Yesterday while my girlfriend was driving she was told by a friend, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, that there is rain intrusion in the car. Apparently there is a drip coming from the area underneath the glove box. She said that a drip was very slow while the rain outside was pouring, we've had tropical storm come through. I have not seen the car yet, but today after work I observed the windshield completely fogged up. At this point it was way to dark to observe anything, but I did install a DampRid for overnight. I will not be able to check the car out until Monday due to my work schedule. Has anyone had any issues like this with their vehicle?
Leak
- Thread starter Black200
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bloc
SILVER Star
I seem to remember a few people reporting water leakage into the recirculate vent in the cowl in very heavy rain.. That would put water exactly where the passenger described it. The sunroof drains, if clogged, would cause overflow into the headliner and down the a/b/c pillars. I think it would have trouble coming out from under the dash.
I haven't dealt with it but that might give you some terms to search for.
I haven't dealt with it but that might give you some terms to search for.
bloc
SILVER Star
On most vehicles yes to the AC drain pan, but not on ours with the condenser and drains both being centrally located in the dash.
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I cleaned up the sun roof drains and we have not had strong enough rain since then, so I do not know if it's working or not. Hosing it down with water doesn't have same effect.
Thanks for the response. I guess we will be going through this together. When you cleaned your sun roof drains, did you remove any material, leaves or debris? Mine were spotless up top and i poured water into it and a lot of water rushed out of the frame under the A pillar (Maybe I'll get a paint pan or something and try to catch all the water that goes through to see if it's the same amount i poured in). I went ahead and tried to run a lawn trimmer line through the drain hole, but could only get it to fish to about 6-12 inches past the top of the front fender. I didn't feel like that was super helpful in troubleshooting, because I assume if I have a problem with a separated/stopped up line flooding my floorboard, that's exactly where it would be messed up.
Also, maybe something to check, but I found that there was definitely water in the black panel under the glovebox that covers all those electronics. May remove that to see if you have water there as well, it doesn't seem like it could be the sunroof drains if there is water on that panel. Just four finger clips in recesses along the front of that panel to remove it. It has 2 wires as well (one for a light and one for a microphone) that unclip fairly easy with a small flathead screw driver. I suggest checking that just to sync up our t-shooting, if you don't have water there i assume we are chasing two different rabbits. But if you had a passenger notice the drip, seems like there must be water there pooling in that panel then dripping down, like mine. My plan is to remove that panel and put a piece of cardboard or something there to see where the drip is coming from and try to trace up. I couldn't find anything on the firewall that felt remotely damp, but it had probably been a few days since it had rained before I noticed the wet floorboard.
Also, in water remediation, it is not difficult to remove all the trim and to pull up the carpet in the front floorboard. Just pull up the kickplate with the lighted lexus panel, remove the black tray mentioned above, then remove a black clip in the far upper right corner behind glovebox. It is just pushed down over a metal stud. Unscrew the clip a little to loosen then pry it up, it's not actually threaded on. Then you can remove the trim piece that was just forward of the kickplate you already removed. Has 2-3 clips, push the panel towards the center console to unclip (you can see all the clips to know when they are disengaged), then pull the panel towards the rear of the car to clear the stud in the rear. Now your carpet is pretty exposed, there are 3-4 clips along the outer frame member, just use a small screw driver to pry open the clip and the plastic part of the clip attached to the carpet will come right out. The only thing left holding the carpet in is the seat, the center console and a few pieces of velcro on the ends up under the dash, so you can pry it back as needed or shove something under it so that it can air out and dry. There are a bunch of wiring harnesses bolted to the bottom of the A Pillar that are now exposed as well. I'd make sure all that stuff is as dry as possible, between those and all the ECUs under the dash, those are the places we really don't want any water.
Also, maybe something to check, but I found that there was definitely water in the black panel under the glovebox that covers all those electronics. May remove that to see if you have water there as well, it doesn't seem like it could be the sunroof drains if there is water on that panel. Just four finger clips in recesses along the front of that panel to remove it. It has 2 wires as well (one for a light and one for a microphone) that unclip fairly easy with a small flathead screw driver. I suggest checking that just to sync up our t-shooting, if you don't have water there i assume we are chasing two different rabbits. But if you had a passenger notice the drip, seems like there must be water there pooling in that panel then dripping down, like mine. My plan is to remove that panel and put a piece of cardboard or something there to see where the drip is coming from and try to trace up. I couldn't find anything on the firewall that felt remotely damp, but it had probably been a few days since it had rained before I noticed the wet floorboard.
Also, in water remediation, it is not difficult to remove all the trim and to pull up the carpet in the front floorboard. Just pull up the kickplate with the lighted lexus panel, remove the black tray mentioned above, then remove a black clip in the far upper right corner behind glovebox. It is just pushed down over a metal stud. Unscrew the clip a little to loosen then pry it up, it's not actually threaded on. Then you can remove the trim piece that was just forward of the kickplate you already removed. Has 2-3 clips, push the panel towards the center console to unclip (you can see all the clips to know when they are disengaged), then pull the panel towards the rear of the car to clear the stud in the rear. Now your carpet is pretty exposed, there are 3-4 clips along the outer frame member, just use a small screw driver to pry open the clip and the plastic part of the clip attached to the carpet will come right out. The only thing left holding the carpet in is the seat, the center console and a few pieces of velcro on the ends up under the dash, so you can pry it back as needed or shove something under it so that it can air out and dry. There are a bunch of wiring harnesses bolted to the bottom of the A Pillar that are now exposed as well. I'd make sure all that stuff is as dry as possible, between those and all the ECUs under the dash, those are the places we really don't want any water.
