Yesterday I installed the AC drain TSB 07-13-5 on my 04 F150 (New body style). It took me about 2 hours in the insane heat to get it on, and a little more than the average frustration. However, since the going rate for this work is about +-$160.00 at the dealer, it was well worth it, as the parts cost all of $6.00. I am a big guy and have big hands, so I had to improvise a little.

Here is the hijacked link to the TSB:

http://www.justanswer.com/uploads/fo...SB_07-13-5.pdf

For those of you who don't already know, Some 04-06 New Body Style F-150's leak condenser water back into the cab on the passenger floor board. It leaks from around the HVAC case drain seal, as shown in figure 1-A and 1-B on the TSB. You might want to check because the padding was soaked on mine, but because the carpet has a rubberized backing, I had no idea until i pulled it up. To do this right, remove the right front foot well kick panel (upper right area of foot well) and the door sill trim. Be careful as the plastic tabs on the door sill strip can crack or break if you don't use a small pry bar or better yet, a trim panel removal tool (about 8.00 at your local parts store) at the clip locations. Just slide the tool along until it stops and carefully pry up. When you have removed these two pieces then you can pull up the carpet and padding, being careful to pull it out around the console. If its wet, dry it with a small fan and a shop vac. The rest of this thread assume that you have a water problem.

First go to your local dealer and get part number F3LY-6A614-A, and if you don't already have some, silicon dielectric grease (Ford part XG-3-A if you just want to get it at the dealer).

Loosen the wheel nuts. Jack up the front of the truck at the front cross member and use a jack stand under the left end (staying in the flat area of the cross member). Release the jack pressure so that the truck sits on the jack stand and the passenger tire is off the ground. Remove the tire and place out of the way.

Remove the right front (passenger side) splash guard. This is the large shield that sits above the tire during normal operation.



You can see see 3 of the 5.5mm screw locations on this image, the other two are at the back side on the bottom and screw through the plastic guard at the right front body panel, directly below the F-150 badge on your truck. You might find it easier to just remove this guard completly, but I did not.

There are (5) 5.5mm screws that should be removed, as well as a bracket at the front of the splash guard fastened with 3 10mm bolts. They look like this:





Two Christmas tree studs will also need to be removed. The first is directly above, forward of center, (see pic). The other is in the front corner closest to the bumper (by the end of the bracket that has the retention clip on it). Odds are that you'll break one or the other, even if you have the previously mentioned removal tool. I picked up the F3LY-6A614-A elbow and 6 various sized studs (never know when your going to need one) for 12.00 at my local dealer. The last thing is a couple of Christmas tree studs coming through the back of the splash guard. You'll see them there, they are holding a small wiring harness on the other (unseen) side. push them through, or if you have a trim tool, turn it upside down and pry it from the unseen side.



As a side note, I keep my fasteners in old tuna cans. They don't take up much space and they're great for keeping things separate.

Next remove the Transmission dipstick retention bolt. It is 18mm and torqued to 9 ft-lbs, though it felt one hell of allot tighter than that. A word to the wise, use a breaker bar with a long extension and a reducer if you need one (1/2" to 3/8") because I managed to remove the finger print from my pinkey finger when that thing broke loose. Just be careful.

Here is that image. Ignore that the Elbow is already installed. Remove this bolt...carefully.



You will find that the tube doesn't move very much, and you might even think that you don't need to remove it once you have, but believe me, in this installation fractions of an inch count. It only looks like there's allot of room in there. There isn't.

Now for the first trick... take that trim removal tool, which I'm sure you went out and bought, right...and use it to push that da*n wiring harness up out of the way, and to push that dipstick tube over as far as you can. Wedge the handle between the exhaust manifold flange and the dipstick tube to hold everything that way...like this.



You might have to adjust the location of the prop..err..removal tool to be able to work around it better. I ended up with its butt almost against the inside of the flange, but this should work to. You can't see that wonderful wiring harness because its being held up and out of the way by the rounded, forked end of the removal tool. Don't use a screwdriver or pry bar unless you protect the end so it doesn't harm the harness.

The next thing is to attempt to install the elbow. You will find that the elbow has a short side and a long side. the short side goes on the drain tube that you can see in the last picture. When its on, it will look like it does in the fourth picture in this thread. the long side should be pointing straight down when installed properly.

Now, trick a' numba' 2....

I had to figure out a way to install this thing...some people said "use a long set of needle nose pliers" others said "take it to a dealer", and still others, I'm convinced, attempted, failed, and took it to a dealer then said "save yourself the hassle and take it to a dealer..."

Well, maybe if your a wizard with a pair of long needle nose and a spell that will make your hands the size of a three year old's you could get it on with them, but it didn't take me long to figure out I wasn't going to. So I thought about it for a couple of minutes and then headed to Home Depot (because it's close, I like Lowe's better to.) I picked up a 2 foot section of 1/2" copper pipe (because the $0.78 1/2" PVC had too great a wall thickness) for $3.50, and pipe cutter for $6.50 (the little wheel type). I cut the first 9" off the pipe and inserted the long part of the rubber elbow onto the short piece of pipe. After about 10 minutes, i figured out this was too short and moved to the longer section of pipe...much better, because now I can get both hands on the pipe, and I'm far enough away from my work to see what I'm doing . I lubed the end of the pipe with the silicone dielectric grease so i could remove it easily. I then liberally lubed the open end of the elbow with the grease, as well as the drain tube on the truck. To do that, it took a little more thought, and a bent acid brush is trick 3, which allowed me to lube all around the outside of the drain vent on the truck.

