Water leaks on drivers side when it rains

BZBRAWNER

MEMBER
2002 MITSUBISHI GALANT
2.4L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
130,000 MILES

On the driver side floor of my car both back and front there was about 3 gallons of water after 3 rainstorms. We have the carpet up and out of the way. We tried testing it with quite literally 1,000 gallons of water and only 3 drops entered my car. 20 minutes later it was a whole puddle. My dad and I have no more ideas of where this leak is coming from. And no I don't have a sunroof.

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

More then likely this is coming in through the cowl panel and filling up a cavity in the firewall. Then once this is full the water spills into the vehicle.

The best way to figure this out is to remove the carpet so that you can see the sheet metal up under the pedals and floor. Then use a hose and let the water cascade over a small portion of the windshield and lay on the floor of the car to look up under the dash to see where the water is coming in.

Once we know where it is coming in, we can either seal that area or the best thing to do is disassemble the cowl panel and seal it from the outside so that it stops from the entry point.

If all this does not sound like something you would like to do, there are water leak companies that specialize in this and they will travel to your house in most cases and do this exact repair.

Let me know what questions you have as this is a pretty simple process but if you have not done it, it may seem confusing so I will answer whatever questions you have. Thanks