IM3210

Hello,

I have a C6 with 180,000 miles. I was driving today and noticed this after I parked. I wasn't sure what it was. I had the AC on full blast. I imagined maybe the water drained?

My thought is its not water. I'm not sure what I'm looking at. Any thoughts or feedback would greatly be appreciated. Thank you.

Hwyknight

IM3210

Thank you so much for your feedback. I should have taken a sample and placed it on some white paper. I'm curious as well what others think. I'll check the coolant level in the morning and see where the level is at.

enventr

BadAV

It also looks like it might be antifreeze to me. If you haven't changed your water pump yet it could very well be it at 180k miles.

Jimmy W1

Just taste it. If it's antifreeze it will taste really sweet. Water will taste or smell like dirty water. And it's easy to tell what used oil smells like.

And no- there's nothing in a car that can hurt you if you just put a dab on your tongue and spit it out.

Dano523

Since the car is a C6, let start by looking at the radiator reserve tank, to make sure that the fluid in it is orange, not green.
Hence correct radiator fluid for the car is Dex cool which is orange, not green.

Note, if the fluid looks to be a mix of orange and green/yellow, then it all has to come out, since dexcool and standard steel bock engine green raditor fluid do not mix without clumping/causing a slime, and causes problems itself.

If the fluid in the raditor tank is green (or mix of orange and green), then you have your work cut out draining the wrong type radiator fluid from the system with lots of flushed to get it all out of the block and heater coil, then replacing the fluid with the correct mix of 50/50 Dexcool/distilled water.

Next, since the location of the water leads up to believe that its water out of the HVAC air box, that's still a lot of water to be draining out once the car has been shut off.
So here, will need to get under the car to check the HVAC air box drain hose to make sure it not clogged to keep the air box from not quickly draining when the A/C is on.
Hence the cold HVAC coil will pull the humidity out of the air as the air passes through the cold coils, this turns to water to drop off the bottom of the coil to the bottom of the air box, and the drain hose keeps the water from building up in the bottom of the air box.

The drain hose is part #27, and can get end clogged from time to time to not allow the water building up it the box from the humidity it pulling for the air dropping down to the bottom of air box, to drain quickly out of the box. Granted that when you shut the car down when the A/C was running, your still going to have a bit of water left as the coils dry out, but should not be that amount of water from way a clogged Drain hose isntead.


Also to point out, if your running the A/C that much, is pulling that amount of water since the area you live in has high humidtly, the Best to have the After blow function turned on in the BCM via a tech II.

Now lastly, if the radiator fluid is green, and your getting this green tinted water coming out of the air box, then it means that the heater coils in the air box has a slow leak, and it's mixing in in with the normal humidity water off the HVAC coil at the bottom of the air box, and what your seeing on the ground.

If the raditor fluid is orange since you are using Dex cool, then may be time to clean the HVAC coils since the Green could be a lot of mildew/mold from the air box and coil isntead.

Cleaning the air box while still in the car is not for the meek if the mold is bad enough, since it involves pulling the air box drain line, using rags to block the lower cabin vents so the water with cleaner does not get in the cabin, then using the cabin air filter slot to spray water into the air box to the coils/bottom of air box to flush the mold out of booth. Hell in some case, the mold is so back in the box, the only way to get all out of it, is to pull the air box out of the car, then parts apart, so you can power wash all the mold out isntead.

In minor case of mold just on the air box coil, you can use Lysol cleaner sprayed through the cabin filter slot with the heater fan on high, to clean the mold off the coils instead.

P.S, your air cabin filter (behind the battery on the fire wall) should be replaced yearly with a new filter.

449er

The other posters have good suggestions but I say simply wet your fingers in the suspect liquid and see if the fluid has a oily feel or just a wet feeling

Vet Interested

Dano523

Could the heater hose at the fire wall, but a water pump leak (stick our and inside the back of the water pump pulley with the motor off to check for a leak there), cracked radiator as the plastic side or lose.cracked raditor hose, car would have to be parked on a major incline, since when these leak, the water is more at the front of the tire on level'ish ground isntead.

