About a month ago, my wife's 2003 SE (2.4L and auto) started making a strange sound that seems to be coming from behind the dash. It sounds as though water is sloshing and is especially loud when accelerating from a stop. I found a post that suggested it could be a clogged A/C drain line. I inspected the drain and it looks to be clear so I'm wondering what else it could be. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Pete

 

Two things to check, air in the cooling system or blocked A/C drain. Have you had coolant service lately? Do you see water dripping from A/C evaporator drain? Is the carpet on the passenger side wet? Even though drain might look clear you could have a partial blockage. It's an 03, still under warranty?

 

Turns out it was the coolant level. I filled the empty coolant tank and within a couple of hundred miles the air worked its way out. No more noise! I guess a small amount of air was trapped in the heater core? Thanks for your help.

Pete

 

I had the same sound coming from my '03 4cyl and it turned out to be low on coolant also. I also replaced the radiator cap to make sure it was getting a good seal. I took the car to the dealer and a 3rd party and neither could diagnose it...what a joke. They were wanting to inspect the heater core.

 

Common problem BUT - coolant doesn't just disappear. Chances are you have leak somewhere that you'll need to find and repair.

Simply pressurizing the cooling system with a pressure tester should be enough to expose whatever it is that is leaking. On occasion, the coolant resevoir itself may have a hairline crack that allows coolant to slowly leak out (this will now show up during pressure testing).

JJ