Soaking wet passenger front carpeting

[Flight-ER-Doc]

Hi, all...

This past weekend I discovered that the carpeting on the front passenger side was soaking wet....with no obvious cause (no spills, no evidence of a leak). Is there some AC drain on that side I cant see?

Any other ideas?

Thanks

 

[smith]

Do you have a sunroof? If so the drain on that side is probably stopped up.

 

[Trainmaster]

Heater plenum has a drain hose too...

 

[JollyRoger]

I had the same issue when I bought my 2010 (was a few years old). Yes, the sunroof drain can be causing this, but the problem I had was much easier to fix. Took me a while to find it, and the entire front passenger carpet took a while to dry out and also had some mold to deal with under the carpet. After removing the plastic kick panel by the passenger's feet, I noticed that there is an access panel about 2"x4" that is supposed to be plugged with a rubber insert. If I remember correctly, it's partially hidden behind the computer that's mounted down there. The rubber plug had fallen out and was laying just below it. Without that plug, water being thrown up by the right front tire was making it's way into the cabin and soaking the carpet. Once I reinserted the insert plug, the problem went away. Not sure what caused it to fall out in the first place. Hasn't been a problem since.

I tried to find a picture or diagram, but couldn't. Sorry

If you see the plug/insert correctly in place, then I'd move to the sunroof drain issue next. Good luck!

 

[hawkman71]

Where does the windshield drain to in these Expeditions? I had a similar problem in a Dodge Caravan. Actually, the water was sloshing around behind the dash. Turns out bits of leaves had plugged the drain tube. Wasn't a big deal to fix.

 

[Muddy Bean]

That kickpanel rubber grommet...I spray foamed it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Flight-ER-Doc]

Thanks. I'll check the sunroof drain. It turns out the AC evap was bad, the dealer replaced it this week.

 

[Dennis_H]

My son's Escape had a sunroof drain clog and soaked the inside of his vehicle. I found that running string trimmer line down the drain cleaned it out and no more issues. Didn't want to use air compressor in case it blew the line off a connector. Do that as preventative maintenance now.

 

[smith]

Just notice yesterday that my passenger carpet is wet. Don't have a sunroof and the rubber grommet is in place so now what should I look for?

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

Just notice yesterday that my passenger carpet is wet. Don't have a sunroof and the rubber grommet is in place so now what should I look for?

Check the rubber accordion conduit between the door and the A pillar (by the door hinges). It is a press-fit into the A-pillar and door, and if dislodged, it can allow water to run inside the A-pillar and onto the carpet (behind the inside floor kick panel). Also check the conduit for rips / tears / cuts - it has numerous folds so you will have to examine each fold carefully.

Also check the body mounted rubber strip to ensure it is firmly seated on the body. The weather strip is a press-fit, and if loose, can be pulled off and squeezed with your fingers to tighten up the attachment point. If loose, or dislodged or torn, it can car allow water to run behind it, to the bottom of the body, then onto the floor carpet.

 

[smith]

The rubber strip on the body is also OK. Just checked the conduit between the door and it is OK. What is next?

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

The rubber strip on the body is also OK. Just checked the conduit between the door and it is OK. What is next?

Ford has thin, rectangular drain openings at the bottom of the doors - and they put a small plastic cap over the drain opening (why I don’t know - stupid).

The black plastic caps pop out easily with a small screwdriver (such as a slotted jeweler’s screwdriver). Remove the caps and see if there is any debris build-up. If so, use the screwdriver or the non-clasp end of a plastic zip tie to clear the clog.

If the drain holes clog, water can build-up in the door bottom, then overflow behind the door panel and onto the floor.

 

[Trainmaster]

Check the drain hose from the heater plenum. It's clogged with leaves. That's your problem.

 

[smith]

Thanks. Stupid question where is the heater plenum drain hose located?

 

[Trainmaster]

It's the hose that the air conditioning condensate is supposed to drain from. I know that's no help in November. Poke around under the car in the area where the dash/heater lies. It should be a short hose. Perhaps someone can provide a better answer. When you find it, run a wire up it to free up the mung. Leaves and dirt get in the vents below the windshield, rot and clog the hose.

 

[urslo]

I have the same problem on my 2017 Limited Expedition. Currently i am riding around with all the plastic floor trim removed and a round plastic stopper plug removed from the wiring trough in the rocker panel area.
I discovered this problem vacuuming the front drivers floor and noticed the carpet was wet.
I suspect that its leaking from behind the rear drivers side door, up high somewhere, because itll get the carpet wet under the rear seat behind the driver. The rear floor is much higher than the drivers side floor.
The rocker panel trough would fill up with water and the carpet would soak it up.
My next step is to remove the rear plastic side panel holding the headliner up. Its the big one. It might be a pinch weld on the side to roof panel (colored chalking compound, seam sealer)

Good Luck,

Ron

 

[jkginn3rd]

I had a similar issue in my 08. My issue was caused by the rear window washer feed line coming loose. I filled my washer fluid up and notice a couple days later that it was empty. Thought my wife had gotten trigger happy with the windshield washer, but then noticed the passenger side carpet was wet. I filled the washer fluid back up and left the doors open with some fans going to help dry out the carpet. At this point, I didn't put 2 and 2 together. About a week goes by and my wife tells me the carpet is wet again so I go take a look and while I was poking around, I noticed that once again the washer fluid was empty. Still not putting it together, I ask the wife why she keeps emptying the washer fluid and she tells me she wasn't but she did notice that when she tries to wash the rear window, no water comes out. Light Bulb! I did little Googling and found that the rear washer feed line runs down the passenger side. So I removed the passenger side kick panel and just as the floor starts to curve up, behind the wires and computer, there it was. the line had come apart and when she would try to use the rear sprayer it would create a siphon and empty the washer fluid into the passenger side floorboard. Anyway, just thought I would share and possibly give another place to look.

 

[MV828]

Thanks for all the info, I was able to use it and decided to remove the passenger side finder. It turns out that over the years leaves and debris had gathered from the cowl and stopped up the drain for the firewall. We were able to use a wire coat hanger and the water hose to clean it out. I was amazed by the amount of debris that we cleaned out! No more wet floor and a dry area for the new fuse box I installed! Hope this helps someone!
I'm going to attach some photos.

 

[ilayvonne]

Hi, all...

This past weekend I discovered that the carpeting on the front passenger side was soaking wet....with no obvious cause (no spills, no evidence of a leak). Is there some AC drain on that side I cant see?

Any other ideas?

Thanks

I'll bet it's the heater core, they can be known to do that.

 

[Flight-ER-Doc]

I'll bet it's the heater core, they can be known to do that.

Turns out it was the moonroof drain, but thanks