mkiv98

iTrader: (5)

So my car has not run in 5 years. In my current circumstance I have to park it outside, so it is under a shaded area in my backyard and I keep it clean and inspect it regularly. After some heavy rain, I discovered that only the passenger side carpet is completely soaked. The passenger seat bottom cushion is also a little bit wet. I can't find at all where the water could be coming from!! I have no sunroof, and all the seals around the car are still soft.

In the meantime I am trying to figure out how to clean this up...I've vacuumed out what I could from the top layer but the sound deadening is all completely soaked and I know that this will not be easy to dry out...should I just rip that stuff off the bottom of the carpet? I have some fans blowing on it but it's going to continue raining for a week and there will likely be no sun.

Any other ideas of where to look for the water leak? It's not the heater core or AC since the car does not currently drive.

DaveW

Considering that it's not likely to be the heater core or AC, the next thing I'd check is the seal around the windshield that may have shrunk and gotten brittle from sun and heat. Rust could also have degraded the metal around the seal, so check that too.

SETaylor

iTrader: (4)

You will likely need to entirely remove the carpet in order to get all of it out (or you might be able to pull enough up to access the bottom). I had my heater core leak shortly after I went and accidentally (and imperceptibly until then) bent the heater core fittings when removing them from the hoses when I replaced my engine. It soaked all the way into the bottom of the carpet padding and into the reinforcement gusset looking thing on the passenger side floor. It's too far down for a vacuum to get and it will likely eventually facilitate corrosion in the floor and it probably won't evaporate. It took me a couple of months for me to get to removing it and it was still full of coolant.

No ideas on where the water could be entering. Only place that I've had it happen was those seals near the tail lamp covers (the triangle looking pieces) in the rear hatch that dried out and eventually lead to there being several holes in the spare tire well before my ownership.

DaveW

If it was a heater core leak of enough water to soak the carpet, the coolant level should be low. That would be a confirmation of the source.

Speed of light

iTrader: (8)

I once had a similar situation to what the OP describes and it turned out that the cowl drains were clogged with debris from parking under a tree. It doesn’t take much fod to clog the drains and during a rain the cowl would overflow and leak down the inside firewall, flooding the floorboard. Cleaned them out (a pita) and never had the problem again.

R-R-Rx7

iTrader: (24)

I would also check that the engine harness grommet is actually seated properly and it is not chopped up. That could potentially let water in

LeonOrtega

I am also experiencing similar issues. Thank you all so much for your helpful suggestions.

mkiv98

iTrader: (5)

Well I've dried out the carpet (without removing it, just lifting it up) and tore out all the original foam and insulation...No smells and it seems clean. Guess I'll replace the foam and insulation with something aftermarket. The car has also been sitting through even harder rain this week and the car has stayed bone dry inside. Weird!!