I'm having the same issue unfortunately. My passenger floor is damp from all of the rain. I too have noticed that there seems to be water seeping from the square hole closest to the center of the dash where that panel under the glove box sits in while the clips attach it to the bottom of the glove box. I'm beginning to think that @bloc might be spot on in that there might be a leak where the cowl sits outside and allows water to get inside via the circulate vent. Was watching some videos of older tundras with a similar issue and it ended up being the cowl clips needing to be sealed up water tight. My cabin filter is dry so perhaps water is running around it somehow. Does any know what undertaking removing the cowl for inspection is? I assume its removing the windshield wipers and the screw on the driver side and they are just fastened with clips? Hopefully it stays dry over the weekend for me to attempt this. Will definitely report back if I'm able to track it down.
This would probably actually be best case scenario compared to broken sunroof drains and leaky windshields. There is a video of a guy who removed the windshield from a newer lx570 on the forum. He removed the cowl in the video. IIRC, it was similar to your guess. Might look for the video and watch.
Thanks so much for the tip. I found the video and will check it out.
It's actually pretty easy, the hardest part is getting the wiper arms off, then can get stuck on after a long time. There's a plastic cover over the nut that pops off, then you remove the nut (14mm wrench IIRC), then just wiggle the arms back and forth some and they will let go from the conical shaft. Good time to install some new wiper blades!
Take off the cover over the radiator (push in on the center of the fasteners, then lift them off), then the side pieces that have the gasket for the hood (they pop off with snaps. Then the cowl has a fastener at each end, and the rest is just snap clips, be gentle.
bloc
SILVER Star
Please post link to that video.. I was trying to find it a while back and no joy.
Also note that someone here found a gap in the body sealing under their front driver side fender.. looked like a factory oversight. Just meant wet floors with everything else working perfectly. They had to remove the fender to find it.
Here’s a post with the video.
Post in thread 'Windshield moulding removal'
Windshield moulding removal - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/windshield-moulding-removal.1091502/post-11944116
I’ve read the threads about the fender seam, I think they were both newer models. Mostly just being optimistic since removing the fender would be low on my list of desired t-shooting steps.
Post in thread 'Windshield moulding removal'
Windshield moulding removal - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/windshield-moulding-removal.1091502/post-11944116
I’ve read the threads about the fender seam, I think they were both newer models. Mostly just being optimistic since removing the fender would be low on my list of desired t-shooting steps.
Editing this post to not throw people off:
Well, it rained here all last night and I have a floorboard full of water again. At the office now under the parking deck. Going to go out in a few minutes and see if i can't figure out where it's coming from. It seems to be coming from somewhere in theA Pillar firewall and not from the firewall A pillar.
Well, it rained here all last night and I have a floorboard full of water again. At the office now under the parking deck. Going to go out in a few minutes and see if i can't figure out where it's coming from. It seems to be coming from somewhere in the
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bloc
SILVER Star
Thanks for that. First order of business should be checking whether there are body drain plugs you can pull to get the water out.. I keep meaning to check on mine whether they exist to help people deal with this when it happens.
Here are a couple pictures. I've revised my theory that the water is coming from the firewall. The mat under the carpet is the wettest thing at this point and it's wettest near the front of the passenger seat (see arrow). But i believe this is just where the water ends up as it rolls down. The black mat against the firewall closer to the center console is the only damp area on the firewall as far as i can tell and most of the horizontal parts of the carpet are damp, but not really any of the carpet heading up the firewall. The plugs along the A Pillar are bone dry, but there is water along the frame channel in front of the door (i assume because this is the lowest point of the interior).
"Luckily" it seems like there is a small enough amount of water, that the carpet/pad has essentially absorbed most of it and there is no more pooling into worse areas. This was after about 12 hours of steady not so hard rain (local weather says half inch of rain over last 12 hours).
Does this seem to help confirm that it's the passage between the firewall for the cabin filter/air intake? I can look at removing the cowl this weekend to see how well all this lines up.
WARNING: Before anyone goes pulling their carpet up the way that mine is pulled up, know that the "corner" in front of the passenger seat where the carpet turns off the seat shelf 90 degrees towards the floor is a sensitive area. On mine it's already torn/broken there. This may be allowing my carpet to flex more ably than one that is not torn. Be careful when pulling your carpet back.
"Luckily" it seems like there is a small enough amount of water, that the carpet/pad has essentially absorbed most of it and there is no more pooling into worse areas. This was after about 12 hours of steady not so hard rain (local weather says half inch of rain over last 12 hours).
Does this seem to help confirm that it's the passage between the firewall for the cabin filter/air intake? I can look at removing the cowl this weekend to see how well all this lines up.
WARNING: Before anyone goes pulling their carpet up the way that mine is pulled up, know that the "corner" in front of the passenger seat where the carpet turns off the seat shelf 90 degrees towards the floor is a sensitive area. On mine it's already torn/broken there. This may be allowing my carpet to flex more ably than one that is not torn. Be careful when pulling your carpet back.
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bloc
SILVER Star
Yeah your cowl cover needs to come out. I wouldn’t think the water would be that far over toward the center if it were the body seam lacking sealant.. at least in the same way as pictured by the guy that found that defect.
