Left the Bonnie home today parked outside. We had quite a bit of rain today. Just happened to look in the car when I got home. There was standing water in the passenger rear floor board. Headliner was dry, door seals were dry. Does anyone know how it might have gotten there?

Don

Check the trunk. The antenna is a good place for it to leak.

Don't have an antenna like that. Mine is in the rear window.

Don

You either have a door seal leaking or the sunroof drain is leaking.

I had the same problem, water accumulating in the foot well of the LH (driver'* side) rear seat. I pulled the door panels to check the butyl seal on the water shield (big piece of plastic sheet) and both were bad. I fixed that (go to a store that sells body shop supplies and buy the strip of butyl they sell for installing windshields in older cars). Left the car out in the rain, and the problem was still there.

Pour a small amount of water into the front and rear drain openings in the sunroof. For the front ones, move the sunroof back a little to expose them. For the rear ones, pop the back of the sunroof open to the vent position. Pour the water in one drain hole at a time and observe where it drains out to the road. If it comes out anywhere other than the wheel wells, you have a disconnected sunroof drain tube.

My front left drain tube was disconnected behind the IP.

Remove the front tire on the side where the leak is, and remove the rear fender liner. You will see a small grommet with a nipple on the rear of the wheel well behind where the liner was. This is the outlet for the front drain tube. Work the grommet out with a screw driver and give it a gentle pull. On mine, it just came out which meant it was disconnected.

As a side note, in order to get my carpets completely dried I pulled the front seats, the console and the carpet. When you do that, you can see there is a channel in the floor board that allows water entering near the IP to flow right back to the rear seat foot well.

Do not try to reconnect the drain tube, you can't get at it. It is easier to replace it. Let me know if you think you have to do that, and I will describe how. It is not that difficult and only cost a few dollars.

Great information.

2KG4U,
Thanks for the great write up. I don't think it is the doors. Only the bottom of the floor is wet, not the sides going up to the doors. I will let you guys know what I find.

Don

I had the same problem for six months. Ended up being the front drivers door- although I would never of believed it as the water was only on the rear left passenger floor. An easy way to see if it is the drivers door is to pull the plastic trim on the drivers door floor the keeps the carpet in place. Takes about 30 seconds. From there you may find the secret river from the front drivers door to the rear passenger floor.

I agree with Guns. I had this problem a couple years ago (along with a trunk leak). I noticed that after a heavy rain, water collected at the bottom of both front door seals. It would then seep under the carpet where the plastic floor panel meets the door seal and puddle in the rear floor boards and where the battery is. If you park on an incline it just make the water pool more. I remedied the problem by putting some bath tub caulk along the line where the plastic floor panel meets the weather striping to prevent water from leaking into the floor. I also made small holes through the striping to allow the collecting water to just drain outside.

PS. I never got rid of the trunk leak.

This is some really great info, as always! Does anyone happen to have any pictures? I am having alot of water issues with my 02 SLE, and we have been getting alot of rain in Minnesota this year.