Condensate drain line mod?

In the Tacoma forum a member developed a mod that routed the A/C condensate drain down below chassis to avoid rust. I installed it on the Tacoma I sold. The drain line protrudes out of firewall on passenger side and was about a 2” nipped. Members noticed the water dripping on the frame was causing corrosion. Does the 4 Runner have a similar arrangement so that this modification would be good? On the Tacoma, you could attach a 5/8” Heater hose with a pipe clamp and route to elevation below rear of LCA, directly to ground. It worked great!

 

Yes same setup. I’ve never seen any water dripping out of mine in the summer with the AC on, but the humidity here during hot days is barely over 10%.

 

I hit the area under the drain with WD40, planned on doing it a couple times a summer, 10 seconds to do, easy peasy. A drain extension sounds like a better plan.

 

I’ve considered doing this mod. Even though I woolwax the area of the body mount/frame that gets wet, I have noticed some tiny rusty spots from some seam I probably missed. This area is soaked after most drives during summer.

The only thing holding me back is Im not sure if hanging the extra bit of weight on the hose will eventually pull it out. I dont think it extends that far into the ac drainpan thing, from pics I remember seeing somewhere.

 

Condensation off the AC should be clean water. I didn’t realize it could cause rust.

 

When you attach the heater hose with a pipe clamp, then route it to below chassis, I attached a couple zip-ties to the structural members. That way there is no pulling force on the nipple coming thru firewall.I attached a picture showing my Tacoma routing. There are some holes in cross-braces that permit tie points. You can see them if you look directly under the heater hose.

 

It's fine. Salt is the rust starter on these.

 

When you guys drive on snow/ice roads that were treated with salt, do you wash the undercarriage at a manual car wash ? I live in SC. Never used any treatments but would inspect in touch up frame annually with primer, paint.

 

But wouldn't rain water get onto the same area anyways?

 

washing undercarriage in a winter does more harm than good: low temp slowing down corrosion. adding water from car wash (water in car wash is recyclable and very salty) forcefully inside frame will do no good. wait until spring, wash it with faucet water, power wash it, let dry and coat frame in and out with fluid film or wool wax.

 

What is all the materials one would need to do this mod?

 

About a 2-3 foot piece of 5/8” heater hose. 1 pipe clamp and 2 zip ties. The length of hose depends on how you route it thru frame to just under chassis. In SC, water pours out of this line in Summer and none hits frame. The guy that proposed it on Tacoma forum had some rust showing up. I don’t think the top side of frame gets wet under normal conditions. But if it is properly coated , doesn’t seem like it should rust either. It definitely keeps AC condensate from hitting any part of inside engine bay

 

Simple but brilliant! Thanks for the idea.

 

Geez, I really hope I’m not paying for a salt water rinse.

But there are times in the winter where the accumulated salt kinda starts getting welded on to the frame. Since weather is unpredictable, the next warm spell, however long it lasts, may mean having all that built up salt ready to go “active”. Then a salty underbody spray may be a bit better than just letting layers pile up. I’ve heard corrosion happens the fastest when it warms up and there is still a bunch of salt caked on.

 

They add salt to the water at a car wash?

 

No, they're saying the water is recycled so every person who uses the car wash to rinse the salt off the vehicle during winter makes the water more and more salty. Sounds logical but I've never really thought about it or heard that before

 

That makes sense. For what they charge at car washes, they should be using only clean fresh water.

 

This was the first improvement I made to my '19 TRD pro. small plastic elbow and some house and bam no AC water killing the frame.

 

It can't, for practical purposes (relative to all the other "threats" the frame faces from the environment). That's why I didn't bother with the mod on my Tacoma or 4Runner. There are similar debates about this on TacomaWorld.

 

I did it with a $2.75, 3/8" nylon barb from Tractor Supply and a $1, 10", piece of 3/8" hose from an auto supply house. Took all of about 5 minutes.

 

Did it last year. I also fluid filled the part of the frame just in case.

 

I get its summer but damn, the timing of this thread popping back up…
Couple days ago noticed this n was gonna ask…can’t upload the video but here’s a snap of passenger front


It was after I had been running AC, not sure it was still on or not

constant run off style drip
Liquid smelt/felt like water(gerross I know)

gonna try to mimic the situation n see what happens

 

Hey guys - just a heads up - salt doesn't actually cause the rust, it just acts as a catalyst to speed up the process. Iron based allows will rust when exposed to ANY water in the presence of oxygen, even pure distilled water from the drug store.

 

YupYup
Figured as much

I don’t run the AC that often
So my head went right to “your truck is bleeding due to your bright ideas Scottie…”

if this is indeed the culprit, quick reroute can’t hurt

Exactly, good point
That’s why things other than 4Runner frames also rust…

 

Anyone have a pic of where the current end to that hose is so I know where to locate it?

Thanks

 

A few pictures of my changes.
The original hose comes out of the firewall on the passenger side (black plastic one)


Extension hose,
I was able to insert this size directly into the original hose


End under the frame

 

Were you able to insert this hose using the engine bay, or did you remove the wheel well splash guard as done in the video above?

 

I didn't dismount anything, everything through the engine bay and from below. But I didn't mount a clamp on the original hose either, i just pushed it in.
Then i fixed the bottom end to the frame with a clamp and the extension hose is quite stiff. I think that should hold.