First I would like to thank all of the people who take the time to post to this site, your information has been invaluable. I own a 2008 Mazda CX-9 and have recently had the problem with the evaporator on the A/C unit not draining properly and backing up into the blower housing. I spoke with the people at my Mazda dealership and they told me that it would cost $99 if it was easy to unclog and $199 if it was difficult. The reality is that the evaporator drain exit is exactly where other people have said, under the vehicle on the driver side under the corner of the metalic heat barrier, that silver looking piece that is held in place by 4 bolts. It is not necessary to loosen any of the bolts just peel the corner of the heat barrier down, if you are under the vehicle with your head facing the engine compartment and your legs pointed toward the the rear axle it is on your right and on the part of the barrier closest to the engine. Once you have peeled back the corner of the barrier you will see a white plastic tube protruding from the body about the size of a quarter, this is the drain. To unclog it I suggest using either a compressor to force air into it, or better yet a wet dry vac with perhaps a piece of gardenhose attached to the end of the suction hose with ducttape. Which ever you use place it over the white plastic tube and let it rip. Beware as there will be a lot of water coming out of the drain tube once unclogged, but the whole procedure shouldn't take more than 1/2 an hour. Thanks everybody and good luck!
Mazda CX-9 evaporator drain clog
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Hockey Is Life
Member
- :
- 2011 Mazda CX-9
I like when a fix works just like it is explained. Thanks folks. I wish I would have found the location sooner to shorten my day but it still saved me a trip to the mechanic.
I used the 12vlt pump, hit it with the air once to get a slow trail of water and then hit it again and it dropped close to a gallon I'd guess.
Bought used not long ago and have had a few things to tweak on it.
2011 CX-9
about 55k on it now
I am glad to have found this place to use as a resource.
I used the 12vlt pump, hit it with the air once to get a slow trail of water and then hit it again and it dropped close to a gallon I'd guess.
Bought used not long ago and have had a few things to tweak on it.
2011 CX-9
about 55k on it now
I am glad to have found this place to use as a resource.
Here is link to thread with video showing location of air conditioner drain: symptoms of clogged drain are swishing and sloshing sounds coming from under passenger glove compartment when making hard left turns and wet carpet by passenger foot well
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123813466-CX-9-Clogged-AC-Evaporator-Drain
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123813466-CX-9-Clogged-AC-Evaporator-Drain
I had a weird symptom - no wetness inside the car but when I made a left turn, i would hear some kind of fan turning on inside of the car? I did a search on the web and sure enough somebody had the same issue and they unclogged the drain. I had my mechanic do it while attaching my hitch. About 2 gallons of water came out. Now that strange fan noise when making a left turn is completely gone. Thanks guys!
Fadeanader
Member
- :
- 2008 Mazda CX9 AWD Grand Touring
Thanks for posting the fix for the evaporator drain. Our CX9 started making a strange sound near the passenger side dash area whenever I made a turn. Then it started leaking under the glove box. After calling our Mazda service center I decided to see if it would be an easy fix. Thanks to this thread I was able to do it myself in no time at all. Grateful to have saved some hard earned cash!
fsurocks81
Member
- :
- 2009 Mazda CX-9
This was so easy. I'm hard of hearing, but when the windows are up and the radio is off, I could hear, to me, what sounded like something rubbing against the wheel well. But I checked and nothing and then a couple of days later is when the wife's purse got wet because it was dripping on the passenger side from making so many left turns like I was in Nascar. Looked it up on this site and 20 minutes later, car is dry, no noise, and LOTS of water on the ground. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread!
Glad you were able to fix it yourself !!
Dealers charge $75 for two shots of compressed air , what a rip off !!!
There's actually two ways to fix:
1) wet vac to suck out the debris or 2) the compressed air method.
The latter may just be a temporary fix if the debris just gets jetted back into the water then resettles and clogs up again, that's why I prefer the former method it actually sucks out the debris rather than push it back up into the clogged water.
