Archive for April, 2012

Volvo Sunroof Water Leaks - Your Sunroof Drains May Be Clogged

On Monday morning, one of our customers — Volvo Owner – made a most unpleasant discovery.

 A soaking wet carpet on the passenger side foot-well. Rain water had leaked inside his Volvo and soaked the carpets, a result of clogged Sunroof Drains.

A steady, constant rainfall, had drenched the North East this past weekend. And the resulting debris – from falling twigs and tree leaves — washed down and settled on the sunroofs of your vehicles.

What you may not know, is that this is a very common problem in the Washington DC Area because most of us– including me – park outside on the curb, under huge trees, heavy with foliage. 

Causes of water damage

The sunroof pan has drains at both front corners. The debris is washed down to the front corners, where it flows down the tubes, and into the the 90 degree elbow.  Unable to make the sharp turn, the debris gets trapped, clogging up the Sunroof drains.

The elbow is a black plastic fitting, angled like the crook of your elbow at the base of the A-pillar — metal frame between the windshield and front windows.  When the tubes are clear, rain water flows down through the tubes, into the 90 degree elbow and exits out behind the front wheels. You can test this by pouring water onto the sunroof drains and see the water drain behind the front wheels. However, if the drains are clogged, the water will not drain properly, but find another path that leads directly to the carpets. Click here  to view images.

If your trunk is soaking wet, then the rear drains maybe clogged as well, and rain water is now seeping into your trunk. Make sure to clean out any dry or wet leaves around the rubber lining in your trunk that may be clogging up the drains.

This is not just a Volvo problem. 

A clogged Sunroof drain is a common problem on any car that is parked outside under a tree. The best way to avoid this problem is to park in a garage.

 I had this same, exact problem when I owned a VW Jetta — with a sunroof —  the only difference, was that the driver side foot-well got soaking wet, and not the passenger side, unlike the Volvo’s.

As a Volvo owner, you alone are responsible for making sure the Sunroof drains stay free of debris. To clear debris out of the drains, pour a cup of water into the sunroof drain to flush out the tube.

So,  you cannot hold Volvo responsible if this is a recurring issue with your vehicle . However, if the elbow fitting is found to be defective, it could be covered under warranty.

Effects of water damage

The first step is to unclog the Sunroof drains, achieved by cleaning out the debris.

The next step is to remove the carpets and suck out as mush water as possible with a wet/dry Vacuum. Under the carpets is a piece of foam, form fitted to hold the passenger side carpet. The purpose of the foam is to soak up excess water and we usually hang up the carpets and foam to air dry in the workshop, this may take up to three days to dry out. This prevents mold or mildew from taking hold, plus you want to avoid the awful smell of moldy carpets.

The last step is to dry out the floor boards, because there is wiring under there.

Volvo XC90 are a special case — $$$$. You will get all kinds of electrical problems as a result of water damage to sensitive electronic components located under the carpet.

Under the passenger seat, you will find two electrical components, the yaw sensor — sensor that measures yaw rate —  the angle velocity of the car for the Electronic Stability Control System (ESC) or Roll stability Control.

The ESC can sense over-steer or under-steer in a skid situation. ESC cannot increase the traction – tire treads do that — but  can make maximum use of what’s available to help keep the vehicle under control.The ESCworks without your knowledge — behind the scenes in a skid situation — brakes are applied on a specific wheel, engine power may be reduced, a transmission shift may also occur, all in a fraction of a second.  Suv’s like Volvo XC90 have a high center of gravity, thus need Roll Stability Control.

Your Anti-Skid Service Required warning light may be illuminated as a result of corrosion damage to the Yaw sensor component. The second component that may suffer some damage is the Radio Amplifier. The Radio may start acting weird or stop working completely — terminals in the connectors may suffer irreparable damage. The resulting damage will cost you big time, labor and parts to replace these two components runs about $1500 to $2000. So, before you buy a Volvo XC90 with a Sunroof, think very hard about where you will Park it.

This past month of March was one for the record books, it was unusually warm. I was surprised to learn that Scotland also experienced record high temperatures in March. But this past week, Scotland was smothered in Snow.

