Yippee My Car Still Leaks

[Dan Harshey]

My car leaked last fall/winter too, thought i had it fixed but with all this rain recently it still leaks quite a bit too.
Any suggestions?
I checked all seals, all the gutters where water would drain out, and everything is fine, maybe i have a hole in the floor pan kinda a long shot but i guess it could be.
Thanks
Dan

[Kevin Standeven]

where is this water appearing?

[Dan Harshey]

it's in the drivers foot well and behind the drivers seat? So i has to be coming from that side somewhere
Dan

[Eric McIntyre]

what about the weather stripping around your drivers side door? could have somthin to do with it??

[John Hartman]

take off the panel behind the drivers seat, beside the rear seat.  Look at the vent there.  See if it is all in order.  If some of that stuff is out of order, maybe water can leak in that vent??

You should also be able to see the path of the water back there.  Take that panel off, and the rear seat out.  Then drive it around and let it sit at different angles(facing up hill, down hill, drivers side high, flat etc) in the heavy rain, or a sprinkler and trace where it is coming in.  Could be a window seal, or any number of other things too.  Our shop does this alot, and it can take a few days to find it sometimes.

[Dan Harshey]

Thanks for the Replies guys, I will check that Vent, i can't see a path of water anywhere that is the frustrating part, Oh well i am going to see what i can get on a trade in for a 91 AWD Talon Today wish me luck.
Dan

[Dan Harshey]

Ok so i was washing my car today, and decided to take Johns advice and take a look behind that panel, and guess what there it was a nice steady drip of water coming in.
I can't believe i didn't think of looking there, but who knows there might be another leak somewhere but it's a start anyway.
Thanks
Dan

P.S.
John Hartman = Genius  

[John Hartman]

ok, speaking as a certified genius, DONT SELL YOUR CAR!!!

speaking as my plain ol humble self, it was just a lucky, but good guess.  :oops:

[Kristopher]

I chose to dig this one up from the dead since it mostly fits my recent search for a leak as well.

For reference I have a 1Ga, no sunroof.

I just spent 2 hours looking for the source of a water leak that leaves the drivers floormat soaked as well as the left rear passenger footwell. At first glance it seemed they were both related to the same leak however under the drivers seat it was dry.

I believe the rear leak came in through a ratched drivers door rubber. I've seen these come apart before and mine's been coming away from the back of the door for longer than I can remember. I managed to find a very wet spot on the edge of the carpet that meets the door sill guard which led to the footwell. I'm going to check the vent even though it looked dry around the inside of it.

After scratching my head for a while about the front wetness I came to the conclusion it wasn't due to the rear water coming forward. I had previously assumed when I was braking it was all coming ahead, but this time I hadn't driven the car since I cleared it last.

I traced the water up above the fuse box about 5" against the drivers fender (inside the car though). It was hard to peek inside the fender itself but I was able to see through the door hinges. A pinch weld or seam is right behind the fender under the lower part of the windshield. I believe water is shedding down this path and there must be a break in that seam.



Sound plausible?

I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and try taking my fender off. At the wreckers I had trouble cleanly removing a front fender from a colt so I'm a little nervous. My paint is hard to match the pearl.

Anyone care to snap a pic of their DSM without a front fender? I'd like to see what the seam is supposed to look like but I'll bet that's it.

[Mike Schmid]

Here ya go, hope this helps.
 




Engine Swap!  ...and I wonder why it takes me so long to get anything done...

[Kristopher]

Mike,

That's awesome, thanks very much.

Where do you see that mouth-looking thing going? Would that be one of those crumple/buckle zones? I mean, it doesn't appear to go through to anything.

From the picture I'm suspecting a leak through that seam or possibly directly under the opening (rust hole maybe?).


Didn't want to scratch your fenders doing the install? 

thanks again

[Mike Schmid]

That's just an open cavity in there as far as I can tell. 

Have you checked the door harness grommet too?  That would be another one in that area that could do it. 

As far as stripping all the body work off the front end, with the other car apart for so long I forgot how hard it is to work on a complete car.  It's way easier on the back with the front clip off because you can stand a lot closer.  Also like you said, no chance of damaging the bodywork leaning on things or dropping tools or whatever.  I'll probably paint out the engine bay/frame rails/K member too once I get my engine hoist operational again. 

[Kristopher]

Doh! Would that be where the drains below the wiper cowl go? IE water should run out of that opening?

My bodyshop used durabond on the factory body kit after they treated all the panels for reassembly 7 years ago. It's been good to prevent moisture & dirt from getting under them but has now posed a problem with removing the front fender cleanly.

I'm going to try removing the inner fender liner and if I can feel where the breach might be, I'm inclined to use the spray-on undercoating in the general area to seal it up. Not the best fix, I know, I've just moved here and there's only so much the strata will let you get away with underground

[John Hartman]

Kris, from Mikes pics, very similar to lots of other cars I have fixed.  You need to check the grommets for the wiring harness boots, the hinge bolts and/or any seams in that area.

By FAR the best way to do this is to take off the fender and the inner trim panel(left of your foot when driving)  Then use compressed air and an air nozzle with someone outside with soapy water.  They spritz an area with lots of soapy water and then you spray the compressed air from the inside at that location.  If you get bubbles or wholesale air coming out, you have a leak.  Find em all tho, don't just fix one and let it go. 

Also, take your wipers and cowl cover off and clean out any leaves, needles, dead squirrels etc and put a garden hose in the cowl.  See if its draining properly, out that diamond shaped "spout" thing.  This is the cowl drain.  If its plugged, it will overflow the heater inlet, but this usually fills the passenger side.

Check the complete windshield seal with compressed air and soapy water too.  Common problem especially if the glass has been done at a place that puts an emphasis on speed over quality.

Also check your steering shaft boot.  This area can leak too.

Good luck, water leaks are time consuming at best and VERY frustrating if you haven't done tons of them and have proper equipment to do it right.

Oh and pull all your carpeting and underlay.  Just toss the underlay and make damn sure the carpeting is good and dry, for real, everywhere.  Then Fabreeze the underside.  When the leak is for sure good and fixed, (drive with seats in, but no carpeting at all, and leave off the trim panels that need to be off)put in new underlay on completely dry metal floor and then the clean and dry carpeting.

If you don't do this, it will NEVER(read never ever ever) dry properly, and it will stink really really bad.  Horribly bad. And the smell will get in all the rest of the upholstery and seat foam etc.  The car will be worth 39 cents.

[Dan Harshey]

I traced the water up above the fuse box about 5" against the drivers fender (inside the car though). It was hard to peek inside the fender itself but I was able to see through the door hinges. A pinch weld or seam is right behind the fender under the lower part of the windshield. I believe water is shedding down this path and there must be a break in that seam.

Sound plausible?

Yes very plausible, my car ended up having a leak in the exact same area you are describing. Above the fuse box, way up there really hard to see exactly where it was coming from really.  Looked to me like it was a seam in the body that was sealed by seam sealer that had cracked and was leaking, slowly, but enough to get the drivers side floor wet.  I did take the fender off to try and repair it from the outside but had no luck locating it from the outside.  I pulled all the carpet from my car and dried the whole car out with a heater, the next day i went under the dash and re-sealed the seam with some new seam sealer and it hasn't leaked since, knock on wood.  Just a heads up before you decide to pull the fender off.