OMG SWAMP WATER FLOORBOARD!! anyone know how to fix this? (pic inside)

[SLiguykyle]

Hello zilvia. so last night here in socal, we got some rain for the first time in a while haha, first time since i picked up my coupe. It's an '89 KAE coupe so i expected it's fair share of problems and messiness anyways, but wtf i've never had this much water on the inside of a car (even my track car with left over holes from the old bolt-in-cage setup doesn't get this bad in the rain) i soaked up as much of it as i can, and i noticed it was all a pretty rusty color. almost like transmission fluid, but its water. i thought it might have been a cracked hose in the heater core but it's not coolant that i can tell, it seems to be just water. (brown might be color from the 23 year old brown carpet? no idea...)
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w70/SLiguykyle/1989%20DD%20coupe/20120713_115913.jpg
I also noticed that when i make a LEFT turn, water "waterfalls" out from behind my glovebox all over the floorboard... :faint: please help me figure out where this is coming from and how to stop it!!! any advice on where to check or where to start checking will be greatly utilized and even more so appreciated. thanks!

[Agamemnon]

I'm not sure how the S13's were designed, but you may want to see if there any drain tubes attached to your sunroof assembly if you have one.

My S14 had a drainage tube that popped of the sunroof frame and water would pour out of the hole that the switch mounted in.

[SLiguykyle]

yeah i don't have a sunroof, which is why this caught me off guard. from what i can tell, there's no holes in the firewall for it to leak through either. is it possible that maybe the lower portion under where the windshield wiper beams go could be rusted through and leaking in that way??? how would i check that without removing everything?(seeing as i only have basic house tools where i'm at right now, and they don't take kindly to working on cars here) *the investigation continues* thanks for the input, agamemnon. any advice on this is greatly appreciated.

[Agamemnon]

Check the weatherstriping and seals around the door jam. Maybe they have gone bad and allowed water to enter the cabin and it followed the A-pillar down to that spot.

The sad news is that it's a 23 year old car and its probably been doing that for a while now. You're gonna have to start taking everything apart and inspect for damage and rust.

Good luck

[hulkster_s13]

Rust under wiper arms. One of my s13s had water leaking on that side.

[SLiguykyle]

Rust under wiper arms. One of my s13s had water leaking on that side.

:( i was reeeeeaally hoping you wouldnt say that hahaha... worst nightmare. maybe that rhd swap doesnt sound so pointless now.....

guess i will have to look into it when i get back home.... updates in about 2 weeks...

[driftnoob333]

did you washed car before this happen ???

[Prozac]

I had a rust hole the flooded my PSide floorboard thought was heater core , it wasnt , another storm / rusthole / ECU . Observe and Report!

[SLiguykyle]

so i tore the carpet out of the car, tore the glovebox off... i also inspected the firewall as best i could. didn't find any rust in the frame/body BUT i did notice that if i run the A/C, the water does as pictured above.... is there an easy way for me to check the A/C system or the condensation tube or something? i don't know the A/C system as well as i do the rest of the car. where should i be looking if the water only drips when the a/c is on for about 25mins+? any help is appreciated. thanks guys!

in refference to driftnoob333, yes i washed the car before with complete success (zero leak)

[feito]

look for cracks on the evaporator housing. Idk if this one requires it, but some require a rubber elbow pointing towards the ground on the engine bay side. I think it depends on the drain pipe angle.

[SLiguykyle]

look for cracks on the evaporator housing. Idk if this one requires it, but some require a rubber elbow pointing towards the ground on the engine bay side. I think it depends on the drain pipe angle.


yes the rubber elbow is there. but what's the easiest way to check the it on the cab side? the hose is there, but idk how to see the other side of it because the big plastic box things from the a/c system are in the way. help on diagnosing this? is there any DIY install pictures i can look at for the AC system or anything? need to figure out how to physically see it all...

should i be able to see all this by just laying on the floorboard and looking up?

[iveexcaped3]

honestly sounds like your heater core, by pass the two hoses going to the heater core from the engine side and turn on your ac see if it does that. is your radiator low on fluids?

[SLiguykyle]

honestly sounds like your heater core, by pass the two hoses going to the heater core from the engine side and turn on your ac see if it does that. is your radiator low on fluids?

radiator is good to go. i thought it was heater core at first too, because i've seen that happen before on several cars, but what's coming out of wherever it's leaking is ice cold. seems a little weird to me, at heater core leaks are usually pretty toasty aren't they? i may try to bypass it soon just for giggles to see if it helps though. thanks for the input. any other ideas?

[S14DB]

Does your Blower motor work?
Air comes in though the cowl. Into the blower then over to the evaporator then though the heater core.
If it's rain water the compartment with the blower motor should be full of water. If it's the evaporator drain clogged then that would be full.
I think you have debris in your cowl allowing(directing) water into the fresh air intake. The blower motor compartment is filling up then dumping out the recirculation intake when you corner.

Way to much water to be evaporator drain. You didn't mention using the AC ether.

[SLiguykyle]

Does your Blower motor work?
Air comes in though the cowl. Into the blower then over to the evaporator then though the heater core.
If it's rain water the compartment with the blower motor should be full of water. If it's the evaporator drain clogged then that would be full.
I think you have debris in your cowl allowing(directing) water into the fresh air intake. The blower motor compartment is filling up then dumping out the recirculation intake when you corner.

Way to much water to be evaporator drain. You didn't mention using the AC ether.

yes the blower motor works great. how can i tell which compartments are which, and do i have to take the dashboard out in order to see everything? where is the cowl located? thank you. (sorry for all the stupid questions. most i've done with A/C system is take it out, but i'd rather like to keep it on this car.)

[blueshark123]

the cowl is that big plastic piece across the windshield where the windshield wipers are take it off to see the condition under it.

[jr_ss]

Pull your wipers off and then remove the black cowling below them. This will give you a better view of this area. If you want to be sure it's leaking there, have someone dump a cup or more of water into it and see if it leaks into the interior.

[ShadowMan]

Well unless your having to fill your radiator up everyday, it's not the heater core. If it only does this when running the Ac after 25 minutes then I'd start there. I know you dont want to but you might as well just pull the dash, chances are you will have to any to fix the problem, and having it out will make this much easier on you.

[godsmack]

i say it's a mixture of all the above. debree in cowl and some of that debree going through system and cloging up the drain. or another chance since it only happens after 25min is that you're low on refrigerant and the evap coil is icing up. or it's clogged and still icing up. good luck.

[S14DB]

yes the blower motor works great. how can i tell which compartments are which, and do i have to take the dashboard out in order to see everything? where is the cowl located? thank you. (sorry for all the stupid questions. most i've done with A/C system is take it out, but i'd rather like to keep it on this car.)

Closest to the A pillar with the cylinder on the bottom is the blower motor. The intake is on top of it.
Next to the left of it is the Evaporator box.
Left of that is the heater core box.
Then behind the center is the distribution manifold.

You can get to most of it under the dash depending on how flexible you are. With all the water I don't know if you want to however.

I do agree with the other posts to pull your cowl open and clean out all the crap in it.