Before you jump in - it's not the heater.

Anyone had trouble with water leaking in the passenger side front during wet weather ?
Had a similar problem in a Corolla and had to get the front window re-sealed.
Interested to see if anyone else has had the same problem that is not a leaky heater unit.

Thanks,:doh:

Yep, and it's also the right side now. I've looked around and can't find any reason for the leak. It's bloody annoying.

Very common. Search and ye shall find.:D

just thought i'd add my story ;)

my old 2 door coupe had the back left window broken when someone tried to break in, had it replaced. found a few months later that the carpet in the rear was soaked, took it back 3 times to fix the seal and still leaked... then i found the front passenger carpet was soaked too.

turns out when i had my alarm installed, when the put the cables through the firewall they didnt seal something around it properly and water was flooding in. because i park on a slight uphill angle all the water went to the back. and the carpet was SOAKED! considering you could feel the wet on top of the carpet, and it had to get through sound proofing and plastic backed carpet, you can imagine how wet it was underneath! dumb. plus i only realised 3 years after it was installed...

ive got a leaking problem, worst part is its intermittent, so its a pain to find the source as it only happens on occassion!

pillarless doors are hot, but a pain!

bloody annoying mines still under warranty and we cant find the source! it only happens intermitaantly and only after washing the car :rant:

You might just have crap in your plenum (the vent at the back of the bonnet where air gets in) or your plenum drains are blocked.

Try running water into there and see if it gets inside.:)

My rear left window leaks, its because the seal never quite lines up properly when you close the door, which is due to the frameless window. That same window also makes a horrible wind buffeting noise over 80km/h if I don't shut it properly.

Best chance I can see at the moment is that there is a plastic filler piece (5) under the garnish along the bottom of the windscreen (4) and covering the hole in the plenum that feeds the interior fan/vents. The foam around this is a bit tatty and the rubber seal along the top of the garnish on the windscreen is breaking up.

Maybe water is coming down the screen under the garnish (4) and bing forced througn the foam edging (5) into the air intake. Have the carpet up to monitor in wet weather to see if I can spot where the water is coming down.

See attached picture for part numbers in brackets above.

on my 3rd en wagon i was chasing this problem for a while too..

I finally found the CAUSE of my problem, and I am willing to bet that yours is the same.
Get yourself a tube of silicone with one of those long nozzles for doing fine work around gutters and stuff, you know the one that you pretty much get with any tube of stuff.

attach these together, stick the lot in your caulking gun, pop the bonnet and look on the firewall at each side (from memory about 3/4 of a foot from the sides) and you will locate some grommets that allow cables to go through the firewall. These grommets have a sort of long skirt on them, which is very practical and does a good job - except that the angle of the cables going through them causes them to tear.

You will locate these (from memory) at around about the brake booster on the drivers side and around the area that has your fuel pump check thingo or emissions control cylinder which is on the passenger side about half way down, i think.

anyways, stick the end of your nozzle into the split grommet things and fill them up with silicone.

job done!
(at least, it solved my problem) This happened on both my 97 KE wagon and my mums 04 KL Wagon.. i suggest that ALL 3rd gen owners have a look for em, maybe it is a problem they all develop, or maybe we have just been unlucky so far..

Hope that answers your problem!

on my 3rd en wagon i was chasing this problem for a while too..

I finally found the CAUSE of my problem, and I am willing to bet that yours is the same.
Get yourself a tube of silicone with one of those long nozzles for doing fine work around gutters and stuff, you know the one that you pretty much get with any tube of stuff.

attach these together, stick the lot in your caulking gun, pop the bonnet and look on the firewall at each side (from memory about 3/4 of a foot from the sides) and you will locate some grommets that allow cables to go through the firewall. These grommets have a sort of long skirt on them, which is very practical and does a good job - except that the angle of the cables going through them causes them to tear.

You will locate these (from memory) at around about the brake booster on the drivers side and around the area that has your fuel pump check thingo or emissions control cylinder which is on the passenger side about half way down, i think.

anyways, stick the end of your nozzle into the split grommet things and fill them up with silicone.

job done!
(at least, it solved my problem) This happened on both my 97 KE wagon and my mums 04 KL Wagon.. i suggest that ALL 3rd gen owners have a look for em, maybe it is a problem they all develop, or maybe we have just been unlucky so far..

Hope that answers your problem!

