ramesh52

Last weekend I had to pull up the front passenger carpet to check my DVD player wiring, and I was shocked to find a puddle of water in the foot well, and the carpet pads were soaking wet. The water looked clean, and quite recent luckily.

On further investigation, I found water in the front driver's side foot well and in the rear passenger side foot area.

So I took the heroic step of removing all the seats and pulling out the carpet to thoroughly dry out the car, and replaced the carpet pads which were too soaking wet. Took almost two days of work, didn't want to spend the big bucks on a new carpet with the pads attached ($1400). Not hard work, just tedious, and the seats are heavy to lift out.

Now the mystery part, where did the water come from ? No water on top of the carpets, not a drop to be seen anywhere. But loads of water below the pads.

1. Checked the sunroof drains, all four drain well, and the sunroof drain holes are totally clear. Did a test with a garden hose but no water gets into the car.

2. All the body drain holes have the rubber plugs. Car is in pristine condition. The car is a 2009 RX350 with very low usage.

2. Checked AC drain hose- condensate water is draining to the ground. Ran AC for an hour, not a drop felt anywhere below the evaporator.

3. Now that I have dried out the car and put the carpet in, I am mystified as to the source of this water, and am afraid it is going to recur unless I can find the cause.

Considering that the water was most present in the front passenger side, and below the carpet, I suspect it must have come in from the A or B pillars. Is it possible for the water to have taken this path if the sunroof was not totally sealed shut for some reason on a long trip in the rain ?

My car is usually in the garage at home!

Appreciate any thoughts, I am at the end of my wits.

alchemist

iTrader: (1)

Did the water come in after a rain storm? Did you check the door/A-pillar/B-pillar seals (weatherstripping)?

Carver

Do you think that in 'checking' the drains that you might have cleared the errant one? The villain in wet carpets is usually blocked moon roof drains. Or if you recently removed your roof rack and didn't plug the bolt holes.

draco

Check window seals as well. When I had my wet carpet in my last RX it was due to the sunroof drains not flowing fast enough due to a clog. The main area which got wet was the passenger (so driver's side to you) foot well. It turns out the drainage if it has the slightest clog will look like it's okay but the more and more water is pushed through the tubes it will eventually back up and start coming in through the hole just underneath the main wiring in the foot well. I had a service place actually declog them and they extended the drainage tube well beyond where Lexus had it stopped and it solved the problem.

ramesh52

Thanks for the suggestion.

The weatherstripping looks OK - I tried forcing water from a garden hose with a little bit of pressure , but no water enters the cabin!

If the water came in via the door seals, wouldn't it also end up on top of the carpet ? I only saw a puddle under the carpet!

ramesh52

I guess one possibility is that enough water leaked around the sunroof seal to overwhelm the drainage tubes ?
I have installed a small water sensor under the passenger side carpet padding to give me early warning the next time any water gets in!

I will run it through a car wash before I install all the seats to be sure no water is getting in any more!

I will also blow some compressed air from a can through the front sunroof drain tubes as an added measure. The sunroof has hardly ever been used for leaves or crud to get into the drains, and it is always parked in an enclosed garage.

gasconguy

Can someone please help me understand where exactly the sunroof drains begin and end? Thanks...

gasconguy

Can someone please help me understand where exactly the sunroof drains begin and end? Thanks...

01rxwhite

I had the same issue with my 1st gen RX only on the driver's side. I can't tell you where it ends, but open your sunroof and stick your head through the roof and look in the front corners for a small hole about the size of a drinking straw. Sometimes pollen or leaves can get stuck over the holes. Take a drinking straw and blow like hell into the holes to clear out anything else that might be down there (bugs, worms, etc). Hope this works. Also, make sure you don't have a bunch of leaves blocking the area below the wipers and over the firewall.

iluvny

To the op: have you recently disconnected the battery and not re synced the sr? Happened to me and after a rainstorm I had water in the same way because apparently the sr wasn't completely sealed when closed.

ramesh52

I think the explanation from iluvny is the most plausible one. I have not been able to find any trace of water since that incident and I have been keeping my car out in the rain to test several days. So thank you for the help.

It is likely that after a jump start several months ago, I never initialized the sunroof. I usually re-initialize the windows, but didn't think of the sunroof since I hardly have used it. So perhaps I had left it uninitialized. I used it once before the water incident and closed it right away. It is likely that it didn't close fully sealed and the rain overwhelmed the drainage system causing the water under the carpet. Subsequent openings and closings so while I tested for water leaks probably has resulted in fully sealing it now!