Water in driver floorboard area

SBrooks · **Joined:** Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:30 pm **Posts:** 85

I've owned my vehicle ('06 Limited) since Sept '06 and never had a problem like this, until this week. We had two days of consistent, sometimes heavy, rain and after the weather cleared I went out to drive it and there was a LOT of water in the driver's floorboard area. The carpet, of course, was soaked and it seeped back under the driver's seat toward the driver side rear floor area. The passenger side (front and back) were completely dry. The windows were up and tight, so I know that wasn't the problem. The windshield was replaced once years ago, and we've had this kind of rain before without any similar problems experienced, so I'm confident that wasn't the problem. In short, there's nothing that's changed on the vehicle that I can think caused the leak.

Has anybody else experienced a similar issue? If you did, what was the cause(s)? Can anybody point me in the right direction on what to check? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Steve

mass-hole · **Posted:** Sun Oct 11, 2015 11:07 pm

So I had this issue in both of my 4th gen Subaru legacy's. In both cases it was because the drain hose for the a/c condenser box had clogged so no water could drain. Both times it happened during heavy rain storms. I used wet dry vacuum to suck the clog through.

On my legacy It happened on the passenger side but sounds exactly the same. I don't know where hthe hose is on the jeep as I haven't looked. It should just be a rubber hose hanging down

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

flash7210 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 12, 2015 6:44 am

The AC drain outlet is on the passenger side. So I dont think its that.

Do you have a sunroof? Thats the first place I would look.
Then check for rust anywhere else along the seams of the roof and around the edges of the windshiled.

SBrooks · **Joined:** Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:30 pm **Posts:** 85

Thanks for the replies. My vehicle has no sun roof, and there's no evident gap/rust/etc around the windshield. It truly is baffling at this point. Is there some other way through the cowl area that water could get in? I mean, from the amount of water that was present in the floorboard, there was clearly some big venting to the outside that allowed the water in. Any and all replies are welcome.

Thanks again,

Steve

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Mon Oct 12, 2015 1:31 pm

yeah - super heavy rain (Hermone 5in/hr)

and leaves blocking the drain next to the vent

flooded the passenger compartment - although deeper on the passenger side

had to pull the entire carpet - there are channels in the floor pan - won't dry if they're covered.

let the carpet dry for a week or so and put it back together.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Mon Oct 12, 2015 2:25 pm

First things first. You need to pull the carpet and sound mat underneath it to get everything dry as water will have soaked all the way down to the metal floor pan. In order to do so you are going to have to remove at least the driver's seat or ideally both front seats. Not a big deal 4 bolts/nuts and a wiring plug. I'd be inclined to unhook the battery especially if you are pulling the passenger seat as there is an air bag/person in seat sensor on the passenger side. The advantage of pulling both seats is you should be able to get the carpet and sound mat out in one piece to hang up to dry. If you only pull the driver's seat, as I did, you will need to cut the sound mat (careful not to cut wires) to get the driver's side out to dry.

Once you get the wet stuff out you can start looking for the leak (just in passing mine was from a clogged sunroof drain). My guess would be windshield or under cowl. You can remove the cowl by removing both wiper assemblies (they can be on really tight as mine were so I had to get a battery terminal puller, Google KD 202, to get them off) and then carefully pry up the plastic pin latches, if you are careful they can be reused. The HVAC intake is on the passenger (right) side so that's probably not it but look for anything that might interfere with water draining down inside the fender on the drivers side. Check the firewall from the engine side on the drivers side; there are several things that go thru there including a plugged pass way for a throttle cable. If you don't see anything obvious consider the garden hose water test starting low and working up; helps to put paper on the floorboards and have an assistant who can say "stop" if water starts to appear on that paper.

lacabrera · **Posted:** Mon Oct 12, 2015 2:57 pm

I read about others having problems with rust on the roof joint to side panel above ether of the front seats under the plastic trim and allowing water entering running down the front A pillar. Might be worth a look.

pjigar · **Posted:** Mon Oct 12, 2015 3:35 pm

I had my dad's car parked curbside and water simply entered from door seam. The tires were creating turbulence in heavy rain drain water that caused to water line to rise above the door seams.

Water in driver floorboard area

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