Need your help - Serious Condensation in center ductwork.

[bmwe53fan]

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.
2002 BMW X5 4.4, 46k miles, CPO until 8/1.

I have had an issue with my x5 for the past two years that only surfaces during extended period of high heat and humidity along with prolonged AC use. I will have a significant amount of water build up in the ductwork underneath the center console, both before and after the rear blower motor (there are essentially three sections to the center console ductwork).

It is enough water to thoroughly soak the rear footwells. Last night I decided to park on a hill to see how much would spill out and it truly scared me -- at least four cups of water came out of the rear vent at the bottom of the console.

In my X5 I do not have the final "s" shaped duct connected that connects the output of the motor to the rear fan -- the controls are all still there and functioning properly -- but the duct is removed to allow for the installation of the radar/laser dector on-off switch (located in the bottom of the center console tray).

Do you think that the cold air blowing into the relatively warm center console area is enough to cause this much condensation or do I have a problem up under the dash and water is draining into ductwork? In the attached image (borrowed from this website in my search for this issue) I will have water leaking out from the top yellow circled area and literally pouring out of the bottom area (wish I had a video to upload).

Any thoughts are appreciated!

[gotohelp]

Hallo,

have the same problemmon my 02 X5 3.0i. The dealer has no clue what cause sparkling water in rear ducting. His opinion is a blogged drain, but i have lots of (condens) water running out at the middle of my car with A/C running.
Was you able to fix yours and how you did the removal of center concole?

Thanks
Thomas

[bmwe53fan]

In my case I ended up replacing the duct connector at the end of the run - it is the last piece of the ducting that connects the plastic ducting to the rear vents. Since I replaced it there has been no condensation proglem at all. the old one had literally fallen apart - it seems to be some type of very thick compressed cardboard.

As near as I can tell the old one was allowing the cold dry, air to blow on the (relatively) hot transmission tunnel - causing dramatic and immediate condensation in the duct work.

The part only cost me about $30 at the dealer -- it was the first one they had ever ordered.