daem0n

Ok, I'm going to ask you guys because I'm at a loss until I can look at this tomorrow. I noticed a foul smell in the car tonight and after it bugged me enough I traced it to under the passenger seat. It turns out that there's a huge wet spot under there. I can only think that it's water from the smell...it smells like bad water but I can't figure out how it got in unless I left the window partly down while it rained (parked in my driveway maybe?). Other than that no one's been drinking or anything so I have NO idea. Could it be coolant by any chance? It's not under the passenger foot-well, just under the seat. Any ideas before I get to cleaning it up tomorrow? haha Thanks a lot, -Joe

jeffrored92

If you left the window down, I'd imagine the seat itself would also be wet.

Do you keep a bottle of water in one of the storage bins? If you do, maybe that's leaking.

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

I know this is obvious, but first things first. Push the seat and rail all the way forward. See if someone dropped something back there that may have leaked...

EDIT: I don't think water has a bad/foul smell to it when it "goes bad." Stale/still water may get a little microbacterial growth etc...but shouldn't stink. I really think you got something else in there (a juice drink, etc) that spilled, and rotted. Hence the smell.

Kento

You should check to make sure your A/C drain tube is hooked up under your glove box. If it's dislodged, it'll eventually leak moisture down your passenger floor area.

JConn2299

What Kento said about the drain hose.

And this too.......water left in a carpet like that creates mildew. Even after it dries, it can be very difficult to get rid of. You may be living with a bad smell for a long time. You should do the following ASAP.

Use paper towels or cloth towels to get as much of the water as possible.

Pull the carpet up as much as possible to get underneath everything.

Use a hair dryer to dry the carpet and surrounding area as much as possible. This will take longer than you think. You don't want to heat the carpet so much that it shrinks.

Buy some bags of desiccant and spread the bags in and around the wet area. I'd also give it a light spray of a neutral smelling Lysol, such as the Linen scent. Figure that this process is going to take you 2 or 3 days. Running the car around with the A/C on will also help. But getting all the moisture out of the carpet and killing any mold or mildew ASAP is vital if you don't want to live with a lingering smell.

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

I understand what you guys are saying, but he said he traced it to under the seat. That's a ways for the AC to leak to...esp. if the floorboard area itself isn't wet as well?

JConn2299

As you may be able to tell from my previous posts in this thread, I've had some experience with water leaks. Not in my RX-7, but in other cars. Sometimes a leak can trickle from one place and hardly be felt along the way, but it will pool in another place and that's where you get that sopping wet feel. He should check the A/C vent hose just to be sure. It's a common source for interior water leaks in a lot of cars.
I don't know if this can happen in an FD, but I've heard of cases in which the A/C vent hose is still connected and correctly routed to discharge under the car, but the end is plugged up by mud or some other material and the water backs up into the interior.

Ripzta

My heater core burst and coolant started spraying into and around the glove box but I was cruising when this happened. Ended up bypassing the heater hoses.

Maybe your heater core has a tiny leak? Just a thought.

TurboIIGuy

Does your car have a sunroof???
I had a 3rd gen a couple years back and found water inside and traced it back up to the sunroof. Never again will I get a touring package, it ruined the R1 seats I had just installed. Or one of them anyway. But it had to be the drivers side with my luck.

CantGoStraight

The rear tail light will develope a leak and the water runs up under the seat from the rear of the car. If you have a sunroof the drain tubes can clog and water will leake down indise the car from the back as well. I would suspect the pass. side tail light is the culprit if your sure no one had anything in the car and you didn't find any open/empty drink containers in the car.

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

Wasn't second guessing ya... just wondering if that was possible (not to notice the trail).

