Ok so I got in the car just now and there is a hell of a lot of water in the foot well passenger side.

Now with all the rain in brissy in the last few weeks the car has been fine. Went out in the car on Tuesday and did not see anything, there has not been that much rain in the past 2 days and the floor probably has a cup of water in there. I checked the window was up and seated and it was.

Should also say 2003 TJ

Any ideas ???

Sounds like your heater core seals are gone mate. Get a little of the fluid on your fingers and smell it, if it smells like coolant then It's your heater core for sure.

cheers Luke

Is it rainwater, or possibly coolant? The heater core is metal but has a plastic plate screwed-on with the nipples for coolant hose thru firewall. There are 2 o-rings which seal the plastic piece against the metal core. If these leak (fairly common, just o-ring deteriorates), it runs into pass footwell. Of more concern, it dribbles over the ECU on its way down into the footwell, so its an expensive drama if its not corrected.

Other possibilities, leaking windscreen seal or large grommit behind wheel arch/inner guard, where wiring runs into the car on pass side.

Elwyn
the grommit is fine. It smells like nothing so I would say it is water.

If it hasn't rained that much then most likely heater core. BTW, the ECU has a plastic sheet/cover over it. However, if water lands near it, then moisture can condense under the plastic sheet and then drop onto the ECU which is what happened to a mates TJ SI Sports.

Ill take a pic when i get home and uploaded it so u can do it to LOL Its a small crack in the body from the windscreen down to the guard all i did was seal it up and no more water

hey brad, i have the same issue as you, it will be leaking from the windscreen seal or the ac fan inlet under the bonnet. madmagna knows where it is. if your heater core is leaking that bad it would be over heating by now and it would be constantly leaking when the car is going. my car does it bad sometimes and other times it can be pooring and it wont be very wet.

Ive been chasing a water leak for the past week or so, turns out it is at least 2. It leaked when the hose was on the bottom passenger corner of the windscreen, but not when it was under the leaf guards (put a plastic bag over the raised fan inlet so that didnt get wet). Sealed up all the cracks and gaps I could see near the hinges etc, re-sealed the quarterpanels, and it was still leaking. More searching with the hose and it appeared to be leaking from a grommet with a metal plate over it on the passenger side firewall behind the TCL/ABS? Metal box with metal lines coming out the top. Put as much sealant as I could around that and there is still a very minor leak but I cant track it from anywhere below the windscreen, so when I get time I'll see if a new windscreen fixes those last few drops.

I just sprayed the seals and welds around the area with fish oil. That stops the leak.

Hi there have you tried looking behind the passengers side front wheel arch the plastic inner guard there is a rubber grommet . i had the same problem after having a stereo system installed

Simple, do you have coolant in your radiator, if so and the stuff inside the car is clear, then it is water and your heater is not leaking so nothing to worry about there BUT if it is a water leak then good luck in finding the little bugger lol

FIrst things to try are the grommets up under the LH guard, remove your splash guard, up under there are 2 big grommets that are known to leak and the issue is as water comes off the windscreen it flows down over one of these and water will get in. If these are ok, try and find someone with a scope who can look up there while water is being washed over the car as can also be a dicky windscreen seal as well as a host of other things

That's good thanks guys but

14-10-2010 01:36 PM is when this was first posted up. All good now leak sealed.

Sorry if I missed the obvious here... but where was your leak and how'd you fix it ?

MR..

I'll just tack onto this thread rather than create a new one. I also had a wierd foot smell in my car, that came yesterday. I washed the car yesterday and had the windows closed and this morning it had a smell. Upon showing my mate at work, he agreed its water and its the odour in the carpet that I can smell, like wet socks!

I was worried its heater, but no coolant smell and heater/AC works fine.

I now am 95% sure its a water leak.


i'll have to find which part of the interior the leak is on, maybe next wash, I'll then check the carpet/floor to see where it is.

We did do a stereo recently but we sealed up that service hole so its all fine from that perspective, see my ride thread for the pics of the grommit work done.

What I am wondering is from the outside of the car, looking at the front windscreen, that rubber stuff is cracking or broken away in some parts. Can enough water get in here?

Boosty

If you take off the plastic cowl on the passenger side, you will notice a plastic "dish" that is meant to capture any water that passes through he plastic cowl and divert it away....if you flush too much water on this side of the windscreen, your probably simulating a Force 10 gale, and the water cannot be diverted fast enough...hence the overflow...just my thoughts...I don't wash that area with direct "forced" spray from the hose, and am aware of flooding this area when I wash the car.