I also had a real bad leak this year, flooded the front and the back passenger side. I found it to be the gromit under the passenger side front guard. I pulled the black plastic off from behind the wheel, found that there was a gromit was missing, replaced it, fixed. No more leak. if the gromit behind the air bag thing is still in tact, check the one behind the black plastic guard behind your pasenger wheel.

its amazing how much water can get in when you drive two hours to melbourne in the rain. I had to rip out all my carpet to dry the car out.

I finally found the CAUSE of my problem, and I am willing to bet that yours is the same.
Get yourself a tube of silicone with one of those long nozzles for doing fine work around gutters and stuff, you know the one that you pretty much get with any tube of stuff.


you used silicone!!!!
say hello to rust soon

just a thought. have u sat in the magna while a friend hoses the car down heavly and you watch for the leak\or drip.

ok i know ive only got a first gen but i had the same thing. passenger side and it was directly under and behind the heater. bugger i thought, so i ripped out the dash only to find outit had nothing to do with the heater even though thats where it was coming from.
o'l fart mentioned the chamber at the bottom of the windscreen under the wipers where the water drains though the black plastic into the chamber then out the water runoff channels. now i had never checked there till that day and what i found was dead leaves and a bit of dirt which caused the water to sit there and rust a little hole for the water to seep through. so out with the angle grinder and mig so i could cut out the rust:D fun fun.

you used silicone!!!!
say hello to rust soon


why rust? the stuff i used was made to seal guttering on your house.. and anyway, silicone is a non reactive substance, therefore it cannot react with metal...


like to hear your theory on why this would cause rust..

why rust? the stuff i used was made to seal guttering on your house.. and anyway, silicone is a non reactive substance, therefore it cannot react with metal...


like to hear your theory on why this would cause rust..

silicone produces acetic acid when it cures and promotes rust
you have a problem and need car sealent it would only be wise to use proper automotive sealent, you dont use cooking oil in your motor now do you?

Well I thought I would investigate this.....

Now after breaking another frigging nail I found!

The black plastic covering at the base of the windscreen has a second black plastic thing that seems to be covering the heater fan motor. The seal on mine is worn quite badly as they do, I ran a hose into the compartment when I removed the top black plastic cover with no water entering the cabin. I left the second cover off and put the top cover back on and ran water again over the cover... Bingo the leak appeared. So I put it all back together making sure the second cover was put in as tight as I could and ran the water again.

No Leak!

I haven't siliconed the thing in, as I am not a silicone type of girl, but I will get around to it if it starts leaking again.

I'll check out the RHS when I can be bothered next.

I just washed it at Carlovers using the high preasure hose. Did the engine bay and went hard on the area in question. Not a drop came inside.

If you need to use anyting use Sikoflex or something similar as it is made for automotive use!

Also check your drain for the aircon as in a lot of cases it is pinched at the end by the factory and this can get blocked, the water backs up and overflown into the cabin. All you need to do is cut the end of it off

After going through a carwash where I saw the water being blown down the firewall in the passenger side footwell and sprinkling water down the fan inlet hole in the plenum to see the water dribble down inside the car in the same pattern ... I have resolved the problem.

The plenum cover (garnish) under the passenger-side windscreen wiper has a seal that was perished. The cover to the fan air inlet hole under the plenum cover has a foam seal that no longer sealed very well. Water was running down the windscreen, under the plenum cover seal and past the fan air inlet cover seal into the fan assembly.

I replaced the plenum cover, Silastic'd the fan inlet cover and went through the car wash again. Problem fixed. (May not have needed to silastic the inlet hole cover but I wanted to make sure as I was sick of drying carpet out all the time).

Part Numbers FYI:
Garnish Assy-Deck-LH: P/N MI-AW341267 $16.50
Garnish Assy-Deck-RH: P/N MI-AW341268 $14.70 (I replaced both)

are they seriously THAT cheap!? i'm going down tomorrow!!

I also had a real bad leak this year, flooded the front and the back passenger side. I found it to be the gromit under the passenger side front guard. I pulled the black plastic off from behind the wheel, found that there was a gromit was missing, replaced it, fixed. No more leak. if the gromit behind the air bag thing is still in tact, check the one behind the black plastic guard behind your pasenger wheel.

its amazing how much water can get in when you drive two hours to melbourne in the rain. I had to rip out all my carpet to dry the car out.


I recently found this was the problem i was having with my leak

stupid gromit!

now, no more pools in my car!

Bump ~ if the mods wanna join the other discussion with this one.

Yep my 2002 sedan does it after HEAVY down pour, Dont know why it never had anytype of damage done to it. I noticed it after removing the floor mat and finding GRASS growing:confused: