2001 water leak on drivers side

[ksierens]

Ok, I have seen a number of posts on the subject, but have not seen any answers yet. I have a 2001 Aurora and noticed water on the drivers side floor last fall. I pulled the carpet back and dried it out, since it is like a sponge material underneth. I thought my wife left the windo down since I sucked about a quart of water out from the front and back.
The next time it rained, the front floor was wet again! Since then I checked both the drain tubes from the sun roof. Both of them were off behind the kick panels, and what a pain that it to reconnect. I also pulled down the headliner to make sure the tube was connected on the drivers side, and removed the inner tire wells and made sure the drains were not plugged and cleaned out the gunk at the bottoms of the fenders.
About a week ago I dried the carpet out again, getting about a cup of water in the vacuum, since I thought I had it fixed.
Well it rained again today, and the carpet is getting wet again! So today I checked the drain tube for the evaporator, not that. I am running out of ideas. One post said it was their windshield.

Has anyone had this same problem and found the answer?

[Custom88]

Another common source of water protrustion into the 2nd gen are the water sheilds on the doors. these are located behind the door panel. The water sheilds are held to the inner sheet metal of the door by a thick adhesive that over time can become dry and brittle allowing water into the car.

[Marc]

A good way of finding leaks like this is to sit inside the car while someone sprays water on the outside at all possible leakage points, and you watch for leaks.

[David]

funny you should mention this. i had this same problem on my '01. it was, (as you mentioned) the sunroof drain hoes came off from the driver's side and the drain where they connected to was cloged. so use some commpressed air to free the drain and reconnect them securely. also the driver's door latch needed to be tightened to pull the door in tighter, because(so i'm told) door seals can shrink slightly over time. i hope this helps.
good luck.

[centennialman]

david said:

funny you should mention this. i had this same problem on my '01. it was, (as you mentioned) the sunroof drain hoes came off from the driver's side and the drain where they connected to was cloged. so use some commpressed air to free the drain and reconnect them securely. also the driver's door latch needed to be tightened to pull the door in tighter, because(so i'm told) door seals can shrink slightly over time. i hope this helps.
good luck.

I too solved the problem by moving the door latching post inboard a bit.

[ksierens]

Thanks, I adjusted it so we'll see what happens.

[okidedrak]

Hi
I have the same problem, I had to remove pools of water from under the carpet last summer.

Can someone let me know how to connect the 2 drain hoses on the driver side. I know the top one comes through the A pillar and goes down in the dash but have no idea where it goes after. I pulled on it once so definetly its not connected to the lower hose anymore.
Thanks in advance

[ksierens]

Well it's not easy. I had to remove the sill trim, the cover under the dash, and the parking brake. Then you should have enough room to push back the carpet, pull up the wire harness and get your hand under the rubber membrane. If you can get your hand up far enough you should be able to feel the hard plastic line coming down from the sunroof. Hopefully you can also feel the soft rubber line that goes out through the cowl. If it is there just grab it and push it as far up the hard line as you can. It might help to remove the A-Pillar cover you you can push down on the hard line while you are doing this. If the soft line is not there, you will need to remove the inner tire well, and pull the soft line out. I would blow it out, and then feed it back in until you can feel it from the inside. It is much easier if you can get someone to help you. After it is reconnected, run some water down it from the top and make sure it is connected.
Oh, you might as well clean all the mud and leaves out from the bottom of your fender while you have the inner fender out.

I would not blow the drain out from the sun roof since if the line is plugged I think it will just force the soft line off again!

Have fun, and expect some pretty scraped up hands!

Even after I did this on both sides I still had a leak. Someone also suggested adjusting the door latch so the door closes tighter, so that is where I am at now. If that works, I will replace the door seals.

Sigh.

[webenergy]

I know I'm a newbie but maybe this can help...

I had a leak on the driver's side in the back of the driver's seat. I went to the dealer, and it appears there is a defect with the seal on the trunk. Water was leaking into the trunk and spilling into the cab under the rear seat. It can be serious enough to short circuit the air bag module. Check your trunk seals.

[cherry2002]

ksierens said:

Even after I did this on both sides I still had a leak. Someone also suggested adjusting the door latch so the door closes tighter, so that is where I am at now. If that works, I will replace the door seals.

Sigh.

ksierens, what Custom88 said in his post is probably your problem. You'll need to remove the door panels (you can use a screwdriver but I'd highly suggest getting the proper tool at an auto parts store, only a few bucks) and the replace the door seals (you can get them at the dealer for about $20 a piece).

I had to do this to mine and now my carpet is 100% dry.

[ksierens]

Well so far so good. It rained pretty hard for a few days and it seems ok. Since I adjusted the door in, I guess I will buy a new door seal and move it back where it was. I guess it was a combination of this and the drain tubes ... I hope!