I have this little elbow pipe that is dripping water after a drive. It's located in the engine compartment on the passenger side. It comes out of the firewall. It's not connected to anything. I have not used the AC so I wouldn't think it has anything to do with that. What is this and is it suppose to be connected to something?

Thanks

 

That little elbow pipe is the A/C drain. It isn't suppose to be connected to anything.

If it is leaking - check to see if it is AntiFreeze. Could be your heater core has sprung a leak.. If you turn on your defogger - does your windshield fog up. Does it smell sweet? These are all symptoms of a bad heater core

 

It's not antifreeze, and the defroster does not fog up the windshield. It's only water coming out of it so there is no smell/taste to it. glad to know there's not suppose to be anything connected to it though.

 

Has it rained at all recently? That tube serves many purposes; AC condensate drain, heater core telltale, and air inlet drain.

 

yep, lots of rain but none in the past three days.

 

If I'm not mistaken - turning on the defrost/defogger - automatically turns on the A/C compressor - which will pull humidity out of the air - which will cause water to drain out of that tube..

 

That's interesting. I always leave my vent setting to defrost/feet. I don't recall this leaking last summer though. Then again, I don't remember what I did yesterday either.