TSB Footwell Water Ingress - cabin filter IATSB002996

[Ex-defender driver]

This will not fix the issue. I'm of the view it's straight up condensate forming on the AC duct where insulation is not present and dripping straight down the centre console plastics on to my feet. There are a few threads on this and findings I thought suggested this was the issue and the fix requires a removal of dash plastics to give access to AC ducting...

This is what my dealer did

 

[RYAustralia]

Hi.
I have been having ongoing issues with water coming into the passenger footwell from the aircon. My car has been back to the dealers many times for this - but yesterday I was informed about a factory recall.
See attached FYI.
I hope this helps.
Cheers

My local agent / dealer did that to mine nearly a year ago and it’s been mostly fine ever since. In the worst of the humidity we had one trip where my wife complained of a tiny bit of water. That’s it for 12+ months.

 

[OGrid]

My vehicle spent a week at the service centre last week on the continuing HVAC issues. Looks like more wrapping on the pipes were done, similar to the post above by Larry.

20 minutes after picking the vehicle up and driving away water was again seen forming in the footwell. Not the occasional drip, but enough water to make anything in the footwell quite waterlogged.

IA being consulted, again.

I think there is the condensation issue, and another one, which myself and others are encountering.

 

[Skydance]

My vehicle spent a week at the service centre last week on the continuing HVAC issues. Looks like more wrapping on the pipes were done, similar to the post above by Larry.

20 minutes after picking the vehicle up and driving away water was again seen forming in the footwell. IA being consulted, again.

Insulating the pipe is just a temporary fix. It doesn’t fix the initial core problem. It’s a bit like Ineos punching holes in the lower rubber door seals rather than fitting the seals properly in the first place.

I’ve managed to fix mine by simply, first thing in the morning, prop up engine bay to service position (highest point). Top up both coolant reservoirs to the max level indicator ensuring both sides are equal. Surprising how much coolant needs topping. Coolant level has gone down as air has been displaced. This should work. If it doesn’t, carry out a bleed procedure, wait until engine is stone cold (following day) and then top up coolant to max level. It has worked for me, in the summer of 2023, 2024 I used to get drips down the side the central dash onto the passenger mat, condensation on the windscreen during heavy rain and condensation (icing up) on the outside in winter (centre lower windscreen).

Luckily I have rubber mats. Been back to dealers twice and Ineos said no fix. Had the HVAC unit changed and still the same. Early 2025, seen a post on here about checking coolant as some engine had over heated and I discovered that my coolant tank was only 3/4 full on one side and nearly full on the other.

During the last month, the weather has been great for us in the UK, I can report no more drips.

 

[RYAustralia]

Insulating the pipe is just a temporary fix. It doesn’t fix the initial core problem. It’s a bit like Ineos punching holes in the lower rubber door seals rather than fitting the seals properly in the first place.

I’ve managed to fix mine by simply, first thing in the morning, prop up engine bay to service position (highest point). Top up both coolant reservoirs to the max level indicator ensuring both sides are equal. Surprising how much coolant needs topping. Coolant level has gone down as air has been displaced. This should work. If it doesn’t, carry out a bleed procedure, wait until engine is stone cold (following day) and then top up coolant to max level. It has worked for me, in the summer of 2023, 2024 I used to get drips down the side the central dash onto the passenger mat, condensation on the windscreen during heavy rain and condensation (icing up) on the outside in winter (centre lower windscreen).

Luckily I have rubber mats. Been back to dealers twice and Ineos said no fix. Had the HVAC unit changed and still the same. Early 2025, seen a post on here about checking coolant as some engine had over heated and I discovered that my coolant tank was only 3/4 full on one side and nearly full on the other.

During the last month, the weather has been great for us in the UK, I can report no more drips.

Mine goes in to dealers for some work today. I’ll ask them to do that on mine too.

 

[GN4HIR]

Insulating the pipe is just a temporary fix. It doesn’t fix the initial core problem. It’s a bit like Ineos punching holes in the lower rubber door seals rather than fitting the seals properly in the first place.

I’ve managed to fix mine by simply, first thing in the morning, prop up engine bay to service position (highest point). Top up both coolant reservoirs to the max level indicator ensuring both sides are equal. Surprising how much coolant needs topping. Coolant level has gone down as air has been displaced. This should work. If it doesn’t, carry out a bleed procedure, wait until engine is stone cold (following day) and then top up coolant to max level. It has worked for me, in the summer of 2023, 2024 I used to get drips down the side the central dash onto the passenger mat, condensation on the windscreen during heavy rain and condensation (icing up) on the outside in winter (centre lower windscreen).