The fact that your plastic cowl has started to disintegrate along the edges means its more likely to happen...I did a mod on my car where I used a rubber seal from clarke rubber to seal it better to some extent. Next time you see my car you will see what I mean.

turned out my windscreen needing resealing at the bottom, thats after changing rubber around door and checking grommet in firewall
dewy wintry nights were a giveaway , not just downpours and washing the car.. ...new something wasnt right

Have a look at the heat curing putty blob that is outside the bonnet hinge.
This is why the leak appears when you pour water onto the lower windscreen corner.

I had this problem, stripped the guard off. Nothing wrong lower down, nothing wrong in the heater plenum area etc.

There were fine cracks in the putty, opened out with a small screwdriver and then carefully filled the area with flexible sealer, then repainted. Now OK.
Gerry

Yep, I'll check those things guys, thanks.

PS vrada/art my car lives under garage cover its whole life (even previous owner) and generally doesn't see much rain at all, other than when I drive in the rain. :)

Boosty

I'm another victim of the water in passenger footwell. We just had 80mm rain and my Ralliart had to sit out in it as the garage had other stuff in it. I drove it to work yesterday wondering what had died inside it. Got home and checked everywhere for some food item the kids had chucked under a seat or similar. Nothing.

Lifted up the passenger carpet and the underlay material was soaked. At least it is not coolant so will be searching for some of the common leaking points as discussed on this thread.

I put it in the garage last night with a fan blasting into the footwell and a container of water absorbing crystals. It is nearly dry after 13 hours.

Next job will be replacing the fuel sender which currently works half the time. Funny how cars have recurrent issues..........

However, still no window failure on the 380!

Touch wood

Water comes from 4 places generally

1. Screen seal leaking
2. Water guard under leaf guard leaking, mainly in heavy rain
3. seal along upper skirt cracks (near bonnet hinge mount) and allows water to seep in
4. Grommets in A pillar dislodged or missing

Thanks for the advice.

It was parked on a hill during the 80 mm so maybe number 2. Will have a look on Friday.

And I blamed the kids leaving food in the car. Tut tut.....

Nothing worst than smelly cars.

Thanks Mal.

It was the plastic shield under the leaf guard. Not a great design really as it only has foam to seal it against the body work, thus relying on the leaf guard seal being intact. As many of us know, these tend to fall apart after a few years, although they are not expensive from Mitsubishi.

Some silicone sealant and all is good. Will get some new leaf guards as well.

Steve

Best remove that silicone ASAP and use sikaflex or similar. Silicone is very acidic

Actually it is Sikaflex. Left over from another job. I thought it was silicone based as well (actually polyurethane based). You learn something every day.

Best remove that silicone ASAP and use sikaflex or similar. Silicone is very acidic

Hmm so, i got my subwoofers put in and the guy removed a grommet and hey presto footwells full of water so i just used a ton of silicone to plug the hole in and around the wires aaand now im thinking i should be ripping it out, so im assuming left like that it will eat the metal?

Ive had this problem suddenly 2 nights ago. coolant smell coming out of air con, then suddenly transmission would not work, wouldnt go into gears, took 5 seconds changing gears, sometimes wouldnt even rev and run rough as guts.... had a pretty bad leak so disconnected hoses to the air con and next day the gears changed well, then tonight after running smooth and waiting at the lights it didnt go again i had to roll to the side of the road and after a few minutes trying to pump the accelerator and it sitting below 500rpm i turned it off and started it again and it was fine... going to replace it tomorrow then get heater core replaced and connected back. lost about a litre of coolant in 2 hours from the radiator so couldve lead to my engine being fried quite easily. thought I was going to have to buy a complete transmission. hope its not the case anyway...

With Melbourne getting a bit of rain a few weeks ago Vera's left footwell was soaked, I haven't got stuck into searching for the reason yet but thought I'd bump this thread up for any newbies anyway.

Actually poor Vera got called Vinegar Tits when I saw the water ......:facejump:

My TW does this, its water from the windscreen gutter. Obviously a seal has worn out or something, mine leaks at the far left of the passenger foot well everytime I go through a car wash or get heavy rain.

Mine started this too with the recent melbourne rain :tired:

I sealed the gutter over the AC intake, and a crack in the sealant next to the bonnet hinge, but neither has helped. Next step will be to spray the hose on it to find out where it's leaking.

On the plus side since I had to remove the soaking carpet, I dyed it black with dupli-colour carpet dye; it ended up looking very good, and saves trying to find a black awd carpet ;)

Mine started this too with the recent melbourne rain :tired:

I sealed the gutter over the AC intake, and a crack in the sealant next to the bonnet hinge, but neither has helped. Next step will be to spray the hose on it to find out where it's leaking.


I've done that today and didn't find much gunk I hope that's my problem.