RubyRhod

After a moderate/heavy rain, the driver's side carpet becomes damp with water. It's not even noticeable with the floor mat in place but the wetness sure does linger for a while.

I did enlarge the driver's side firewall grommet for a power cable, but it stays dry. The windshield and seals are intact - I don't find water anywhere besides this portion of carpet. The leak occurs even when parked so I don't suspect any compromised floor drain (I've never opened any). All door seals seem fine too.

Now to my main suspect: the little-known sunroof drain. I cleared the left side line with compressed air yesterday -- no crud to account for. It rained today and the tube was draining water - but where exactly does it go? The sunroof drain tube fits into a drain hole in the floor but past that hole, I might have a clog. Any insight here?

My next course of action is to completely pull up the driver's side carpet, completely dry the floor, then line the floor with paper towels, then spray a hose onto the exterior until I can find interior spotting.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Try something more simple before that. Just run water into the sunroof tubes and make sure it is exiting the vehicle.

Also, how do you know the windshield is not leaking? That is a common leak point.

98SR54RUNNER

iTrader: (1)

Check your firewall again. After running some lines through mine I had the same problem and couldn't find it for the life of me, even after checking and re-checking the firewall.

I could never tell there was leak until hard rains came and the underside of my mat was wet. Even then, only the smell alerted me to even look for anything. It wasn't until I took a garden hose and tested it that I could see a clear bead of water running through to the floor. Some RTV Black and back in business.

RubyRhod

Pat your self on the back, good sir! Leak status: resolved.

When I pulled up the carpet this afternoon, I dried the area and removed the smelly padding. Then I folded the carpet back onto the driver seat (to keep the floor area clear).

Sure enough, it's raining tonight. So I ran outside with a flashlight and caught the leak in the act! The water is leaking through the firewall grommet and crawling along my 1/0 gauge cable about 18" down and into the carpet. Whenever I noticed the smelly carpet, the cable had already dried - hiding the source.

I advise anyone who modifies this driver's side firewall grommet to reseal it with silicone.

LK1

Once again this forum comes through.

I was cleaning my driver's floor mat and noticed the carpet was completely soaked in the driver's footwell. I hadn't been driving the 4Runner because my alternator is acting up and I have a replacement on order.

We did get an extraordinary amount of water a few weeks ago when Irene came through here.

I pulled up the carpet and am letting it dry out (fortunately it's been dry and sunny here the last few days). Decided to go find the leak. Ran the hose over the windshield and filled up the fresh air intake in the cowl with water by spraying the hose into it. Removed the cowl cover (very easy, remove clip on covers at base of wipers, remove wipers, then unscrew 6? screws securing cowl cover down at base of windshield and popping plastic grommets at leading edge of cowl, then wiggle off cowl cover).

Found two holes that the guy that had installed my remote start/alarm had drilled in the bottom of the cowl and taped them shut.

Ran the hose again and was still getting a smaller leak down the wires through the firewall grommet.

Plan on letting them dry today then sealing them with RTV mentioned above.

One question. Is there a product that is reversible in case I need to run more wire through the grommet? I'm OK if there isn't as long as I stop the water from getting in.

Thanks

98SR54RUNNER

iTrader: (1)

AFAIK, there's nothing that is "reversible". In the past, I've used RTV to seal the hole, and if I've needed to run another wire, I've just resealed it with some more RTV.

But, if you really want to do it right, drill a new hole in the firewall and put a new grommet in. I'm just too lazy to do that, but I feel like that's the right way to do it.

Swede

I had a wet spot under the rubber mat on the driver's side floor basically right where my right foot heel would rest. Turns out that I didn't have a leak, I had a small hole in the rubber mat where my heel wore through, so any moisture on my shoe would seep through the mat and soak the carpet. It wouldn't dry out either because the rubber mat would seal it in!

Jctgu

My problem was exactly the same. The main reasin eas because a little drain hole located in the sunroof was clogged and the water ran over the side to the roof and then to side of the door frame( not the door) until i mt get to the floor mat. I did check the firewall and it was working good.