Luckily I have rubber mats. Been back to dealers twice and Ineos said no fix. Had the HVAC unit changed and still the same. Early 2025, seen a post on here about checking coolant as some engine had over heated and I discovered that my coolant tank was only 3/4 full on one side and nearly full on the other.

During the last month, the weather has been great for us in the UK, I can report no more drips.

Sorry Sky, but that makes zero sense. You might be solving some other problem but this problem, water dripping out one side of the center console and into the footwell, is simple condensation caused by a cold pipe in contact with hot humid air. Period. Wrapping the pipe should work if they keep the hot humid air from coming into direct contact with the cold pipe. Anyone that has put a cold bottle or canned beverage in a cupholder of a hot humid car has seen the same phenomenon, hence the proliferation of novelty Koozies (can wraps).

 

[Skydance]

Sorry Sky, but that makes zero sense. You might be solving some other problem but this problem, water dripping out one side of the center console and into the footwell, is simple condensation caused by a cold pipe in contact with hot humid air. Period. Wrapping the pipe should work if they keep the hot humid air from coming into direct contact with the cold pipe. Anyone that has put a cold bottle or canned beverage in a cupholder of a hot humid car has seen the same phenomenon, hence the proliferation of novelty Koozies (can wraps).


View attachment 7897423

It does make sense because it works on mine. It use to leak everyday onto the rubber mat but not ever since. Not every Grenadier leaks. The ones that do are not missing some sort of insulation around the pipes. It’s not a core issue fix and Ineos currently cannot explain why some do and some don’t. I’m not saying wrapping the pipe in insulation doesn’t work either. But I bet if it’s too hot, eventually it will start dripping again albeit not as often.

My explanation and why I tried this. The system has to find the right dew point so that it will not condensate. There are two coolant tanks, high and low pressure. Both tanks need to be balanced like my old central heating boilers and radiators.

Not all cars have two coolant tanks. So give it a try as you nothing to lose and tell me if works or not. I really don’t mind because I fixed it and no more drips.

 

[IslandFalconer]

It does make sense because it works on mine. It use to leak everyday onto the rubber mat but not ever since. Not every Grenadier leaks. The ones that do are not missing some sort of insulation around the pipes. It’s not a core issue fix and Ineos currently cannot explain why some do and some don’t. I’m not saying wrapping the pipe in insulation doesn’t work either. But I bet if it’s too hot, eventually it will start dripping again albeit not as often.

My explanation and why I tried this. The system has to find the right dew point so that it will not condensate. There are two coolant tanks, high and low pressure. Both tanks need to be balanced like my old central heating boilers and radiators.

Not all cars have two coolant tanks. So give it a try as you nothing to lose and tell me if works or not. I really don’t mind because I fixed it and no more drips.

That’s almost impossible, the ac and heat system don’t even use the same lines or cores. It’s an impossibility to resolve a/c line condensation while topping up coolant in the heater and engine cooling systems.

 

[RYAustralia]

That’s almost impossible, the ac and heat system don’t even use the same lines or cores. It’s an impossibility to resolve a/c line condensation while topping up coolant in the heater and engine cooling systems.

I had mine topped up as one of the reservoirs was lower than the other - one was at max and the other was just under minimum. Since then I haven’t had any big drives but usually even on a short run the windscreen fogs over - and magically this hasn’t happened yet. 4 days in a row. Early days I know, but it seems to have fixed the windscreen fogging. No idea why or how but seems to be working so far. Will update as I get more kms driven.

 

[Skydance]

I had mine topped up as one of the reservoirs was lower than the other - one was at max and the other was just under minimum. Since then I haven’t had any big drives but usually even on a short run the windscreen fogs over - and magically this hasn’t happened yet. 4 days in a row. Early days I know, but it seems to have fixed the windscreen fogging. No idea why or how but seems to be working so far. Will update as I get more kms driven.

Hallelujah, happy it works for you. This will fix all the condensation, fogging, condensation dripping and condensation on the outside of the windscreen (ices up in winter). The system basically needs to be balanced to achieve the right dew point. It’s worth mentioning, that once in a while check the coolant levels again to see if more air has been displaced and top up if necessary. Now that’s an easy fix compared to ripping the whole dash out.

