my car leaks- help!

[A18A]

for some reason after a night of heavy rain, my boot fills up with water, and the whole passenger sides carpet gets soaked in water, to the point where the ecu is sitting in a puddle of water (still goes, yay honda!). the drivers side stays dry though. I can hose the car down for a good hour or so and there not be a single drop of water inside the car. This flooding only happens after a really shitty weather day, and I wanna fix this before winter kicks in and makes things worse. I do know there is no water coming in from around the front & rear windscreens, the roof liner stays completely dry, all windows are shut & door panels remain dry, no dampness or anything from behind the dash. The only thing i can think of doing is replacing the seals that go around the doors & patching up a little bit of rust that's around the boot seal, which doesnt look like it would let a few litres of water in from just 1 night. any ideas?!?!?!

a few months ago this happened, i thought it was cause i had no drain plugs in the floor, and after driving it would splash water into the cabin, but even after installing some this still happened

this sucks cause now i have to pull the carpet out and wash it again cause it smells like feet

oh and there is also no trace of water between the boot & the carpet, so there has to be 2 leaks i think?

a clean garage for it is under construction! lol

[russiankid]

Antenna drain?

[w261w261]

Sorry that I don't know if you guys are left-hand or right-hand drivers. Anyway, is the side that's getting wet the same side as the radio antenna is on? If so, what might be happening is this: The sunroof drain goes down through the A pillar to a T connection by the base of the power antenna. The motor of the antenna has a drain, which is connected into one part of the T. If, in the past, the antenna has been changed, and that connection has been unplugged, things will rock along reasonably well until the drain tube gets plugged up where it exits from the car, under the splash shield in the front wheel well. When it does get plugged up, the water comes down from the sunroof, hits the blockage, and backs up until it spills out that unplugged tube, and exits down into the footwell.

Getting to the antenna motor is a PITA, necessitating removing the fuse block plus maybe other stuff. However, if you remove the blockage up front, it's probably good enough to stop the leak without having to get at the antenna motor. Clearing out the end of the roof drain up front is not as easy as doing it in the rear, unfortunately, but it can be done.

You can test this out by tilting the car slightly forward. Take off the side panel in the footwell, pull the carpet back, and then pour water into the sunroof scupper, so that it runs down the drain. Look inside and see if it is coming down the the side of the footwell. Check if it is coming out the drain by the wheel.

While you're into the sunroof drains, you might consider cleaning out the rear drains. When they get blocked, the water pools in the rear of the sunroof scupper, until you put on the brakes or park on a hill pointing down. Then the water runs down the back of your shirt, kersplash! The fix involves removing the trunk liner panels, and pulling out and unplugging the two drain tubes that run down the backs of the wheel wells. They have these little flapper valves on them, purpose unknown, so you can either get rid of them or clean them up and reinstall. Use a coffee can when you unplug the tubes so the water that's backed up won't drain into the trunk. Use a "panel removal tool" (it looks like a big screwdriver that's bent at the end with a forked tip) to get out the plastic plugs that hold the trunk liners on...using a screwdriver will mess things up.

[A18A]

oh i forgot to mention my car doesn't have a sunroof, or a antenna hole in the roof (from factory). the car is right hand drive. thanks anyway

[fijisac]

r u should its water and not coolant? if its coolant then u got a blown heater core. if its not coolant then i have no idea what it could be.

[Dr_Snooz]

My vote is the taillight gaskets.

[Hauntd ca3]

My vote is the taillight gaskets.

x2 for the boot leak.
are the drains from the plenum where the wipers poke out from clear?

[Civic Accord Honda]

My vote is the taillight gaskets.

he has them siliconed in . that was my guess to for the trunk part but i dont think they could leak enough to get to the ECU lol

[A18A]

yeah the gaskets (new ones from the looks of them) are siliconed to the lights, but i should really check if the nuts holding the lights in are tight. and yeah the drain thingies under the cowl where all nice and cleared out when i installed my windscreen

[A18A]

i just checked now, might be a wise idea to have more than 2 nuts holding the lights in. while adding more nuts to them, i felt water drip on my hand from the plastic boot lining, so i lifted up the boot lid seal, and hello MORE rust!! (N) which is where I'm hoping the water is getting in from. still doesnt explain how it's getting into the cabin part though?

[itzdave]

well i was getting water to pool up on the passenger side (im left hand drive) in front of the front seat. one day when i had my car up on a lift i noticed that part of the floorboard was crunched up and had a hole in it. so i temp fixed it with some silicone...

[AccordB20A]

did you put the bung in where the wires all come thru from the engine bay, i have a water leak there due to a hole in the bung where my amp cabling goes thru but on the other side and it drips on me feet when i corner (N)

i think you may need to undo a floor bung so the water falls out,i hope u have checked all your rubbers and your new windscreen install doesnt leak

[Rendon LX-i]

if you where take off the finder(Either side)...look at the bottom of the door by the side skirt...anywho in that area it tends to rust and water well end up getting in there causing it to soak your carpet...I had that problem and just cut it out with a die grinder and welded a new pic in there and a heavy coat of rust protector...