 It’s my opinion that the Earth’s A/C system is falling apart as the polar ice caps begin to melt. So, before your Volvo’s A/C System falls apart too, you might want to have it looked at.

 Have your Volvo A/C System looked at and make sure it’s working properly. I say this because we are already getting calls from customers who are concerned about their A/C not working properly; A/C blowing warm and A/C not cold enough.

If you are not sure who to call, first check to see if the car is still under warranty. And if your car is still under warranty, call your Volvo dealer and set up an appointment.  But if your car is out of warranty, you can consider an Independent shop that specializes in Volvo repairs, they may be more pocket friendly.

To address our customers concern, the technician will first look at the AC System as a whole. And then isolate the component in the A/C system that is causing all the problems.

The first step is to get the A/C Recharged because when your car runs low on refrigerant it will blow out warm air. If this doesn’t work, then the technician has to do a further diagnostic.

To recharge your Volvo’s A/C,  the Volvo dealer or Independent Shop will add fresh refrigerant after evacuating what’s left of the old refrigerant. The technician will also add a colored dye in order to check for potential leaks in the A/C system.

So, if the A/C begins to blow warm again, in a few weeks (big leak) or in a few months (tiny leak), the technician can go back and trace where the leak is coming from, by use of UV light (ultra-violet light) to trace the exit point. The dye is visible under UV light and serves as a trace marker.

AC System consists of the:

1. Evaporator: Evaporator removes heat from the passenger compartment and transfers the heat to the refrigerant.
2. Compressor: Compressor is the refrigerant pump for the A/C system.
3. Condenser: Condenser circulates refrigerant through a series of tubes and fins.
4. Receiver/Drier and Accumulator/Drier:Filters moisture and foreign matter from the liquid refrigerant.
5. Expansion valve: Expansion valve regulates the flow of refrigerant to the evaporator.
6. Orifice tube: Orifice tube divides the high and low-pressure parts of the A/C system.
7. Refrigeration oil lubricant - PAG Oil
8. Refrigerant: R-134a

How Your A/C Works

Vehicle A/C systems use the physical principles of heat transfer and movement. When the temperature gets hot & humid inside the car you turn the A/C on. And just like a hot air balloon rises up to displace cooler air, the heat inside the car will move to an area that is cooler than the surrounding air. This is commonly known as heat transfer.

The evaporator creates a cold place inside the vehicle for the unwanted heat to transfer to. Once the heat moves to this cool area, the heat is then removed and transfers the heat to the refrigerant. The evaporator consists of a series of tubes within which ice cold liquid refrigerant circulates.

An electric blower fan forces warm air from the vehicle’s interior over the surface of the evaporator. The ice cold liquid refrigerant absorbs the warm air and in the process changes states, from a liquid to a gas. The refrigerant then exits the evaporator, carrying away the heat within the refrigerant, which is now a low-pressure gas.

Just before the refrigerant gets to the compressor it first has to go through the accumulator/drier. The Accumulator acts as a separator just like the PCV breather box — oil trap – separates engine oil from the combustion fumes in the engine. The accumulator separates the liquid refrigerant from gaseous refrigerant so that it does not damage the compressor. Liquid refrigerant in the compressor damages the compressor.

The compressor draws in the warm, low-pressure gas from the evaporator which has now passed through the accumulator. The Compressor increases the pressure drastically, raising the temperature of the gas in the process – squeezing hot gases to the condenser.

The condenser receives the hot, high-pressure refrigerant gas from the compressor and transfers the heat to the outside air through the radiator. Like the evaporator, the condenser circulates refrigerant through a series of tubes and fins.  A fan pulls outside air over the condenser’s surface area, allowing the hot refrigerant to pass its heat to the cooler air outside. As the refrigerant cools, it changes states, from a high-pressure gas to a high-pressure liquid. The liquid refrigerant gets chilled and if you run your AC on high for too long, ice will begin to form in the AC System, killing it immediately.

Conclusion

The AC system is divided into two parts: a low-pressure side and a high-pressure side.

Refrigerant boils or evaporates in the low side and condenses in the high side and in the process, transfers heat from inside your car to the outside air.