Wet passenger floor after rain?

[ShavenYak]

This morning I noticed a wet spot in the passenger floor. I'm thinking this may be related to the fairly heavy and long-lasting rain my car endured yesterday while I was at work. Anyone else seen this?

From the locations of the wetness on the floor mat, it seems like it might be coming in under the glovebox and running toward the middle of the seat. I don't see any signs that it's coming in through the window, door, or sunroof. It also can't be coming up from underneath because the actual carpet isn't wet, just the floor mat (and I'm glad it has a plasticky backing right now).

I think this also have happened a couple weeks ago too. At that time when I noticed the dampness I thought it might have been leakage from a bottled water that my wife left over there, but now I'm guessing it wasn't.

 

[BrianH]

Try taking it through a car wash?

 

[Bogus]

Try taking it through a car wash?

*With a video camera to capture any water leaking, if possible.

 

[bigmahlman]

Had this happen with my 2001 Century this week. A few post around the net said that something could be blocking the water drainage valve for the air. Rained again today and it was dry.

 

[Aldakoopa]

Your car has a sunroof I see, and it has a drain in each front corner that has a little tube that runs down the pillars by the windshield and to the floor, where it drains underneath the car. It is common that one of these will get clogged and leak into the floor instead of draining underneath, and I have also seen them come loose and just be laying in the floor boards underneath the carpet.

 

[1980PontiacWagon]

Yup, your sunroof drains could be clogged. especially if you park under a tree. Open your sunroof and look at the drains. To un-clog them I've used long zip-ties and pipe cleaners...don't use compressed air, too much pressure could cause the hose to rip off and make the problem worse than it already is.

 

[Aldakoopa]

Yup, your sunroof drains could be clogged. especially if you park under a tree. Open your sunroof and look at the drains. To un-clog them I've used long zip-ties and pipe cleaners...don't use compressed air, too much pressure could cause the hose to rip off and make the problem worse than it already is.

^ What he said. Check underneath as well, there should be a little rubber grommet where the hose comes out on the bottom.

 

[ShavenYak]

Thanks for the tips y'all, I'll check the sunroof drains and see if that's it.

 

[Maddog2020]

Mine leaks too!

We had our first big rain last night (Michigan), and when my wife and I got in the car there were small puddles on both floor mats. I have the All-weather floor mats that seemed to contain the water. While driving home my wife said she could feel it dripping on her feet.

I looked at it this morning and on the passenger side, I reached under the dash on the left side and found water on what felt like insulation. The 1st attachment shows the passenger side floor (you can see some drops still). I moved the camera further under the dash and the arrow shows where I felt water.

I do not have a sunroof on my Sonic. I think I'm being punished for going to Hell (Damn Site Inn in Hell Michigan to see some friends play)! I am contacting the Dealer today if they are open. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Aldakoopa]

We had our first big rain last night (Michigan), and when my wife and I got in the car there were small puddles on both floor mats. I have the All-weather floor mats that seemed to contain the water. While driving home my wife said she could feel it dripping on her feet.

I looked at it this morning and on the passenger side, I reached under the dash on the left side and found water on what felt like insulation. The 1st attachment shows the passenger side floor (you can see some drops still). I moved the camera further under the dash and the arrow shows where I felt water.

I do not have a sunroof on my Sonic. I think I'm being punished for going to Hell (Damn Site Inn in Hell Michigan to see some friends play)! I am contacting the Dealer today if they are open. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jim

That's definitely leaking from the cowl panel then. The drains for the cowl can also get clogged if you park it under trees a lot. It usually takes a lot longer though as these drains are much larger than the sunroof drains, but it may just be an unsealed area that's allowing it to leak into the cabin.

 

[Maddog2020]

That's definitely leaking from the cowl panel then. The drains for the cowl can also get clogged if you park it under trees a lot. It usually takes a lot longer though as these drains are much larger than the sunroof drains, but it may just be an unsealed area that's allowing it to leak into the cabin.

Thanks for the info. I'm taking it in on Monday, I'll post what they find (assuming they find it).

 

[Eric Smit]

Good luck!


-Eric Smit

 

[Bogus]

They wont be able to recreate it. xD

 

[Eric Smit]

Probably true. ;P


-Eric Smit

 

[Maddog2020]

They wont be able to recreate it. xD

Probably true. ;P


-Eric Smit

The service guy said he was going to put it through a car wash to find the leak. When I went through a car wash, no water leaked. It wasn't until we had a sustained rain, several hours that the water leaked in. He will have to do many car washes to reproduce. If they don't find it at least my Sonic will be super clean.

I have had real good luck with this dealer, so I am somewhat confident they will find it.

 

[Maddmatts]

I was flipping through the manual (so bored!) and in section 8-4 I see there's a removable cabin air filter right behind the gloveboxes. Pull it out and see if it's soaked as well. It's possible that the rain might have gotten into the intake at the base of the windshield and overwhelmed the drain.

 

[Eric Smit]

I was flipping through the manual (so bored!) and in section 8-4 I see there's a removable cabin air filter right behind the gloveboxes. Pull it out and see if it's soaked as well. It's possible that the rain might have gotten into the intake at the base of the windshield and overwhelmed the drain.

Good thinking!


-Eric Smit

 

[SuperFudd]

I had a similar problem with a Chevy ('56). Water from under the dash when washed. I found the seal around the windshield had a small gap in it. Fortunately I was chewing gum at the time. Problem solved.

 

[Bogus]

spray a water hose over the area.

 

[Maddog2020]

I was flipping through the manual (so bored!) and in section 8-4 I see there's a removable cabin air filter right behind the gloveboxes. Pull it out and see if it's soaked as well. It's possible that the rain might have gotten into the intake at the base of the windshield and overwhelmed the drain.

Thanks for looking that up, I did not get a chance to check it yet. I like the hose idea too. I spent all day Sunday taking apart a 40' Pine. I took it to the dealer today after work, it will be interesting to hear what they say. Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow. On a positive note they gave me a free rental, a 2013 Yucon. It feels bigger than my Avalanche, I dought I'll get 40 MPG.

Update: The service guy called, said he they ran a hose mostly on the windshield for 35 minutes, and ran it through the car wash 4 times with no leaks. He contacted headquarters and they said if it had a leak it would have leaked. He was ready to surrender so I expressed how unhappy I was. He called back and said he wanted to keep it until Thursday, the guy responsible for Sonic quality (I forgot his title), was coming to look at it. I will be super bummed if they can't figure it out.