'97 Water Mystery...

[Tilt]

So I've had my (new to me) '97 for about 2 to 3 weeks now. But I have a small mystery on my hands. I keep noticing the carpet under the floor mat on the passenger side is wet. This seems to occur a bit randomly. No one has been sitting on that side, and the area of wetness seems to be confined to directly under the mat. It doesn't seem to have any source (that I can find). I'm pretty sure it's water, as there is no odour. We haven't had any rain at all, but there's been a good amount of heavy frost each morning for the past week or 2. I don't know how it could get in there. I have a sun-roof, but there's no wetness around the ceiling or any part of that. It's like the moisture is materializing out of nowhere. I fold back the mat to let it dry, and don't really notice any new moisture. Yet a day or 2 later (with the mat back in place) it appears again. I attached a photo with a line roughly drawn where the wetness keeps appearing. This is really beginning to bug me, as I don't want to deal with an eventual rusted out floor. If anyone has any clues to what this could be.

Lyle

 

[Tilt]

bump

 

[01t4rnr]

had the same thing happening in my rig. pull the carpet at the top back and youll see a rubber grommet in the firewall, maybe quarter sized. I got rid of the stock antenna for a fixed one and didnt seal this grommet just right. Water was running down my antenna and following the cable through this into the cab. Put some silicone inside and no more stinky carpet. Could have worked its way loose even if you havent been messing with anything in that area. good luck :bigok:

** could be dew/frost instead of rain but not likely-just noticed u said no rain lately. could still roll the carpet back and spray water around the windshield area to see if you notice any leaks coming into the cab

 

[Tilt]

Thanks for the idea. I'll certainly check on that today (once it warms up a bit). We've had very heavy frost/dew lately.....so that could be it.

 

[Tilt]

Small update here.

Finally getting around to looking under my carpet to find the source of the moisture. I'm not 100% sure, but on both sides the floor plugs seem to be allowing water in. The carpet around both of the plugs was wet. The passenger side is in rougher shape, as I was told a repair had occured in the past. The wetness seemed worse on that side.

I used some gasket sealant to close off the plugs better. Now I'm just waiting for the carpet undersides to dry out before putting things back. I hope that was it. But I'm not fully convinced. I can't figure how water would get through the plug though. We've had next to no rain or snow.

I had my wife pour water along the windshield on that side - as well as pouring water along the firewall - and nothing. Guess after all this drys, we'll see if it stops.

 

[cfranck1]

It might be sunroof drains plugged up.
The cowl (under the wipers) might have a drain hole plugged up with stuff and not draining. I remember on my Tacoma, the grommet on the firewall that the hood cable goes thru was not fully in the hole, had to silicone the outside so water wouldn't get in there.

Just thought I'd mention a few spots to look.
Good luck
Keep us posted on what you come up with.

 

[Tilt]

Thanks for the further suggestion. I'll check that out tomorrow. I did a quick look around the firewall and didn't see any openings. The mystery with this, is that the only wetness we're getting is heavy frost at night (no rain or snow). However, the wet parts of the carpet don't seem to carry up too far on the edges - but rather just centered around the middle of the floor pans (right around those 2 floor plugs).

 

[cfranck1]

Is the carpet just damp or is it getting soaked??
Are the windows frosting up on the inside?

The floor might have been wet for a while and you didn't notice it until now?? Just dry the S**t out of that carpet and start over again with a dry carpet. You might need to wait until spring to find a leak?

 

[Tilt]

It was mostly just heavy damp. Not soaked. And I get no moisture build-up on the inside of the windows at all.

I left the carpets pulled back last night till this morning. It all dried out somewhat decently. I cleaned everything up as nicely as possible and put it all back together. I did an extensive look at the passenger side of the firewall, and only really saw one place where some dirt and mud had dammed up a bit and the potential for water to pool was present. I cleaned that out (including the blockage that was damming things up), so we'll see if that helps. I also took my air hose to my sunroof vents. I felt no backpressure in those vents, and didn't even see any dust come from them - so they appear clean.

I'm hoping you're right with it just getting wet at one time, and having no place for the moisture to go until pulling up the carpets for an extended time.

Time will tell.

 

[cfranck1]

Ya, that's all you can do. Water leaks are the biggest pain in the A**!!:sniper:

Just keep an eye on it and keep us posted

 

[etc.]

What about the heater core?

 

[cfranck1]

What about the heater core?

I was thinking the same thing, but his first post said it didn't have any color to it.
I think if the heater core is leaking he would be smelling something sweet, it would be a color, and if he uses the defrost mode, it would start to steam up the windshield.

 

[Tilt]

Yeah, years ago I had a heater core leak in my old 60's muscle car. You knew it right away. You could smell the anti-freeze, and the windows were caked in fog and ice. I have a small road trip this weekend, so we'll see if the floors stay dry.

 

[Tilt]

I hope I'm not jinxing myself, but it's now been a full day (including a 1.5 hour trip yesterday and return today) and no wet carpets. I wonder if it was just some wetness trapped under there from something a while ago. Or I somehow managed to correct it. Keeping my fingers crossed. lol

 

[Vader]

Keep us posted, I'm having the same issue on the passenger side. I'm hoping to take a look at it when I'm off this week...

 

[Tilt]

Well, hoping to put this one to bed now. I'm sure that some are getting tired of seeing me bump this thread up now - lol.

There was a thick layer of frost this morning. After it had all melted away, I popped out and took a quick look. Dry as a bone. So I hope I'm past this now.

Vader, take the time to pull back your carpets and dry them out. It would seem that the undersides are fairly air-tight, and will hold water for a real long time. However the moisture gets there (and you may discover where that is from pulling the carpets back), it won't just go away.

 

[Vader]

Well, hoping to put this one to bed now. I'm sure that some are getting tired of seeing me bump this thread up now - lol.

There was a thick layer of frost this morning. After it had all melted away, I popped out and took a quick look. Dry as a bone. So I hope I'm past this now.

Vader, take the time to pull back your carpets and dry them out. It would seem that the undersides are fairly air-tight, and will hold water for a real long time. However the moisture gets there (and you may discover where that is from pulling the carpets back), it won't just go away.

Thanks for the update.

I'm pretty sure my leak is coming from the firewall. I had the interior out this summer to run some wires and sound deaden the interior. I found no eveidence of leaking from the grommets in the floor that you spoke of. In fact, the floor of my truck is now sealed with multiple layers of dynamat so i know its not the grommets.

I think my problem lies up in the passenger firewall somewhere.

I'll post an update when I figure it out.

 

[Tilt]

Nice shots, and I'm jealous of the dynamat. Let me know how you make out with your water mystery.