[A18A]

what the fuuuuck my passenger side flooded AGAIN, this is after i patched up the main rust hole around a door hinge, this is so gay! so i'm back to square one again. to top it off its pissing down lots right now and i dont have a garage for my car

[lostforawhile]

the front ones,clean the door seals, sounds strange but it works, they get sticky with crap over the years and quit sealing, also are you sure the windshield seal isn't leaking? the back ones,trunk seal, or taillight seals

[Rendon LX-i]

Door seals okay....have some one pore water with a hose and you get in the car with a light...THEN youll know wheres its at

[A18A]

the front ones,clean the door seals, sounds strange but it works, they get sticky with crap over the years and quit sealing, also are you sure the windshield seal isn't leaking? the back ones,trunk seal, or taillight seals

i'll try that, this problem is annoying me like hell. the boot does leak (rusty), but the car is parked facing towards a up hill & there's no evidence of water between the back seats & front of the car. I'm confident the rear windscreen isn't leaking, and I know the front one doesn't leak. so yeah when i get some better weather I'll try cleaning/replacing those door seals

[lostforawhile]

i'll try that, this problem is annoying me like hell. the boot does leak (rusty), but the car is parked facing towards a up hill & there's no evidence of water between the back seats & front of the car. I'm confident the rear windscreen isn't leaking, and I know the front one doesn't leak. so yeah when i get some better weather I'll try cleaning/replacing those door seals
if your car is facing uphill, water will run down the rain gutter,along the door seals and straight into the car, the windshield could be eaisily leaking at the base and you not know it, make sure the small water drain holes under the back edge of the hood aren't leaking, check under the dash,because remember water runs into the plastic cowl where the wiper motor is, if it's not draining right in there it can leak into the car under the dash

[A18A]

hmmm good thinking. never thought of really checking that cowl area. thanks for the info

[lostforawhile]

hmmm good thinking. never thought of really checking that cowl area. thanks for the infolook at the corners of the plastic cowl cover,the little rubber corners, are actually water channels,the water that runs down the side of the windshield, flows into those pieces,then it goes out holes in the inner fender,if they are missing water will run past them,down the seals and possibly into the car

[A18A]

yes i believe 1 of those rubber pieces are missing, must be the passenger side as thats where the water gets in!. cool i hope that's all the problem is. i'll clean the door seals anyway

[A18A]

are these the things we're talking about?
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/6481/1005467medium.jpg

[lostforawhile]

are these the things we're talking about?
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/6481/1005467medium.jpg

yep they aren't just a seal they are a water channel

[A18A]

i see. it doesn't look like it seals/channels anything that runs down the windscreen trim. should i silicone these things in place or something?

if the weather is better tomorrow i'll pull the carpet out and wash it (AGAIN!!!!!!) least it doesn't smell bad this time. then try find more leaks.

might as well try find out why my battery decides not to start the car after 2 days of sitting. yay the joys of owning a 20 year old car

[A18A]

okay i took off that cowl, theres absolutely no sign of water under there. the dust under there is very dry. i checked all the seals around doors & door frames, they all seem perfect to me, not brittle, ripped, sticky or anything like that. no rust under them either, except for under the boot seal, but thats a different leak to the main one i've currently got.
I pulled the carpet out & felt up behind the firewall mat, and on the drivers side it's dry, but on the passenger side it's all wet up behind there (which wasn't like that last time the car decided to become a foot spa). now the only rust i could find up front is this little piece here.

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/315/1005486medium.jpg

all the holes in the firewall are plugged up too. what's that drain pipe coming out of the firewall supposed to drain anyway?

sigh. so now i'm lost for ideas again. and every time i hold the hose over the car, even aiming it down all the lines and shit, i can never see any water getting in..

maybe i should go around all the areas where looms enter the car and things like that siliconing everything?!?!

[lostforawhile]

did you figure out that missing channel piece? if you follow the rain channel from the roof into it, you'll see how water flows through it, did you check the rubber drain hose coming out of the heat and ac blower motor on the passenger side? it connects to the drain for the ac condenser and then runs out the passenger side firewall,at least here in the US it does, when water gets into the blower, which is does while it's raining, it flows out that little rubber hose under the passenger side.

[A18A]

im guessing if that drain hose isnt connected to the blower then all the water will go straight down onto the carpet? if so, then that's probably something i forgot to connect back up when i built the car

[1ajs]

dude next time i rains sit in the car with the carpet out and look and see if u can see where its comming in

[A18A]

lol i might just do that actually

[senor honda]

I siliconed both sides of the foam gaskets that surround the outer tailights and
the 4 nuts/bolts holding the tailight to the shell.

That stopped some of the water from collecting at the sides where the outer metal fender (verticle) is fastened to the horizontal metal floor. The towel I put in there is still getting wet.

What is my next step? Thanks.-Bob