GeneralDisorder

iTrader: (1)

I'm about to replace my carpet (86 trans am), and the old carpeting on the passenger floorboard gets wet. It's not my heater core, and doesn't appear to be leaking from the wiring harness connector (I sealed that with butyl rubber), or the door/t-top seal, etc.

I cut out the passenger floorboard carpet to better watch the area, and now it's dry,

The seam sealer is coming off in large chunks in that area. Could it be the carpet padding was wicking the water up from the tire spray? Have other people seen this?

Just don't want to install my new carpeting till I'm positive it's leak free. Obviously I will put down new seam sealer.

GD

Drew

iTrader: (58)

The sealer is well past it's expected lifespan.

LsxMatt

iTrader: (4)

In my experience it’s usually coming through from the firewall. I had a leak in that area that was coming from the seal around the evaporator box in the engine bay. If the water is sitting under the carpet it probably soaked under the seam sealer and pulled it up. I had the same issue on the driver side, but with the hood cable grommet. Pull the carpet back and spray the cowl/evaporator box area on the firewall. In my case I could see the drips coming through the bolt heads on the inside of the car.

navy02ws6

Everyone's leaks are different it seems...the really bad one on my driver's side carpet was coming in from a hole in the seam all the way in the upper left corner up under the dash where my floor pan meets the firewall. Had to take all my underdash panels out and stick my head literally ALL the way up in that corner to find it. Amazing that that much water could come in from such a seemingly small inconspicuous place.

Thought mine was coming from condensation too since there never seemed to be any water visibly leaking down from that area, but finally found the tiny rust hole where it was leaking in and running down perfectly along the body seam to the floor, which made it that much harder to find.

GeneralDisorder

iTrader: (1)

Fortunately, living here in Oregon, and the car having sat on dry dirt for the last decade (under a..... lets call it a "car port"), it has no significant rust.

I'm going to scrape all the old sealer off, apply new, and then lay down some paper towels and see what I get for a few weeks before I commit to the carpet install.

GD

GeneralDisorder

iTrader: (1)

Just to put this to bed. It was the bulkhead wiring harness on the passenger fender wall. The cowling drain right above it has some plastic bits that redirect water forward away from the wiring harness, etc. The seam sealer in that area was deteriorating and water was dripping directly on the harness and finding its way inside. I cleaned it up and put new seam sealer in there around the cowl drain gutter and sealed the wiring harness up a little as well.

GD