condensation under the rear seat / floorboard

im not sure whats its from but i know its not good with all the wiring back there. any ideas. im going to detail the car tomorrow. so i will seee

Check the battery vent tube/drain? If it's not connected to the battery (different battery?) it should probably be plugged. If you have an OEM battery it should be connected to the vent tube.

be sure to wash that condensate with baking soda, in case it is from battery.

Albertj

I have the same problem in mine, although I think that the water is running back from the front because the carpet gets soaked just behind the passenger seat as well after a heavy rain. Can't figure it out...

Leaking moonroof?

Nope, checked all the moonroof drains as well as the ones under the wipers... all drain normally.

Put a hose all over the car with my friend inside it with the seat out... cant see a thing.

my carpet isnt wet its just under the rear seat

Check the battery compartment. If the battery leaks, it could corrode the floor.

Oh!! check to see if the condensate drain for the A/C is plugged. The A/C runs in the winter to help keep windows frost-free. If drain is plugged, floor gets wet. It' just a rubber hose thru pass. side firewall, use a pipe cleaner to check it. Might want to put car on ramps to get to it easily.

Albertj

Everybody, I had this same problem on my 96'. After many hours of searching I finally found the problem. It is the ac drain on the fire wall. The seal sround it leaks and the water that is supposed to drain out leaks back into the car and fills up the passenger side. Pull the carpet back up under the dash on the passenger side and you will see what I am talking about. I removed both seats and the center console and had to have a friend help me remove the carpeting because it was so water logged. The carpeting has a thick foam backing that retains a lot of water. It took about 3 weeks of drying time before I put it back into the car. All I did was silicone around the drain tube and this took car of the problem.

When the leak is caused by the AC drain I would assume that the water will only accumulate while the car is running?

Tyler - water will accumulate from AC drain when the car is runing and if you get enough rain.

Albertj

Ok, this seems like the exact problem I have, although when I pulled the front carpet up today I didn't really find anything. Heres the pics.





So, is this drain up under that black piece of plastic? I didn't find anything at all...

Look for the drain by opening the hood, and looking down onto the firewall on the passenger side. It looksl like a little rubber hose, L-shaped, with the short leg of the L stuck in the firewall and long leg pointing toward the ground.

Albertj

i fixed my problem, the vapor line to the battery way unhooked

Corey: be sure to wash the floor pan with baking soda and water. And do this outside where you can clean up the mess afterward.

What you do is get a little box or 2 of baking soda at the grocery or dollar store. Pull the rear seat out, get a bucket of warm (so the baking soda dissolves better) water. Pull the floor grommet out (so the thing will drain)

Then...

Sprinke the baking soda onto the metal part of the floor, and wearing rubber gloves wipe the soda back up with a sponge that you wet in the warm water. Repeat until the baking soda/water quits fizzing.

To finish, spray the floor pan with WD40 or silicone spray and wipe to evenly coat.

If you do not clean out the battery acid from the area under the floor pan, it will rust out very quickly.

Now, on the other hand, if you're removing seats and such to do your paint job, you'll clen it out during paint prep and so you can kind of ignore what I wrote.
But no kidding you gotta neutralize and remove that acid, pronto.

Albertj

albertj wrote:

Corey: be sure to wash the floor pan with baking soda and water. And do this outside where you can clean up the mess afterward.

What you do is get a little box or 2 of baking soda at the grocery or dollar store. Pull the rear seat out, get a bucket of warm (so the baking soda dissolves better) water. Pull the floor grommet out (so the thing will drain)

Then...

Sprinke the baking soda onto the metal part of the floor, and wearing rubber gloves wipe the soda back up with a sponge that you wet in the warm water. Repeat until the baking soda/water quits fizzing.

To finish, spray the floor pan with WD40 or silicone spray and wipe to evenly coat.

If you do not clean out the battery acid from the area under the floor pan, it will rust out very quickly.

Now, on the other hand, if you're removing seats and such to do your paint job, you'll clen it out during paint prep and so you can kind of ignore what I wrote.
But no kidding you gotta neutralize and remove that acid, pronto.

Albertj

I agree with Alberts whole post, but this is FOR SURE!

ok i shall do it tommorow

I was just doing some more stereo work and was pulling my rear seat out (while stepping in the rear floorboard) and the carpet went "squish"! Any clue what to check for for "water intake"??? (sunroof? trunk rail?)

Yikes! I THOUGHT the car had been smelling a little stale the last week or so..

A/C condensor leaking....... or sunroof bro!

Check to make sure that the drain holes and tubes for the sun roof are free of any obstacles. Also check your weatherstripping.

98riviera98 wrote:

A/C condensor leaking....... or sunroof bro!

Rear floorboard, I don't think it's under the dash because the front floorboards are fine.

If it's the sunroof, is there a drain channel I need to "snake"? I know honda sunroofs were notorious for becoming clogged and you could run heavy piano wire through the drain tubes to clear them.

What's weird is the battery compartment under the rear seat was perfectly dry. It was just a 'recession' area under the carpet in the floor of the passenger rear was holding water.

98riv wrote:

Also check your weatherstripping.

Which weather stripping? Around my passenger window? (front door?)


Thanks for the suggestions so far, ya'll.

Had the same problem. Use an air compressor and blow out the drain channel for the sunroof then recondition the weather seal around the door. One or the other was the culprit in my car.. but I don't know which..

unless you spilled something... check rear quarter windows and door weatherstripping. Sounds like an accumulation of water from automatic car washing or some such. .

you may have to remove the interior rear armrest and trim to do this checking - and - check the insulation behind the panel, if it is wet too you may just have leaky window. I kind of doubt it though.

also get a can/tin/bottle whatever of Baby Powder. and a wet-dry vac that blows. open the door and sprinkle baby powder on the weatherstripping. you may have to put the powder on your hand and then schmeer it on the weatherstripping around the door. then close the door gently and blow the wet/dry vac at the crack along the door edge. Then DON'T OPEN THE DOOR until you go in from the OTHER (driver) side and see if any powder blew in. THEN open the pass door gently and see if the baby powder blew away from any part of the weatherstrip. I bet you find a leak.

you can check the exposed window weatherstripping using a dollar bill, if it pulls thru around the window easily you may need to adjust for a tighter fit. This is a difficult adjustment (just ask Corey Palermo).

Albertj

Thanks for the tips everyone. I'll try as many of those suggestions as possible as soon as the storms blow past here.