SpiritRex7

thats classic

JConn2299

No offense taken. I just didn't want him to overlook one of the possibilities. A couple of other good suggestions have been added to the list.

daem0n

ok well I'm checking it out now. Thanks a lot for all of the suggestions. I'm getting my wet/dry vac and am going to vacuum and get rid of any water left. No one left anything in the car and I checked under the seat and can't find the source. I'm going to see if I can trace it to something. This really has me puzzled because I don't drive my car in the rain so the only time this would've happened was when I had the car in the driveway and it was only there for a day. I'm thinking this liquid came from a hose but from what I can see it's clear. I'm going to check it out now and will write back with more details.

daem0n

ok well I've taken the seat out and am checking things out. It's very odd - it couldn't have been like this long because of the amount of moisture in the car that I'm trying to get rid of now. Things aren't so bad because I've been airing it out since I found the problem. I put down baking soda in the meantime to absorb some of the smell and moisture. It smells kind of like sweat or a vinegary water...pretty much like old water on clothes or carpet. I absorbed some of it on white paper towels to be able to tell what colour it is and it's clear (well a dirty clear) lol So unless the AC leaks clear liquid, I'm thinking this is water. I'm still going to check as much stuff under the dash as possible. I checked the rear hatch because I thought maybe it came in through there since after car washes a lot of water is in the hatch (from the wing) unless you open it and drain it. I'm going back out to work some more. -Joe

(I didn't see what you guys meant before but I see that the AC has a drain for excess water I guess...that's most likely the cause then because I can't think of any other way this water got in the car and the AC has been used a bit in the last while. I'm going to see if I can find the line. Does anyone know thickness/colour/where it's located?...Thanks a lot)

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

How about the bins? That a possibility?

XSTransAm

mine pretty much alwasy has water under the passanger seat, if you find out where its coming from please let me know.

fwiw mine is a touring.

daem0n

ok newest update:

I managed to get most of the water out and am finishing cleaning the carpet. I found a loose hose coming from the front floorboard in the passenger seat area under the dash. I can't see a connection for it and am assuming this is part of the AC or at least the cause of the problem. Does anyone know what it connects to? It's hard to lie down (to see under the dash) in a car that's wet lol

daem0n

Could be but I checked to see if maybe a cleaning product I had in there exploded or something but it was a no-go.

daem0n

You most likely have the same problem - check for this hose at the front of the carpet area on the passenger side. It's black in my case but I haven't figured out where it connects just yet.

JConn2299

Sure, check everywhere. It's going to have to be a process of elimination. On some cars there can be a loose rubber grommet on the lower part of the firewall, or even something underneath the car. Go through a puddle when it rains and it can splash water inside the car. The water will seek it's lowest level and where it pools can be some distance from the entry point.

wReX

iTrader: (6)

If you haven't already, I suggest pulling up the carpet. Most of the water goes through the actual carpet itself and gets soaked into the padding/matieral underneath. If you don't get it all out and dried in a couple days then you will have that smell in your car for a long time.

Unless you're positive the water came from that hose under the dash then I'd start to look at the seals around the windshield, doors, and hatch. I don't know how the rear tail light would cause it, but then again I have never ripped into the hatch that much to see how it looks.

XSTransAm

why not pull out the passanger seat, pull up the carpet a bit, sit inside the car and have a friend go nuts with a hose.

JConn2299

If you're having trouble reconnecting the hose you can always drive the car without the A/C and connect the hose later. But that smell isn't going to get any better as long as there's mositure in there. I'd remove the passenger seat and really dry it out good with a hair dryer and desicant bags. Let it dry for a couple of days and if there's still a mildew odor give the area a shot of Lysol.

daem0n

Well I figured out where the hose reconnects - there's a little pipe on the back of a grey plastic box under the dash. I don't know if that's the AC or heater core but what a PITA. Anyhow now that I got the leak figured out I just have to clean the smell and dry things up. I work in a place with computers so we have lots of those desicant bags around that I can "borrow". Also I'll try my best to get the carpet cleaned 100% tonight. Should be fixed ASAP. Thanks a lot for all of your help guys.