Here is trick 2 (Remember, use the longer piece of pipe. This is the shorter piece.)



And here is trick 3



Now that we have everything lubed up, its time to get that elbow on. Position a light (mini mag lite worked best) somewhere where it will stay and gives you enough light to see what your doing in there. Using the longer pipe, push the open end of the elbow onto the vent pipe. Its hard..its frustrating...it seems impossible, but its not. I ended up starting the elbow lip on the bottom of the vent pipe and working it up over the top of the pipe, if you can picture that. I had to finagle it for about 45 minutes, but that was short pipe then long pipe to, so it took me about 30 minutes once I figured it out.



It came off once, because once you install it you have to turn it to the straight down position. So it should take you about 20 minutes, but don't be surprised if it takes more. Once it was on, I took a screwdriver, and placing the blade against the long end lip of the elbow (so it wouldn't pull the elbow off of the vent) I pulled out the copper pipe. Then, I carefully pushed on the elbow so it rotated down to the straight down position. Do this so it doesn't slip off the vent pipe, or away form the fire wall. The elbow needs to be as tight as you can get it against the fire wall. If all goes well, it should look something like this...



If not it will be laying on the ground and you will be cussing. Start again and believe me, it will work.

I had another idea which I almost tried but didn't have to. I thought about boiling water, and holding the open end of the elbow in it for about 30 seconds (holding onto the copper pipe of course) to soften it up, then putting it on, hopefully easier than it ended up being. If you get in a bind, try that. It shouldn't hurt the elbow and it just might (I repeat might) work.

Now walk away for about an hour. If the elbow is going to work its way off the vent pipe, it will do it by then. When you come back, if everything looks good, start the reassembly. Start by making sure all your tools are out of the workspace, then insert that 18mm bolt back into the Dipstick Tube Bracket, and tighten it to 9 ft-lbs, If you don't have a torque wrench, just don't over tighten it, as its made to self torque. You'll have the knowledge of how hard it was to break loose, so don't worry. Once its installed, it should look like this picture, with the elbow in place and the bracket attached. Now re-install the splash guard. This is easier said than done as well, but be ginger, not overly, and once you get it into place start the (5) 5.5mm fasteners and take them down to just before tight, so you can still move the splash guard a little. Now reattach the bracket with the 3 10mm bolts, and take them to just before tight as well. Insert both Christmas tree studs, both on top and in that corner by the bracket end with one bolt (the end with the retention clip on it). Once these two studs are installed, tighten all 5 screws and the three bolts. Remember to install the clip at the back of the splash guard which has that wiring harness on it (not the annoying one from earlier).

You should be done. For all of about $16.00 (or $25.00 if you buy the trim tool) you just fixed the vent based water problem in your 04-06 F-150.

Hope this helps.

JDB

 

Extremely nice first post and very well done! Welcome to the site. I am going to copy this over to our Articles and How To forum.

 

I will definately check this out on my truck! Thanks for the great write-up!

 

I have the same problem. I called my ford dealer after being on hold for 5-8 min. i called another one. He did not have the rubber elbow. He sent me to a lincoln dealer. The guy said "if you can find where it goes you can have it. So i got it no charge all i need to do is put it on.

 

I had the dealer fix this two years ago for me while it was still under warranty. It actually leaked all under carpet and Ford replaced all of that for me as well. The problem that I have now is that the water drains right onto my MagnaFlow HF Cats! So when I am turn off the engine it sounds like someone is pouring water onto a fire! I don't think it's going to hurt anything, but I wanted to check to see if I was the only one that has this sound.

 

I pushed a socket into the end of the elbow, boiled it for a minute till it was soft, popped the socket out and then pushed it on. Did this TSB about two years ago.

 

I took a printout of the TSB and the part to my favorite auto mechanic shop and they charged me 35.00 to put it on. The TSB has .90 labor hours printed on it and this shop said they fix this all the time using a spark plug boot. One other note to the do-it-your-selfers, they didn't remove the fender liner or tranny dipstick. they just took out one of the O2 sensors and reached it a different way. Took them 10 minutes, so that is why they charged me a half hour labor.

 

So i did this today 95 in the shade. I got the floor dry and want it to stay that way.

 

Ok it works theres a puddle on the ground and not in the cab

 

where are the o2 sensors located that they took off to fix this?

 

I did mine today after about a month of procrastination. I order the part from my dealer and he could not pull up the part number. He was finally able to pull it up and order it. I told him about the TSB and he had never heard of it. I printed out a copy and gave it to him when I picked up the part and he was surprised this was the first he heard about it. Without taking the front tire off and ****ing the wheels hard right, I was able to get in there once it cooled down. Otherwise you will be waiting a while like I did because it's too tight to wear a glove. I left the elbow out in the sun while I was tearing everything apart. I then grabbed a deep socket big enough to fit in the elbow snug and a 1 ft. extension. I took about 15 min to get it on. Once on I pulled the extension and socket out carefully and then reached in there by hand to push it flush with the firewall. Overall it took me about 1 hour from start to finish. Not too bad if you are starting with a cold motor.