As for way really scares me, there is no green fluids in the car to begin with, so if a coolant leak, screams of the wrong radiator fluid used and mixed with dexcool that was still in the block, and inside of the motor and heater cores are going to take a major douching to get the slime/slude out when the two are mixed isntead.


So with luck, it just the air box drain hose that is semi clogged, and has some mold/mildew in with the clear humidity water instead. Hence mold/mildew problem on the A/C coil in the air box no so bad that a can of lysol can not handle cleaning such up.

Cherokee Nation

What part of the vette are we looking at??....Side,front or.

Dano523

Dude, can you not figure out that its the passengers door/rocker to front fender low on the car, behind the front passenger tire that you are seeing in the photo.

This should help if you suck at playing "Finding waldo",

Welker1

I'm guessing it is water, not radiator fluid. As already stated, if the radiator has the correct fluid, the fluid would have an orange tint.

WW7

If I could put a finger in it and touch my tongue with it, you would know in a few seconds what it was.. This is how we always checked to see what we were dealing with.. Every fluid in a vehicle has a very distinctive taste.. Just hope its not from a dog peeing on your tire.?...... Going by just the looks of it, I would say its water from the A/C ...WW
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Cherokee Nation

Yes Dude: that is what I thought....I was asking the OP... NOT you!! that is odd that it is running out the side unless It's a leaking?.I don't play games...No sucking...You do that.

BlindSpot

It's condensation, clear water reflecting color from the concrete. Certainly in the correct place for it.

If it were coolant, and leaking that much there would be a low coolant level on, or an overheat.
If not now, the next startup.

OP doesn't list a location, but many locations in the US have high humidity in August. This is the likely answer.

BTW - You don't need to be tasting fluids you find around your car to ID them. A simple white paper towel will tell you all you need to know. All fluid colors will transfer directly to the towel by wicking up a small sample - orange - green - red - golden - colors on the towlel will ID - coolants, motor oils, trans fluids, or plain water. Plain water will be clear or might be dirty, but will be different than fluids.

SladeX

I've had condensation water flow all the way out of my garage on some of those super humid days and I park nose facing in the garage.

Dano523

As stated, if the drain hose and port is not clogged, as the water falls from the coils while the car is driven, it should be draining out of the box at the same time, and not building up to dump that much when the car is parked isntead.

Also, if the coil and box are clean, not covered in mildew/mold/dust, and the cabin air filter is still clean as well, the water should not be building up as ice thick enough on the coil to dump that much water even if the drain plug is not clogged.

So if your getting this much water or more when you shut the car down, then pull the box drain tube to make sure it and drain port are not clogged, and maybe time to clean the A/C coil to clear it any dust/mold/mildew that could be causing the excess water/ice retention as well. At most in high humidity areas, you should only have about a 4oz of water venting out of the air box once you shut the car down from heavy A/C use, from the final remaining ice/water falling from the coil as it heats back up to normal outside temps.

Hence the drain port on the A/c box is at the very bottom of the box, the bottom of the box is angle back to it, so any water that drops to down in the box as your driving the car from the A/C coil, is drained out of the box on the spot.



Also, when you are checking the drain hose to make sure it not clogged, make sure that drain port for the box is not clogged up inside the box as well. Hence I will pull the hose off the port to not only check the hose to see if it clogged in any way, but will pull the cabin filter to flow some water via AP sprayer into the air box from the filter door slot, to make sure that the air box drain port is not clogged from the inside of the box as well.

SladeX

I think you misunderstood the part "super humid day" The ones we had this summer were brutal. I had condensation form on my pipes in my ceiling in my house and cause enough drip to form ceiling damage. It was pretty ridiculous.

On hot days I just get a little condensation from the car, I've kept it clean since I've gotten the car and don't have any odd smells or mildew buildup. The one time I mention significant condensation forming, it was forming it within the engine bay as well along all the pipes well after the car was off.

Cherokee Nation

At 11:30 PM the humidity is 85% and the dew point is very high also where i live it's been a brutal summer as you said...Sucks!