cybrenergy

I am finding that when it rains pretty hard (which it was doing here this week), that I am getting some water coming in my 4Runner. The area that seems to be getting wet is the carpet along the driver's side door. The part where the carpet meets the plastic cover near the door sill is where it's getting wet.

Now I think that this is all coming from when I had my alarm installed at Circuit City. I had so many problems with them and ended up getting my money back when it was all said and done.

After doing some research, the only entry point that I can guess that it may be coming in is through the firewall. When the guys installed the alarm, they had to poke a hole in the rubber grommet that is in place on the firewall. The grommet let's a few wires run from the inside of the truck to the engine bay.

When the truck is sitting in the rain, it does not get wet. The wetness only seems to come when I have been driving in heavy rain. Do you all think that water could be coming in through there? I also pulled up the carpet on the driver's side and noticed that there are plugs under the carpet, which are all intact and tighly sealed.

We are not talking about a flood here, but the carpet is wet enough where you can see it's wet, and it's wet to the touch.

I don't want any electronics to get wet or to get a mildew smell. I have put some silicone on the grommet to hopefully seal the hole they they have poked, but have not had time to really sit down and look at it very closely yet.

BTOWN4RUNNER

I have a bunch of wires coming through the same grommet, but I don't have the water problem. I can almost bet that water is not coming in there. It is coming in around the door sill. I would check there. Maybe take that plastic piece off and see what is under it. It might not hurt to put some silicone caulk in there to seal it and see what happens. Goodluck. :fireman:

cybrenergy

I took the plastic piece off on the door sil and the rubber seal looks really good there. I didn't notice anything wrong. I really just can't figure out where the hell it's coming from!! I really want to avoid taking it to the dealer b/c I am afraid they may try to blame it on the alarm install. I also find that 9 times out of 10 when I take it to the dealer they end up screwing something up. The last time I took it there they put a nice nick in my paint (when installing my running boards).

If anybody has had this problem please let me know (water leaking).

cybrenergy

up

Echo5059

Cybrenergy,

I have the same model 4Runner and I recently took it to the dealership to have the weatherstripping around the front passenger side door and rear drivers side passenger door replace. I initially noticed that my front passenger side door was not closing without slamming the hell out of it. I started to investigate and discovered that the weatherstripping that attaches around the door jamb was coming off. I tried to push it back on but it appeared to be too short as it would come off in another location. I took it to the dealership and they said it was a factory defect in that the weather stripping was too short. They examined all four of the doors and the rear drivers side door was also defective. I had to bring my 4Runner back the next day because they had to order the parts. They replaced the weatherstripping under warranty. Maybe your leak is the result of the same defect. I never noticed any water leaking but I have not had the vehicle more than a month and I have not driven it in the rain.

I have to take it back to the dealership again to have them replace the plastic trim piece on the floor of the door jamb because they stripped all of the screws and it does not stay down tight.

I hope this helps you out. Additionally, it should be covered under warranty if you have had your 4Runner less than 12 months.

Gadget

I have the same problem.

If you open the hood when it is raining hard you will see that all the water that collects in and on the cowl drains into the engine compartment at the ends near the fenders. On mine it drips right directly onto the big gromment where all the wires run through. I think stock it seals fine and is not a problem, but I have so much extra stuff going through that gromment on both sides it just simple lets it go right into the cab.

I still have some more things to run through the firewall so I just have a temporary fix for now. I took a piece of 90 MPH tape and stuck it just above the gromment and left the lower edge resting on the wire bundle. It acts like a defector for all the watter draining down on the gromment. It hits in the middle of the tape and is deflected away from the gromment and none of it gets into the cab.

When I finally get done with all my mods, like that is ever going to happen, then I will seal off each gromment with some stuff from the radio shop that is like play-dow. Just take a big glob of it and mash it against the firewall and wire bundle and it will seal off anything. You will see this stuff on the roofs of police cars where the cable for the light bar goes through the roof. Crude, but it works.

Gadget

www.GadgetOnline.com

DavidO06

Hey, i had the same problem with my 4Runner. It turns out that it was the gromet in the firewall. I had run a bunch of wires through it and you could see a gap in it. I just put a bunch of silicon in there and it fixed the problem. Unforutatly today, i found out that my windshield leaks at the top of the passenger side. That is becuase i recently had it replaced. Err.... But anyway, the silicon should fix your problem.

cybrenergy

Thanks for your replies guys! I really feel much better now and am glad that I can put my mind at ease. It was driving me crazy the few times that it happened!

I swear, don't let Circuit City install anything on your vehicles! Maybe it's just my branch, but I was totally unsatisfied with every aspect of their service!

nrgetic99

All good points but I have now two grommets, the factory one and one I added.

I did not add additional sealer to them but I am struggling to see why a grommet that high up on the firewall could get enough water for this to be a problem.

I have never got any water in ...

...look under the hood next time it happens and see if the area around the grommet is wt...I suspect it is not.

Try door seals/weatherstripping or if all else fails, run it by the stealer when its wet.

cybrenergy

The underside of that grommet was wet and there was a trace of some run-off near that area too. I checked all the weatherstripping and didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary. Like I said, I looked at EVERYTHING that I can imagine and this is the only thing that I could come up with. The fact that some other folks have had this problem, is enough validation for me that this is my culprit.