Wet Cabin Filter After Car Wash

[Alex Wiesemann]

I have a 2012 Ford Explorer Limited 4x4. The cabin filter gets wet when I get a car wash where hardly any air will pas through it. I have to turn the air on full blast and give it about 10 minutes before my air will blow through the front vents again. I have read online about different a/c issues and stuff but I am not sure where to go with this. I cannot find any other person with a Ford Explorer who has had this issue.

 

[KayGee]

You may want to remove the cowl and have a look to see if any drains are blocked or if there is a diverter/weatherstrip that may have come loose and is allowing water to enter the fresh air intake.

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum Alex.
You're right in that this issue hasn't been posted about before. Definitely not normal.

Peter

 

[Alex Wiesemann]

I went to another car wash (car wash B) down the road and noticed that the cabin filter was not wet after B and the air worked fine. The issue may be water being poured into the cabin filter directly from the wash but I am not sure. I will stop going to car wash A

 

[Georgermundhenk]

I have a 2012 Ford Explorer Limited 4x4. The cabin filter gets wet when I get a car wash where hardly any air will pas through it. I have to turn the air on full blast and give it about 10 minutes before my air will blow through the front vents again. I have read online about different a/c issues and stuff but I am not sure where to go with this. I cannot find any other person with a Ford Explorer who has had this issue.

I have A 2017 Ford Explorer platinum. I discovered when the air was not flowing out the vents in the vehicle I went to the cabin air filter removed it and it was sopping wet. I replaced the filter and the air was flowing freely out the vents with the air conditioning on. This has happened to me twice and the second time I realized it was right after a car wash. What I plan on doing is replacing the filter and whenever I have a car wash done again I’m gonna make sure I turn off the air conditioning or heat and see if the problem goes away because it could be sucking water into the cabin filter during the car wash.

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum George.
Yes, please do report back after the next wash to see if turning the HVAC system OFF helped. Thanks.

Peter