Evaporator Seal

Hello everyone!

I apologize in advance if I'm posting this in the wrong spot. I'm new to the forum and this is my first Jeep. I felt like getting one was long overdue and I came up on an XJ in really good shape for dirt cheap and figured why not. The jeep is a 2001 XJ and like any 20 year old car it needs a little TLC and some issues addressed, and that's why I'm here.

One of the first things I'm looking to fix is the wet driver and passenger carpet issue these trucks have. I've been doing some research and I'm pretty convinced my Jeep has the issue with the seal around the evaporator intake on the firewall being deteriorated and water getting inside.

I've cleaned out the evaporator drain with a pipe brush and it was clear with no obstruction, but still I'm getting water blowing out the AC vents. As a test I ran a hose over the driver side cowl and sure enough my passenger footwell got flooded. I pulled the glove box and I dont actually see water around the part of the plastic intake I can see, I see the water blowing out the seams of the evaporator box, and also out the footwell AC ducts, so since it's coming out of the vents i figure the water is getting to the blower somehow.

Most of the fixes I've found while researching seem a bit rigged to me, since they involve caulking around the intake or using some kind of foam filler and some people have even gone as fas as cutting holes over the intake to seal around it. I'm gonna try to stay away from all those methids. I used to be an auto tech and have worked for several dealerships and I have no problem whatsoever pulling the dash to do the job right the first time. Another advantage I have is that this is a project jeep and it can sit as long as it takes for me to fix since I have 5 other cars.

The one problem I am running into is that I cannot for the life of me find the actual seal that needs to be replaced. So I was wondering if anyone here had a part number for that seal, or a link, or any advice on how to make a seal or how to get one to work?

If I cant find or make a seal that will work I guess I'll have no choice other than to rig it like others have done, but I'd love to be able to do it the right way. Thanks in advance.

Okay so update on my thinking on this. After looking further in depth at the accounts on youtube that have videos posted on fixing the leak issue by sealing the edges of the air intake, most videos have follow-up videos about how the leaking around the intake was not their issue, and I've examined the air intake closely and I think these things have been getting a bad rap. I know it sounds off, but hear me out, and geel free to set me straight if I'm way off base since I'm going off what I see and again, new to jeeps.

Along the way someone probably "fixed" their leak issue by caulking around the intake and never updated their video or post when they discovered it wasnt the issue and voila, the leaking intake root cause was born. I for one highly doubt my leak is coming from the intake simply due to a design feature of the intake. On the cabin side of the firewall, i noticed it has a lip that protrudes further out than the opening for the intake on the evaporator box. So I think even if the seal was bad, water wouldn't make it inside the evaporator case and blow out the vents like im getting.

I've made a little makeshift diagram to explain my reasoning.

In my diagram, the light blue is the alleged water leaking in. The red lines are the lip I see under the dash, and the green is the foam seals where the evap box meets the intake. I added a pic with an arrow to what I think is the lip I'm seing.

So with this in mind, I think I'm gonna go a different route than everyone I've seen tackle this issue. Im gonna leave the seal around the intake as a last culprit and see if I cant isolate a different point of entry for the water. Im thinking that maybe, somehow, water is not leaking AROUND the seal, but maybe directly into the intake.

And I found a youtube video of a guy that made himself a plastic cover for that intake that still has a hole for air to get in, but covers the intake from above. I'm attaching some pictures of his idea also. So I'm gonna take his idea for a spin and I'll update this post with the results. He went the cutting route I'm trying to stay away from, but I'm pretty confident I can install something similar from the opening on the driver side.

Im also thinking if fabricating a vertical dam to weld into the middle of the cowl that will keep large amounts of water from flooding the intake area when I turn, since I've noticed that I get more water out the vents when I make a hard left. I think the water may actually be puddling enough to overflow into the intake before it has a chance to drain out the sides like its supposed to.

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Alright so I'm thinking definitely not the air intake.

Tested this out with the Jeep on a slope towards the driver side and just ran the AC. Today is a perfectly clear day with not a spec of rain and even if it did rain the Jeep spent all night angled away from the passenger side. Just ran my AC for about 20 mins and here's what I get. Water just puring out the driver side footwell vent and not a drip on the passenger side. On some photos you can actually see the condensation dripping down from above.

I also notice that I am getting discharge out of the drain tube but I think for some reason it must not be dripping enough.

With this new info I'm definitely taking out that evap box and checking out what the inside of the drain looks like. Gonna change the heater core and evaporator while I'm there also.

I'm actually kind of hoping this is the issue and not the intake, since I hate doing ratchet things to cars like cutting out a square in the cowl.

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Edit: Sorry I misread your original post