Jeresh

Have owned this car for about a year. In March, noticed water collecting on the floor board at the drivers side. Ignored it. Thought it might be unusually wet shoes.

Yesterday, same thing. Pulled up floor mat and the spongy material underneath the mat was saturated.

It was warm yesterday (Chicago) and had the climate system on Auto and A/C was pushing cold air and seemingly fine.

Apparently this has been happening for a while. When I pulled the mats a couple of metal pieces ( 2" Square and likely fastners) were totally rusted through and no longer connected to whatever they were connected to.

Any ideas? I am thinking leak in the A/C, I don't know the system route to know that the A/C is the culprit. It doesn't appear to be coming from around the firewall, but, water seeks it's level and perhaps the spot immediately under the front of the driver's seat is the lowest spot.

(finally, it was raining the day I put it in the garage last . . . I have searched the web and saw that their might be drains I need to clean out?)

Thanks in advance.

Jeresh

OK. Found several places where the water leak subject was broached. Looks like one of three places. I think mine is the drains in the wheel wells . . . one drain was tucked behind the wheel well shroud. Still, i want to check the evaporator drains in the cabin. Anyone have advice on removing the accelerator pedal stop? looks like three bolts mounting the bracket to the firewall, but I don't want to remove if there's a better way.

Thanks.

silverd2

NOPE...NOT the wheel well drains...those clogged can NOT leak to the interior. In fact those drains are not even essential, as they only drain the strut tower areas, which if clogged will overflow into the center of the fresh air plenum where the only important exterior drain is...a large one under the fan.

That center rain drain can aggravate, but not cause, your real problem, which is the AC evap drain in the interior.

Look this over...all the way down (to cover rain drains, too) >>

audipages Unclogging the A8 Evaporator Drains

Jeresh

Hey Silver, I don't think the wheel well drains were clogged, that was the problem. They were draining fine, it's that they were depositing the water behind the shroud. I still might be wrong, but everything I saw pointed to that.

For instance, passenger side was always dry, and on the driver's side, the console partition (the one that reaches under the gas pedal stop (that I'd still appreciate some guidance on how to remove) was dry too, but from some moisture that seeped over from the main floor board mat (which was totally saturated). I'll still work to unclogged the evap drains.

ThaboTheWuff

Not that this is any help but when my D2 got about 1/2 inch of water and mud inside the cabin and we had to pull out all the carpet and seats and literally scoop out the mud I noticed that on the passengers side there was a wooden cover, wooden! Anyway after it getting wet for a number of days it seem to dry out ok even though it was warped slightly. Anyway 6 years later the car is still running and no electrical gremlins although the mud did trash $6000 worth of other stuff. (tranny, alternator, fuel pump, fan clutch, radiator clogged ......)

Jeresh

Well, I've had the front mats and the side covers (exposing the evap drains on either side) and there hasn't been any water in the cabin since I redirected the wheel well drain on the driver's side from behind the wheel well shroud.

Based on when this would happen (car washes, driving or even sitting in rain), and where it was wet and where it wasn't (most wet on the driver's side and very little if any on the passenger side, and didn't seem to be coming from the evap drains as that area was dry when I removed the mats . . . and no sign of water running down recently at all), it must be the wheel-well drains.

Good news and bad news, right? How could the water get in the cabin in from running behind the WW. When I get the time, will pull the well shroud and see.

thanks for the notes.

silverd2

I'd like to know if/when you find the source ... have never heard of this being the culprit before.

Maybe a grommet for wiring, hood release cable, etc pulled out of cabin wall ... IF there's even a water pathway to that behind the wheel well liner(?)

Keep us posted.

albundy3670

Search these 2 posts.
The Mystery of the Clogged A/C Evaporator Drain Solved!
and
help on how to un-clog the drain on the firewall
Also those cowl drains clog if you park under trees.
I have had those clog before.
Good Luck!