Repairing Hole in Floorboard

[brianbarber]

I was driving around last Saturday in the pouring rain and when I returned home, I noticed a bunch of water (visible puddles pooling on top of the carpet with fish swimming around) on the floor in the backseat on the driver's side. Since the carpet in front of and under the other seats was dry, I can only conclude that there must be a hole in the floorboard. I sopped up the water immediately and dried the carpet as best I could.

 

This weekend, I plan on removing the driver's seat and pulling up the carpet, which doesn't look too difficult. What should I used to seal up the hole? Sheet metal, fiberglas, something else? If you think sheet metal is the way to go, I should mention that I don't have access to welding equipment to tack on sheet metal, but I do have a riveter.

 

Thanks, folks. The advice I've received for my other posts have been right on the money.

 

BB

[idosubaru]

this vehicle doesn't have a sunroof does it? is it a two door or four door? make sure it's not something else leaking.

 

i'd first peak underneath the car before assuming it's a hole and going through all the work. any hole big enough to pool water should be waving at you "hey, how are you today!!!" if you look under the car. be sure to look past the frame rail if that extends back and drops down in your way. might need to jack one side up (with all the precaustion of course...jack stands, etc). i'd just want to make sure it's a hole before pulling stuff out.

 

if it's rust, remove all the rust first. and....weld in new stuff. if it's the door sill that may be replaceable...but we'll tackle that once you confirm where it's coming from.

 

there's a Brian on http://www.xt6.net that has holes in his floor...not really holes so much as much of it was just gone. he had new inserts made for it. i actually thought YOU were him posting here at usmb when i saw the title of your thread and your user name "brian....barber". funny stuff.

[jeffast]

well like gary said just get new panels madel, or you could ghetto it by just screwing sheet metal over the hole and coating the rust with rust remover

[gbrand]

thats what old license plates are used for....to fix the "flintstone mobile" effect.

[brianbarber]

Minor update: I finally got the car up on wheel ramps and got under the floorboard where I saw the water. I can't see a visible hole, but there's black undercoating under the car and very little has flaked off under the back seat on the driver's side. I'm thinking that the next step is to pull up the carpet to see if anything is visible from the inside.

 

Just to answer another poster's questions. It's a four door wagon (see my profile above) with no sun roof. I'm starting to suspect the bottom corner of the front door on the driver's side. It's pretty rusty and starting to curl out.

 

I'll keep you posted, and if any of you have any direction on this, I'll gladly take it.

 

BB

[thealleyboy]

Brian:

If it is indeed, a rotted floorpan, and the car is otherwise solid, I would strip out the lower interior (seats, carpet, cargo side panels, etc) to get a good look. You should grind away the rusted areas and treat them with Extend, or some other rust converter. Riveting sheet metal is fine, and you can use seam sealer to waterproof the patch(es). Finally, paint the entire floorpan with Rustoleum to protect it long-term.

But based on your description, it doesn't sound like a typical floorboard rustout. These are usually pretty obvious, with the carpeting visible underneath. Check your rain gutter (behind the door frame trim) for debris. If its overflowing, the water could work its way around the weatherstripping around the glass.

I would take a waterhose to the windows/doors before stripping out the floorboard to eliminate other possible sources of water leaks. If the weatherstipping is tight, I would proceed to the floorpan. If the car has been in a lot of salt, you may be surprised at what you find.

Good luck,

John

[heartless]

just an FYI - water in the rear floorboards "could" be coming from a rusted out rear wheel well - have this problem myself. tires throw water up in the wheel well and some of it will make its way into the car, pooling in the rear floorboard.

a quick way to check for this - pop the cover from the seatbelt mounting area...if you see daylight anywhere in that area, under the plastic you have found your hole...