1) wet vac suction method :
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123852221-Anybody-fixed-a-RECURRING-A-C-drain-clog
2) compressed air method :
below is my video after I unclogged the evaporator drain already but took the video anyway to show fellow CX9ers how to do it.
Next time I'll post a video showing the water gushing out,
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First off, thank you. I came to this thread when I was experiencing the swooshing sound during left turns, a wet floor board, and AC fan making weird sound at high RPM. Note...All this came AFTER my wife took it in for an oil change and got talked into the cabin filter change. Nary a problem for in 3 years and 60K miles. Just sayin'
I found the drain very easily. In thinking through it, I decided to go the shop vac route. As state above by avidien, I also figured that sucking the debris out was a better solution. Hit it with the shop vac and got a little better than a good trickle that lasted about a half gallon or so. Done, super easy....or so I thought.
A couple days later, sound is back (and louder), both front floor boards are sopping wet, AC blower still making noise. The breaking point was the wifes wet purse...that was a phone call to be heard.
Back under there last night...with compressor this time. Barely hit it with a shot of air and, my word, the flood gates opened. Water came shooting out, all the way to the exhaust pipe (that will make sense when you get under there). And it kept coming.
Pulled the carpets up (not out) to let things dry out. Note: it made me nervous how simple that process was...especially with no tools. Noticed there was still water dripping from under the dash.
Looked at the bottom of the blower motor under the dash in the front passenger floor board and saw a small black box was where the water was dripping. Has a small phillips head screw on the bottom, like a drain plug. Pulled the screw and water came shooting out again. Let that fully drain...sopped up all that water.
Started the car later that evening and everything seems good. The AC blower is not making the sound anymore, and the wife is out and about this muggy day...so the AC will get a good workout.
I am not saying that the compressed air method is better. I still think that the Shop Vac method theoretically makes more sense, but we will see what works.
Will keep you posted along the continuing saga.
Update: Wife reported no sloshing sound, no wet floor, fan operated normally. Just crawled back under there, shot some air in there to see if anything came out...nothing, dry as a bone. So far...all is looking good.
Update 12Sept2016 - 3 month update. It has been HOT, and the bride cannot do without AC. So the AC has been getting a workout, and I am excited to say nary a problem. The compressor seemed to of fixed the problem.
I found the drain very easily. In thinking through it, I decided to go the shop vac route. As state above by avidien, I also figured that sucking the debris out was a better solution. Hit it with the shop vac and got a little better than a good trickle that lasted about a half gallon or so. Done, super easy....or so I thought.
A couple days later, sound is back (and louder), both front floor boards are sopping wet, AC blower still making noise. The breaking point was the wifes wet purse...that was a phone call to be heard.
Back under there last night...with compressor this time. Barely hit it with a shot of air and, my word, the flood gates opened. Water came shooting out, all the way to the exhaust pipe (that will make sense when you get under there). And it kept coming.
Pulled the carpets up (not out) to let things dry out. Note: it made me nervous how simple that process was...especially with no tools. Noticed there was still water dripping from under the dash.
Looked at the bottom of the blower motor under the dash in the front passenger floor board and saw a small black box was where the water was dripping. Has a small phillips head screw on the bottom, like a drain plug. Pulled the screw and water came shooting out again. Let that fully drain...sopped up all that water.
Started the car later that evening and everything seems good. The AC blower is not making the sound anymore, and the wife is out and about this muggy day...so the AC will get a good workout.
I am not saying that the compressed air method is better. I still think that the Shop Vac method theoretically makes more sense, but we will see what works.
Will keep you posted along the continuing saga.
Update: Wife reported no sloshing sound, no wet floor, fan operated normally. Just crawled back under there, shot some air in there to see if anything came out...nothing, dry as a bone. So far...all is looking good.
Update 12Sept2016 - 3 month update. It has been HOT, and the bride cannot do without AC. So the AC has been getting a workout, and I am excited to say nary a problem. The compressor seemed to of fixed the problem.
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