Wet floor on the passangers side

[Soren Johnson]

Regarding a Deville -91.
The floor on the front right is wet, but it don't seem to be pure water.
Also, sometimes i get a mist on the inside of the front window. Goes away pretty quickly, but...

[Dave Shepherd]

Your description and the fact it is not water points to a leaking heater core.

[76eldo]

Get it fixed right away, and try to avoid the coolant from saturating the carpet, because it will ruin it.

You can also block off the heater core by taking the hoses off, and connecting them together using the correct size metal tubing.  In most cases, the hoses are different sizes though, one 3/4 and one 5/8, but you might be able to clamp it down.  In a lot of cases, the heater hoses are very difficult to get to, so this may not be a DIY repair, and replacing the heater core certainly isn't.

In many towns, there are auto heating and cooling specialists that even seasoned mechanics sub this repair out to.

Good luck,

Brian

[Walter Youshock]

Sounds like a bad heater core, but, the drain hose from the evaporator could also be blocked.  Condensation can build up and overflow into the passenger compartment.

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Soren:

If the fluid feels "slippery" when you rub between your fingers and has a faint odor -- it's
antifreeze solution coming from your heater core.  Check your heater floor outlet
and see if it's wet -- if it is , then you have your problem nailed for sure.  It is
very different from plain water.

If that's the case, pull the core out and take it to your local radiator shop -- any
good shop can fix it good as new for not to many $$ -- maybe $25 or so.
You may need a Shop Manual to find the best way to do this -- sometimes these
are %$#@&* to get out.

Don't let this problem go on for too long -- it will rust your floors, ruin your carpet and
give your car a moldy smell that's had to get rid of.

Mike

[baxterculver]

If you determine that is isn't coolant that's leaking, try to find the evaporator pan drain tube and clear it.  I once owned a Lincoln MK VII that would periodically dump a load of cold water on my wife's foot when she was turning right.  Turned out is was only condensate, not coolant.  A Ford mechanic showed me where the drain tube exited behind the right head and suggested I fashion a 3/16ths piece of brake tubing bent just so it could be inserted into the drain tube.  Then a gentle blow from my compressor (or big mouth) and the blockage would clear.  That is, until the next time the leaf or whatever again blocked the drain.  The fix was obviously less than perfect but the cost, if you don't include hearing the yelling when it did re-clog, was perfectly fine with me.  As I recall, 6-8 flat-rate hours were needed to r&r the heater core and evaporator pan.