white flake/dust from vents & wet passenger carpet

[redeppe]

Hello, I am a new owner of a 997.2 turbo S. I've been experiencing a couple very irritating problems that I cannot seem to figure out. Ive taken the car to a dealership and they don't give me a straight answer. Car has 13K miles.

First problem is some very fine white flake/dust that comes from all of the vents when they are blowing. It is almost like ash. The dealer told me they have no idea and to let it blow out naturally. They told me they looked at the aluminum fins on the evaporator and told me there was no oxidation of the aluminum.

Second problem is some water leaks into the passenger carpet, almost directly under the passenger floor vent. I noticed this today.

After some inspection, I found the foam covering (behind the battery) which the heater core tubes go through had a huge hole in it from a mouse. This hole is below the drain hole that is at the base of the center windshield wiper arm. There are also missing rubber grommets in the frunk area. This is the part :https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/99970347641.htm?pn=999-703-476-41-OEM I don't know the function of these as there is still a hole for drainage in the bottom of them.

When the car is washed or if it rains, I suspect lots of water drains into that area where the heater core tubes run because of the hole in the foam. Im guessing that water can leak into the cabin from there (and perhaps dried detergent drying up and coming through the vents). Im also wondering if air to the cabin can get through that hole and bypass the cabin air filter.

The dealership told me that there is no connection to the cabin air through that hole in the heater core tube cover and if water got inside the hole, it wouldn't be that big of a deal and would not leak into the cabin. This is not consistent with what I've read online.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[deMort]

Aghh i see .. i answered your PM but didn't know there was a thread on it ..

Repeating what i said here so that everyone can read and comment if they wish .


I won't comment on what the garage has told you but i'll just explain it ..

The foam cover is there so that the heater matrix ( the bit that heats the car interior ) can be removed without having to do a major strip removing dashboard , heater assemble etc ... you remove the wiper panel remove some pipes , remove this foam panel then you can lift out the heater matrix .

Obviously the heater matrix is inside the car .. air is blown across it to give you heat .. if water gets in then it Will enter the car .. that's the reason the foam panel is actually there ... to STOP water ingress !

Particles blowing out .. a new one on me but logically if they are white / silver then its ally oxide caused by long term corrosion of an ally part .. there are two such items ... heater matrix and the A/C evaporator being the other .

It would take me approx 4 hours to inspect the evaporator after removing the dashboard and heater assembly .

Water on the n/s/f and closest to the center console can also be caused by a split pipe from the evap drain tube ... a/c causes a large amount of water which is drained away by this tube , i cant send pictures of it here but if you want to send me an email addy i can show you the tube .

Either way .. the foam panel with a mouse hole .. common to a degree will IMHO cause water ingress to the car via the heater system .

You need this and possibly the heater matrix replaced .. if it was me i would strip out the panels , remove the foam cover and look at the matrix .. if i had to then i would remove and inspect for corrosion ...

Lets face it .. bits coming out of the heater vents are not normal .. i've never seen it in 16 years working on these cars and a seal is a seal .

Just my 2 pennys worth anyways

iain.

 

[robbiej]

which dealership? that's very low miles has it picked up the dust sitting in a showroom for many years?