Front footwell carpets are soaked, where's the leak?

[Muddy1]

Hi folks,

I just noticed that the carpets on the front footwells of my 1997 Land Cruiser are just soaked, but I can't seem to see any water on the seats, the dash, etc.

I'm trying to figure out where the water is coming from.

I'm sure this is really common. Can you kindly please let me know what to look for and how to plug the leak?

Thanks so much,

Muddy1

 

[SpenserAK]

Commonly related to the sunroof drain system. Drain tubes exit into the rocker panels, where they then drain through a tiny slit to the ground, which is easily clogged. Tubes get backed up, sunroof tray gets overwhelmed, finds its way on top of the headliner and can come down the A-pillars onto the floor. Can be behind the trim, so not always obvious. That happened to mine on the passenger side, and the visible drips I could see were on the plastic trim on the side of the footwell. Can also be the windshield - pooling in the corners, then takes the same route down to the floor. I would check the rocker panel drain slits and clear them, also remove the footwell trim and see if you find any drips behind it - can peek behind the pillar trim as well. While looking for the leak, you can pull the floor drain plugs under carpet to avoid excess pooling.

In my case, I had a mix of both. Was getting water on passenger floor due to the sunroof drain issue, and on the driver floor due to the windshield. Also had water making it to the rear passenger pillar above the headliner and onto the floor. I resealed my windshield and went ahead and sealed my sunroof as I'm never going to use it, as well as clearing the rocker drain slits, and have been dry ever since.

There are a variety of threads with discussion on the topic and how to address it. Search function on the forum isn't great, so I suggest using Google for better results. Keywords + something like "80 ih8mud" or "site:forum.ih8mud.com"

 

[Kernal]

As above, been discusssed alot.

Search terms on this (80 series) forum:
Windshield Leak or Leaks,
Sunroof leak/leaks
Water leaks
Wet carpet
Cleaning sunroof drains

Main causes (pretty much as in previous post):

Sunroof drain pan being overwhelmed (too much rain) causing it to overflow made worse if drains are plugged and/or if the vehicle is parked on an incline or tilted to either side. A sagging sunroof glass can also allow more water to get past the gasket, overwhelming the drain pan's ability to empty it fast enough. Shims can be added to push the sunroof upward for a better seal.

Replacement Windshield not installed correctly (very common)

Hole in vapor (water) barrier behind door panels ie: if work was ever done
on the window motor or linkage for example and they failed to reseal the vapor barrier before reinstalling the door panel.

 

[Malleus]

If you're very lucky, the A/C condensate drain tube (which runs through the firewall under the glove box) is plugged and has to be cleared. If not, it's likely either the sunroof or windshield.

I have heard of people claiming their door seals were gone and rain getting in to the floor that way. That would be an easy failure mode to identify, just grab a hose and spray your door. Possible, but not probable, IME.

 

[BILT4ME]

Potential leaks:
Sunroof and drains
Windshield seal and not properly installed
Backed up AC drain
Leaking heater core (wetness smells like maple syrup)
Firewall grommets out of place
Rust holes around windshield
Rust holes in floor

These are probably in order of things to check for from most common to least common.