Repaired my passenger floor puddle
#1
Repaired my passenger floor puddle
For years I've had an issue with water collecting into my cabin on the passenger floor carpet. My solution was to park the car in my garage and never drive on rainy days Talk about lazy! However, most recently I had new tires installed and was ready to drive the car all weekend. The weather channel app on my phone was showing clear skies on the forecast. FRICKING LIARS. I woke up on Sunday morning to the sound of pouring rain. Sure enough, I was out there with spare towels sopping up the puddle once more. And then it happened, Tabaka finally had enough. I grabbed a few tools and started ripping apart the door panels, headliner, and sunroof cover. I filled a cup of water and poured the water in numerous places. The door window trim was my first thought. Nope, thought the rubber trim is old, no water leaking in. Then I poured it around the sunroof drain area, and water started leaking in from the headliner. Hmmmmm, the clear rubber tube under the sunroof drain is attached without any holes. So there are two small butterfly clips that you can loosen to remove the tube. A little dirt was stuck in there, but I didn't really understand why so much water was leaking in. Then I removed the two small screws from what looked like a plastic cover near the passenger front side corner of the sunroof. Bingo, RUST city bish, Rust Rust City bish. So, what I think has happened is the tube got a little clogged, and the water would sit in the sunroof area. Water on steel causes rust, which rusted more over time. The rust finally grew enough and expanded a larger hole for water to leak in. My solution was to get some two part epoxy that delivers water/marine grade results. I used a small paint brush and applied numerous applications. The results after a few hours of drying was a water free cabin. If you're having a tough time with a leaky cabin, this might be your issue. My only regret was not doing this earlier in the ownership of my car. I'll be honest that the interior cabin smells like a slight syrup scent. I found that it's the glue in my headliner that's absorbed water over time. I usually have to use a strong scented air freshener from time to time. I get the feeling my only solution is to replace the entire headliner which is a PIA. My thought was to migrate to a black suede headliner down the line anyways.
Here's a picture for reference:
Again, this is near the front of the car, on the passenger side. Roll back your sunroof, remove the two screws and look for rust near the glider tube. If you see rust and know of water issues, you may have this very same problem. Best of luck and godspeed fellow SC owners.
-Tabaka
Here's a picture for reference:
Again, this is near the front of the car, on the passenger side. Roll back your sunroof, remove the two screws and look for rust near the glider tube. If you see rust and know of water issues, you may have this very same problem. Best of luck and godspeed fellow SC owners.
-Tabaka
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TonyCee (07-14-22)
#3
It rained pretty hard last night, and my passenger floor was soaked this morning :/ I don't know what to say now. I tried pouring water in numerous places and I thought this was the culprit. Back to square one again. There's nothing worse than being 36 years old and sopping up water with a towel before work. I felt like a failure at life when driving to work this morning.
Last edited by Tabaka; 11-05-15 at 08:12 AM.
#4
Lexus Test Driver
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at this age, its the smaller things that drive me nuts!
#5
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Might have to look into this! Although it's my passenger door panel that gets wet, there's a stain on the carpet on the bottom of the panel. Still an option, good job finding this.
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