2004 wrx sport wagon water on floorboard

[nicholi2789]

Hey, I'm a new owner of a 2004 wrx sport wagon (not mew to Subies or thus forum) and I love it. Recently I noticed that my driver side floorboard is damp and is under the drivers seat. It hasn't rained in days. I did however wash my car a couple times. Any ideas what it could be? Dumped some water into the cowl on both sides and it seemed to drain fine. No leaky windows. What goes under the carpet there that could leak? Rear window wash line? Any ideas. Thanks!

[gbhrps]

nicholi2789,

 

If the water was on the passenger side, I would suspect the HVAC box (heater/AC) drain was plugged and the water was backing up into the bottom of the heater box and leaking onto the floor.

 

Coming from the driver's side, either the windshield seal has a leak, the door seal has a leak, the left front sunroof drain is plugged or the plastic drain tube has come disconnected or split. The only other source would be a metal panel on the upper firewall has rotted through (in behind the wiper mechanism).

 

1. If you have a sunroof start here to find the leak.

2. The windshield would be second.

3rd would be the door seal.

4. Rotted upper firewall.

 

You may not see the water leak at all. It may be running in behind the plastic kick panel and behind the carpet and padding where you can't see it. Pull those panels and the carpeting back until you can see the steel panels. Then take a garden hose on medium pressure and start down low on the front door seam and move it slowly all the way up to the top of the glass, watching for water inside. Then repeat starting at the bottom corner of the windshield and move slowly up. Open the sunroof and blow the drain in the front corner or ream it out with a wire snake. Good Luck!

[jeryst]

Car is ten years old. Highly unlikely, but your heater core could be leaking. Do you smell coolant?

[nicholi2789]

Nah I figured out what it was. Somehow the rear window wash line broke somewhere between the firewall and the floorboard on the drivers side. Every time I sprayed my rear window wash it was just dumping fluid onto my floor. Lol. So i just unplugged the rear motor and clamped the line off until I can figure out what to do with it. Really odd problem..

[craigmcd]

I recently did a big repair to my sunroof (2005 Outback), replacing both pieces of glass (to get better rubber seals) and lowering the headliner so I could clean everything, particularly the drain tubes in each corner of the assembly. That is all described in a different post thread. 

Yesterday morning I took out my Weathertech floor mats to shake them out, and discovered on the driver side floorboard a pretty good puddle of water. I took off some plastic panels and pulled the carpet back as best I could, and found a lot more water. With two large towels I sopped up the standing water from the floor pan. All of this ruined my mood for the day. I left it all open, and the doors open all day to air out - which helped dry the carpet and pad.

Last night and this morning we had 1/8 rain, and when I checked this morning, with the carpet already pulled back, there was an inch of water in the low spots of the floor pan. I could see a steady drip from the dashboard side panel, near the door trim. The telltale sign is that the front corner roof pillar panel, which is fabric coated, is soaking wet. Following that up, the front drivers corner of the headliner is damp. The car sits in the driveway with that corner of the sunroof at the lowest point.

The DRAIN TUBE hole was clogged with some particles from a tree, which has been shedding a lot of debris all spring.  The drain is at the bottom of a small “bathtub” collection area, but once it is clogged, the water simply overfills the bathtub and into the headliner.  On this car, if you open the sunroof completely, you can reach in there with a long screwdriver or forceps, and remove obstruction. An air hose works if you have a long extension. I had cleared all of this just several weeks ago, but the tube opening is pretty small, and it does not take much to clog them.

For me, the best solution is to never open the sunroof, and don’t park under the tree.  For now, the Subi is in the garage with a small heater in the passenger seat, and a heat gun airing out the carpet from the drivers side. Maybe by tomorrow it will be dry. Agh.

[Olnick]

Man, what a bummer--especially after all the work you put into it.  Good luck with the fix..