver side of the console. My non-certified electric car mechanic told me he researched it and it would require taking out the console, and reprogramming everything and it would be best to take it to a certified Toyota dealer. Any thoughts??

 

[jimbo69ny]

I have a 2013 RAV EV with 68,000. Never had any problems until now. When I use the heater a liquid, that seems to be water and not coolant because it is colorless and doesn't seem to have any oily feel, forms puddles on the carpet on either side of the console. I get about a half cup on both the passenger and driver side of the console. My non-certified electric car mechanic told me he researched it and it would require taking out the console, and reprogramming everything and it would be best to take it to a certified Toyota dealer. Any thoughts??

I had the same problem last year! For me the problem happened when the car would sit in my driveway, at a slight decline, for at least a day. I would hit the throttle to leave my driveway and if it rained that day water would pour into my dashboard and on each side of the floor. I took a video of it to show the dealer but I’ve deleted it.


I’ve worked on cars all my life and this really puzzled me. I took my car to the dealer and they directed me to the body shop. I showed them the videos and explained what happened. I’ve never had a window replaced but they thought I had to do with the drain lines at the base of the windshield. I don’t know what exactly they did but I haven’t seen the problem happen since.

Your dealer should call my dealer and they should tell us how they solved it

 

[hokiematt]

Although I've never had water spill out onto the carpets, after a long heavy rain I can hear water sloshing around the front cowl area while driving. I'm assuming the drains have gotten plugged from leaves, bugs, etc. When the weather is nicer I'll pull the cowl cover off and see what I can find; unfortunately the service manual has no mention of any drains other than the HVAC evaporator.

On my older Audi's this was a yearly maintenance ritual (remove cowl cover, clean debris, thoroughly flush drains with hose); if you forgot, you were reminded when your right foot got drenched after the first hard right turn post-rainstorm

 

[asavage]

A good guess it that the cowl drain tube is plugged. I couldn't locate any decent pictures, but I can refer you to this previous discussion about the mildew smell, related to the A/C's evaporator condensing enough water to overwhelm the restricted drain tube and encourage mold growth:

http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=26380#p26380

If you look in behind the front wheel on the passenger side you should see a short tube coming out of the body. There is no tube that goes out of the pan. The condensate seems to drip all over the place on the lower control arm, on the boot, in the pan, etc. There seems to be holes in the pan to drain any accumulated water.

Where did you access the drain tube?

It is located on the passenger side of the center console. You remove two plastics pieces (if I remember correctly) and disconnect the tube. I used my air compressor and a needle tip attachment and blew up top tube and down drain tube. You should be able to feel the air release from the bottom of the car.

I also used the Toyota AC Refresher Kit. Its like scubbing bubbles for AC evaporator. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRy23TFpM4I I blew out the tubes. Removed the old air filter. And then used the refresher kit. I used all of the 1st can and did it three times letting it sit with the fluid in the evaporator for 10-15 minutes each time. I did it until the fluid draining was clear and no longer dirty.

I didn't use the second can as I had a similar product by Mcguires to spray and let circulate within the car.

 

[oldman]

Blowing out the air condition drain worked. Thank you everyone. I am sure I saved hundreds of dollars by not having to go to the dealer.

 

[z3scot]

My 2014 has a similar problem. The passenger side floor mat is wet, the carpet below is soaked.
My wife says she smells mildew also. I soaked up as much as I can with towels, but it is still slightly wet.

I wonder if it is heater coolant? The liquid is clear, so maybe it is water.
I park my car on the driveway at a small decline, like jimbo69ny.
It sure has been rainy in the SF Bay area lately.

I noticed that the blue coolant reservoir on the driver side under the hood is low,
anybody here know what that coolant is used for?
So maybe I have two problems??

Thanks,
Scott

 

[hokiematt]

You're probably experiencing the same water leak that others have posted about, from either blocked AC or cowl drains.

The blue coolant reservoir on the driver's side is for the battery pack. If you're a little low, you can top it off with G48 (search other threads for discussion). If it's very low, I'd suggest finding the leak ASAP; there are coolant connections at the front of the battery pack that could have been damaged from road debris.

If you don't have an owner's manual, you can grab a copy from here: http://www.myrav4ev.com/docs/RAV4EV_Owners_Manual.pdf Coolant system info starts on page 355.