 

[IslandFalconer]

Hallelujah, happy it works for you. This will fix all the condensation, fogging, condensation dripping and condensation on the outside of the windscreen (ices up in winter). The system basically needs to be balanced to achieve the right dew point. It’s worth mentioning, that once in a while check the coolant levels again to see if more air has been displaced and top up if necessary. Now that’s an easy fix compared to ripping the whole dash out.

Again it has nothing to do with condensation on the A/C lines. I don’t understand how everyone thinks bleeding a heater core resolves A/C line condensation. It’s a very simple system and wishfull thinking won’t solve a flaw in the design.

 

[RYAustralia]

Again it has nothing to do with condensation on the A/C lines. I don’t understand how everyone thinks bleeding a heater core resolves A/C line condensation. It’s a very simple system and wishfull thinking won’t solve a flaw in the design.

For those who don’t know, I live in the Australian tropics and have an MY23 diesel trialmaster. Humidity is close to 100% for a lot of the year here so AC is used almost all year round. I had 2 problems relating to the AC - first was the footwell water pooling (destroying my wife’s handbags), and secondly the windscreen getting too cold and fogging over on the outside whenever I drove with AC on (which is all year round 100% of the time). The following fixes were done;

1. My heater AC lines were insulated by the dealer / agent - that was well over a year ago and stopped the passenger footwell water pooling from condensation.

2. I had multiple visits back to dealer to try and stop the windscreen exterior fogging up when using AC. Nothing they tried made any difference.

3. I had the cabin filter changed as part of service. No difference to anything. Tried the “mobilising vents with cabin filter removed” suggestion - it made no difference.

4. I tried the “turning all the dials to off before switch off and turning them on after starting” suggestion. Sometimes that worked but usually not. And it was annoying to do as well as easy to forget to do ( for my old brain anyways).

5. I had the dealer equalise the two coolant reservoirs and top them both up to just above maximum height last week. He insisted it wouldn’t make any difference but did it anyway (to shut me up I guess!). BUT it worked and stopped almost all of the cold air blowing from the windscreen vent (unless of course I specifically select the windscreen setting). It’s been 8 days and the exterior windscreen has not fogged up since the coolant top up. Normally it happens on each trip every single day. It is only early days yet, but in my case this has fixed my windscreen fogging issue.

I hope that list helps other peoples journey with their AC. I know many of us have had similar issues and not everyone has had success in fixing them. Mine is good now and I’m delighted. I’m hoping one or more of the above procedures fixes things for others too.

 

[Skydance]

For those who don’t know, I live in the Australian tropics and have an MY23 diesel trialmaster. Humidity is close to 100% for a lot of the year here so AC is used almost all year round. I had 2 problems relating to the AC - first was the footwell water pooling (destroying my wife’s handbags), and secondly the windscreen getting too cold and fogging over on the outside whenever I drove with AC on (which is all year round 100% of the time). The following fixes were done;

1. My heater AC lines were insulated by the dealer / agent - that was well over a year ago and stopped the passenger footwell water pooling from condensation.

2. I had multiple visits back to dealer to try and stop the windscreen exterior fogging up when using AC. Nothing they tried made any difference.

3. I had the cabin filter changed as part of service. No difference to anything. Tried the “mobilising vents with cabin filter removed” suggestion - it made no difference.

4. I tried the “turning all the dials to off before switch off and turning them on after starting” suggestion. Sometimes that worked but usually not. And it was annoying to do as well as easy to forget to do ( for my old brain anyways).

5. I had the dealer equalise the two coolant reservoirs and top them both up to just above maximum height last week. He insisted it wouldn’t make any difference but did it anyway (to shut me up I guess!). BUT it worked and stopped almost all of the cold air blowing from the windscreen vent (unless of course I specifically select the windscreen setting). It’s been 8 days and the exterior windscreen has not fogged up since the coolant top up. Normally it happens on each trip every single day. It is only early days yet, but in my case this has fixed my windscreen fogging issue.

I hope that list helps other peoples journey with their AC. I know many of us have had similar issues and not everyone has had success in fixing them. Mine is good now and I’m delighted. I’m hoping one or more of the above procedures fixes things for others too.

Need to feed it back to the dealer. Neither the dealer or Ineos know this. They don’t believe it is as simple as that.