Help with wet driver side floor?

Hello. I just came across this site today and figured I'd ask a question here. I did search the forums and didn't find a similar question. Perhaps I didn't look hard enough, in which case, I apologize.

Anyway: 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport

Problem: Front driver side floor is wet after a rainfall. Passenger side is not. No noticeable accumulation of water, but the carpet is definitely wet. I have not been using the A/C or defroster. The wetness is definitely [rain]water, NOT coolant or anything else. Does not matter if I'm driving or if it's just parked overnight -- same result. I also did not see water dripping from anywhere, and nothing else (door panels, seat, etc) is wet.

I can deal with the wetness, after all, it's under the floor mat. I'm just afraid that after a while it may rust the floorboards.

Any ideas? Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks.

Heavy rain fall? How do you park--level, nose up, nose down? There are drains under the cowl vent and they accumulate crap, water builds up, finds it way inside.

Check you door seal. If it appears OK then the next time you are expecting rain dust the seal with baby powder and look for water tracks after the rain fall.

i had the same problem and it was from an aux. lighting wiring harness that i had ran through my firewall at one of the existing grommets for the other wires. i hadnt really sealed it properly so some rain water would leak through and drip down my firewall. maybe yours is doing the same if one of your factory grommets is a little rotten.
just something to consider..

otherwise joe_peter's advice is your best bet--^

Any type of rainfall, really. We haven't really had a heavy rainfall since I've noticed this, so I'm not sure if it's considerably wetter when it rains heavier. I park level, both at home and at work.

What's the best way to check the door seal? Just by looking at it, it seems to be completely intact. Also, you mean dust the door seal with baby powder, right? I'll have to check under the cowl vents for any debris as well.

Is it safe to rule out a hole in the floorboard? Like I mentioned in my first post, this happens when parked too, so I can't imagine water would make it's way upward into the floor, at least not that much.

cphillips, I'll be sure to check the firewall, too. If it's leaking through a grommet in the firewall, I would imagine the problem is towards the drivers side of the firewall, right?

Thanks so much for the fast replies! Much appreciated.

For the baby powder you should only dust the seal. Some water will run through the door openings, you are just concerned about anything getting past the seal.

I would certainly check the firewall as cpphillips recommended, and not sure if your 2000 has the floor pan plugs so you should pull up the carpet and check the floor pan.

Does the 2000 have the fuse panel on the firewall by the drivers left foot? Early xjs would get water/mud coming through there and corroding the fuse panel.

I had this same problem on my 97, mine was from a factory wire harness that comes thru the firewall down where the steering shaft comes thru. I watched it drip on a rainy day. I just sealed it up with some silicone on the engine side of the firewall, not the easiest place to get to but it doesn't leak any more. After that the drain plugs on both sides started to let water in. I cleaned up around them from under the XJ and undercoated all around the plugs. That has worked so far.

97XJ Jeeper said:

I had this same problem on my 97, mine was from a factory wire harness that comes thru the firewall down where the steering shaft comes thru. I watched it drip on a rainy day. I just sealed it up with some silicone on the engine side of the firewall, not the easiest place to get to but it doesn't leak any more. After that the drain plugs on both sides started to let water in. I cleaned up around them from under the XJ and undercoated all around the plugs. That has worked so far.

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Nice avatar.

Semper Fi, Mac.

1969-1979

I'm having this same problem on my passenger side. The baby powder thing is a great idea! I'll have to try this today. I'm also going to check inside the cowl...

BruceB83 said:

I'm having this same problem on my passenger side. The baby powder thing is a great idea! I'll have to try this today. I'm also going to check inside the cowl...

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Any relation to the guy that sold me my skid plate?

Passenger side can be heater core leak or HVAC housing drain issues.

Might pull off the kick panels to take a look in there, just to help narrow it down, if you don't spot it as above. A good flashlight helps too.

ajk223 said:

Hello. I just came across this site today and figured I'd ask a question here. I did search the forums and didn't find a similar question. Perhaps I didn't look hard enough, in which case, I apologize.

Anyway: 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport

Problem: Front driver side floor is wet after a rainfall. Passenger side is not. No noticeable accumulation of water, but the carpet is definitely wet. I have not been using the A/C or defroster. The wetness is definitely [rain]water, NOT coolant or anything else. Does not matter if I'm driving or if it's just parked overnight -- same result. I also did not see water dripping from anywhere, and nothing else (door panels, seat, etc) is wet.

I can deal with the wetness, after all, it's under the floor mat. I'm just afraid that after a while it may rust the floorboards.

Any ideas? Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks.

Click to expand...

try to see when you notice if the floor is wet before or after you drive it in the rain if its after driving in the rain most likely your floorboard is rusted out somewhere because same thing happened to my friends xj and come to find out there was a qurter size hole in the floor easy way to find out look at the floorboard under your jeep and see if there are any holes

This has been dead a while, thought I'd bump it.

Did you figure out this leak?

My 96' is doing the same thing. Parking level, windows up tight, water pools in drivers footwell. Nothing else is wet under the pedals or under padding leading to the footwell. Only at the base of the seat. And no wetness/leaks under the body.

Have a new carpet kit coming soon so think I will just remove the molding and cut out the carpet around the driver side and stick my head down there and watch it.

Check under the rear seat on the driver side and also the cargo area. The hatch or hatch window seals can leak also. Water flows down hill. The footwell is the lowest point on the pan.

Does it have a top rack? A common problem is the screws holding the rack and/or runners to the roof leak and the water will run down and pool on the floor. If you let it go too long, the moisture will make the headliner separate and sag.

I have water dripping onto my floor mat when it rains. Definitely rain, not heater core or A/C condensation. Some people mention checking under the cowl. How do you do that? I don't know how to access the cowl.

Nice tip on the roof rack. I'll have to check mine.

Old thread but pretty sure I found my leak. I know others get water so I'll pass along what I found in my case. The PO had the hood release cable replaced and the installer did not install the boot correctly. In fact it was put in backwards and actually had fallen out. Essentially an open hole. When water was poured on hood (hood closed) it ran along the cowl panel, toward the fender, then down between the fender/cowl panel and hood. Once there it collected on the top lip/shelf of the fire wall (sort of above brake booster) then, once enough puddled it spilled right down the fire wall into the open hole.

I found the old boot stuck under the brake booster so I put it back in. Did a water test and a little water still getting in between cable and boot seal. Siliconed it up. Will retest w/ water when it cures.

The seam where the VIN # tag is (above and to the right of the brake booster) was also suspect. I had seen where another poster had a similar problem so I sealed that area up too.

Before all this and since I was not sure if I would find the problem, after I undercoated the floor I installed some thin carpet runner with the nubs (nibs, niblets, nipples...? ) down so if water gets in there is some air space and it can move toward drain plug. The runner is on top of the black mat behind the pedals but under the carpet so carpet should not get wet no matter what. I cut a small slit in the carpet so I can access the drain plug easily and dry things up.

Hopefully I got the leak so won't be necessary but who knows what the future brings