Water leak hunt

[Cooner79]

I have the carpet out of the floor and rolled up the back. Behind the seats is a indent that fills with water and the foot floor area on the drivers side is real wet. New weaterstripping installed by local shop. Some water, a little dribble is coming DOWN from somewhere, that is not THE big problem.

The big problem is the water coming though the back somewhere and running along the channels to the floor.

When I rolled the carpet up in back, along the side, there is a "hole" in the body; if it went through it would be in the front of the rear wheel wells (although I do not think it goes all the way through).

I have dried it out and pushed it outside to sit in the rain, ha, it has quite here in the "Great Northwet". I might wash the car to see if any water comes through.

Just thought I would check here for some hints, checked back and did not see any posting. Any help appreciated. TIA, Mark

 

[jdp6000]

Thats a strange one. Are those holes perfectly round??? They may be for drainage. If so they should have rubber plugs in them.

I had a 77 years ago that was missing the drain plugs in the holes in the floor right under each seat...possible??

Jim

 

[Cooner79]

Hi Jim--Thanks for the reply. I am pasting a note that I sent to the guy who is replacing carpet in his 79:

Hey Andy--I am looking for a water leak in my '79 and see that you are replacing your carpeting, which I hope to do if I ever find this water leak.

Would you tell me if you have a hole on each side of the car, behind the seats, about a foot up from the floor, along the seam, right behind where the seat belt hangs? It is on the "side" of the panel, on the driver's side there is a covered set of wires on "top" of it.

I am wondering if this is where my water is coming from, my holes are open, no plugs. Just started raining again here so I will check again tomorrow, just thought I would check in with you. TIA, Mark

They are round, don't have any plugs in them, I do have the plugs in my floorboards. Have I described the area where the holes are? Hope so.

Raining here now so I will drive tomorrow and do some tracing/tracking. TIA, Mark

 

[Willcox Inc.]

One way to find a leak is to remove all the carpet from the front floor of the car. Then take powder (talc) and coat the floor board. Roll up the windows and spray the car with water excessively. Tracing the water is easy when the powder is wet.

People…. Take note here… If you have a water leak at the kick panel! You have a hole in the windshield frame! Period… We have replaced so many of these rotted frames that we had to make a jig for installing them faster.

The problem happens when the first leak occurs. People will tend to silicone the windshield moulding and/or under the windshield moulding to stop the leak when in fact the problem may be in the corner or somewhere else on the frame. When the silicone is applied to the windshield moulding it will only hold moisture and make the frame rot faster!

If a car was in our shop and the customer complained about water leaking in the front floor board, this is one place we would check first.

To check this you will have to remove the front windshield moulding and the usually the header stainless trim as well. There are holes in the front floor board for drainage but in most cases these holes will not soak a carpet set even if the car is driven in the rain.

If you have a water leak around the door glass and the weatherstrips are new then you should go to the assembly instruction manual for detailed instructions on how to adjust the door glass properly.



Regards,

WILLCOX INC.

 

[Andy]

previous post by BarryK...

Cooner
Andy's car is in my garage as we replace the carpet in it so I just went out to check on that hole for you. Yep, there is an open hole just where you describe.
Where that hole is I can't imagine it getting water in , at least not very much at all. From where it's placed the most I could happening is if you are driving in the rain maybe some water getting thrown off from that rear tire getting in that hole but other than that the hole seems high enough up and on a verticle plane to avoid most other water problems.
I bet if it really concerns you you could fiberglass it over to close it off, or get a rubber plug for it, or even just a piece of duct tape over it.
Both the passenger side and the drivers side floorpan also have holes in the middle of the footwell area and the drivers side hole is open while the passenger side hole has a rubber plug in it. I can see that being more of an issue/problem than the location on this first hole you asked about. We were planning on simply putting a piece of duct tape over that open hole in the drivers side floorpan, than the reflectix foil heat barriar we are laying down will be going over it anyway under the carpet.


Andy

One way to find a leak is to remove all the carpet from the front floor of the car. Then take powder (talc) and coat the floor board. Roll up the windows and spray the car with water excessively. Tracing the water is easy when the powder is wet.

People…. Take note here… If you have a water leak at the kick panel! You have a hole in the windshield frame! Period… We have replaced so many of these rotted frames that we had to make a jig for installing them faster.

The problem happens when the first leak occurs. People will tend to silicone the windshield moulding and/or under the windshield moulding to stop the leak when in fact the problem may be in the corner or somewhere else on the frame. When the silicone is applied to the windshield moulding it will only hold moisture and make the frame rot faster!

If a car was in our shop and the customer complained about water leaking in the front floor board, this is one place we would check first.

To check this you will have to remove the front windshield moulding and the usually the header stainless trim as well. There are holes in the front floor board for drainage but in most cases these holes will not soak a carpet set even if the car is driven in the rain.

If you have a water leak around the door glass and the weatherstrips are new then you should go to the assembly instruction manual for detailed instructions on how to adjust the door glass properly.



Regards,

WILLCOX INC.