Hi,

need help here. Back side carpet is soaking wet. More on the driver side but passenger side is wet too. Front side looks fine. What can it be? Is it moon roof drain or the A/C or something else? Where to look? There was 4-inch rain a few days back and we have also used A/C on a long trip. Thanks a lot.

 

Could be several items that would cause a leak similar to what you have. Door seals, window seals, back glass seal, trunk lip seal or a body plug on the bottom of the car. I would check those first and see if any have a problem. If they are all OK, let me know and we can go from there.

 

Smell it to make sure it is water. Engine coolant circulates through your in car heater, and the heater core can leak. Happened to me once. Coolant has a bit of a sweet smell.

 

Ron,

I might have read his question wrong. I assumed the back was the rear seat area and the front was the front seat area. Under that assumption, the heater core leaking would normally make the front passenger wheel well wet.

I wonder here if the "back" is the underside of the carpet (padding side) and the front is the topside of the carpet and both of the wet areas are in the front seat area.

OP, could you clarify where the wet carpet is?

 

Thanks a lot for your responses.

I checked all sealing and stuff and looks completely fine. Trunk area is completely dry.

Yes when I said back - meaning carpet right in front of the back seats is wet. Carpet underneath and in front of the front seats is dry. On the back, driver side is worse than passenger side.

 

one more thing - even though front side carpet feels dry there might be some water underneath. I don't know. I just don't feel it. Also car is parked on a driveway that has some slope. Front side is always up.

 

Have you opened the sunroof and poured water around the tracks? The water should disappear immediately. If not, it will overflow and run down A and B pillars. I had that happen in another car what a mess.... It takes a long time for all of the carpet and pad to dry.

You need to remove all of the carpet immediately or you will have a smell that you will NEVER be able to get rid of!

 

Thanks a lot for info. I checked A/C drain and it is OK and it is draining water (I ran AC for a while and checked the tube).

How do I remove carpet? Can someone guide me? I am running a fan with windows open and it seems to be working well but removing carpet is certainly better.

 

That requires pulling the sill plates, seats, seat belts and possibly the center console, B pillar cover and front kick plates. Make sure you disconnect the battery and wait several minutes before unplugging the seats and removing them. You do not want the side impact bag in the seat opening into your face.

 

I checked the moonroof drain and even those look OK. I have decided not to remove the carpet right now as it's drying pretty quickly with fan and I'll keep on doing it until it's really dry.