On the way to dinner last last night we hit some heavy rain just as we parked so we sat for 10 min with the engine running waiting for it to let up. The rain continued for another 10 minutes. After dinner my wife thought she noticed some dripping from the upper left side of the passenger footwell and sure enough the carpet was quite wet with the floor mat fairly saturated. We have a Rug Doctor portable spot cleaner which did a great job of removing the bulk of the water and a large fan dried out the footwell. We finished the floormat off in the dryer, so no apparent damage done.

I'd appreciate any guidance on where and how to find the source of the water. I'm thinking two possibilities: 1. AC condensate leak perhaps from sitting so long without movement; or, 2. a leak from the area below the windscreen (where the wipers live).

 

Give me a call Bruce.


Johnny
908-507-6357

 

Any chance of posting up something on this? Coincidentally, I washed my car Sunday and I too found a small wet spot on the carpet, passenger's side in the corner footwell next to the trans tunnel. I haven't started tackling it yet, but any advance input/direction would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

Sounds exactly like mine. I spoke to Johnny J J last night and he kindly pointed me in the direction of some likely blocked drains located below the fuse box area (passenger side) under the plastic cowl at the rear of the engine compartment (Thanks Johnny!). These can be cleared from the top or from the underside so it's going on the lift this morning and we'll have a look (and maybe a shower!). I was already scheduled for an oil change and steering wheel retractor lube this morning and when I told my friend about the water problem he knew about the drains and what to do. He'll check the AC drains too. Should be good to go by lunchtime. I'll report back later.

If it wasn't already going in for service I would have tried to clear the drains myself but any excuse to avoid physical exertion when the "feels like" temp is 100F wins the day. It's mighty toasty in SW FL today!

 

Thank You! All I need is a slight head start.

Speaking of 100*F, I'll be doing mine soon, but not today....in 112*F!

 

Here's the report on the water issue. The drains looked pretty good with no standing water and they're super clean now. However, my friend noticed that the fuse box cover was not seated properly due to a pinched cover gasket and he suspects that's where the water got in. After correcting that, a hose was used to flood the area for several minutes and no further water leaks were found.

Johnny: Thanks for your help and taking the time to speak to me. I learned a lot.
BWings: Hope there's something here to solve your leak too! Keep us posted.

 

Bruce - Much thanks!! That's enough to probably get me through it. I'll be taking that on as a project soon and will report back myself. I do all my own work so I'll figure it out.

Thanks again. Love Naples BTW.

 

Worked on this some yesterday. I could not get the cowl panel completely off because I could not get the wiper arms off. I know I need to get the arms fully extended (90*), but there was no position I could place the hood to achieve that while the wipers are in the parked position; at least not without removing the hood. Not sure how to get the wipers in another position other than parked?

With that, I was able to get the cowl raised enough to work under it. So first, I only found water ingress in one small spot, about 5" long, and about in alignment with the ECUs. Water appears to be getting in where the cowl meets the windshield as the drain holes are opened and clear both ends.

I removed the WW tank and found a fuse cover ajar, actually broken, but the fusebox is dry with no evidence of water ingress. I did a repair on the cover and now have it seated well. What a lousy design on this cover!

So, my challenge is sealing a 5" spot on the cowl cover as it meets the windshield. Here in AZ our challenge isn't torrential rainstorms, it's damage on plastic parts constantly exposed to the sun. I have a suspicion the cowl has suffered that way, so the water ingress comes from washing the car which I can control. I am thinking of trying a sealer such as silicone where the cowl meets the glass. More to come.

 

Are you saying that you can't raise the hood with the wipers extended or you need info on how to extend the wipers? If the latter, it's in the Set Up screen, Other, Wipers. If the former I bet Johnny would know.
As for sealing the cowl against the windshield, I'm wondering if adding some type of clip-on weatherstripping to the cowl edge would work like you'll find here: https://goo.gl/FpABCK

 

Bruce - THANKS! Setup screen new to me. That makes a difference BC you cannot remove the arms in the parked position and makes no difference what position the hood is in. I'm done sealing the cowl to the windshield with a silicone. I'l see if it makes a difference next time I wash the car. I won't wait for the next rain in AZ as I don't think I have enough time left on this earth for that.

 

If you feel like taking a drive to Naples, just be here any summer day at 3PM and let the leak test begin! Glad you got a handle on it.

 

I was finally able to test my repair this morning. I gave it a water test (not a water torture one though), and looks to be fixed.

I am thinking the one and only time I saw a water spot on the passenger's side, I might have overdone it, flooding the windshield with a hose which could have overwhelmed the cowl drains which are free and clear.

So, case closed......unless it fails some future test.

 

Glad to hear it's fixed. Stay dry!