Rain water inside cabin, driver side
 

Hello,

I have water leaking in the cabin, driver side but only when it rains hard for a good while. The carpet becomes partially soaked after hours of rain. I never see water leaking down from the dash above. The water mainly collects between the driver’s seat and the rubber foot guard that is part of the carpet.

I took it to an auto glass specialist and they removed the windshield molding and saw the seal was from the factory and it was in good shape. They removed the cowl cover for the wipers and placed a running hose for 20 minutes or so and no leaks. They also poured water around the exposed windshield and also no leak.

They then opened the sunroof and in the drain channel or cowl placed the running hose for about 10 minutes. All the water drained out from both sides of the car so the drains are working fine and not clogged.

Later I thought I had found the problem. The driver side break light lens was damaged (from the previous owner) and the chunk that was missing was covered with tape. I purchased a used brake light assembly and the leak stopped when it rained.

Then one day it rained hard and for a while the car was parked and the carpet again became wet on the driver’s side only. However it was much less wet then before and the area were it becomes wet is different. It appears as there were 2 leaks. I already found one. I partially removed the carpet as you see in the photos but since all the undercarriage is painted there is difficult to see where the water is coming from.

As any one had and similar experiences or might give an idea?

Thanks

It sounds like you may have a small leak.

You may want to remove the driver's seat and pull up the carpet for the front driver's side. Make sure everything is completely dry then line the floor with newspapers. Use a hose on the car to get an idea of where the water is coming from by looking for the wet spots on the newspaper.

Two thoughts for you.
1) Looked like some aftermarket wiring along the side, by chance does any of that go under the hood. There is a "boot" around the wire harness as it goes through the firewall. If like the 95, between the booster and the fender.
2) Door seal on the drivers side.

Either way you're down to either the newspaper method or baby powder. I've used the latter most of the time, most of the time you can get it to stay on vertical surfaces. You are sure it is not coming from under the car as you drive....can you send some of that rain to NC, we could use a little.