Passenger Front Floor Water Leak

[BobWh]

A few weeks ago I found some condensation underneath my weather tech floor mat on the passenger side and didn’t think much of it as it possibly could’ve been rain from opening and closing the door. We recently had a pretty heavy rain and I heard a lot of water sloshing around in the dashboard which seemed to be in the cowling under the windshield. As I made turns water came from under the dashboard onto and underneath the weathertech mat, soaking the floor. It seemed to me that the water wasn’t draining from the cowling area fast enough. It would be hard for me to believe that the drain would be clogged since I consistently clean the base of my windshield from debris. I wonder if anybody else has had this and what was the fix.

 

[Rado]

I'm no help but following !
But I have read on sight here about the AC drain being plugged up ! Even though you clean any mess off the truck crap still gets in. .
Please Update what you do find
Also try the search box. If I find anything I'll post

And WELCOME to the group

Thanks

Update I did find this info using the search . Hope this helps

Check the firewall seal where the AC line terminates. Mine rotted out and the blowback would soak the passenger floor. I extended the tube about 12" into the engine bay and stopped the blowback. Worth a shot !

And this

water keak passenger side RAM 1500 - Yahoo Search Results

 

[BobWh]

I appreciate the feedback. I have blown back through the AC drain three or four times and I have not released any debris. Water does drip from the AC hose, besides, the amount of water that gets in the vehicle is way more than the air conditioning can produce. I had nearly 2 inches of standing water in the front and the back two weeks ago. It’s still wet. The truck is a 2019, no rot, in fact, I used to wash it every week, had to stop since this problem began. I’m very particular with my truck, so this is twisting me up inside. Chrysler seems to have ignored my request for assistance, that bothers me, and the long-term residual effects from all that water. By the way, there is no sunroof either. I took out the glove box and under panel and removed the blower motor in an effort to find the leak. It is absolutely coming from water in the cowl (as opposed to the windshield) and seems to be gathering up high as it dumps from something way up near the defroster vents. Whatever it is holds a fairly substantial amount of water as I can hear it sloshing back-and-forth as I make turns. This past weekend, I put more than a gallon of water into the passenger side of the cowling at the base of the windshield, but not touching the windshield, and didn’t see any leaks until I made the first turn out of the driveway when a portion of that dumped down on to the passenger floor. I don’t really want the dealer touching my truck, but it seems I have no choice.

 

[mikeru]

Please provide details about your truck when posting about a problem like this. It not only helps others provide help, it also helps to alert others with the same or similar truck to potential issues they might want to check on. The easiest way is to provide those details in your sig, similar to what I've done.

Now that that's out of the way, I'm going to assume you have a 5th gen 1500 since those seem to be more prone to water intrusion. I've read that some of the 2019 models had an issue with a weld in the cowl not being complete, and allowing water to get into the cab. Although most of the folks who experienced that saw water on the driver side floor. It would still be worth searching for threads on that in this forum and other forums. You might also have your dealer do a leak test on it.

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

Hi All, There are Rubber plugs in the floor pan about foot height at times those rubber plugs weren't installed but were covered by black tape check them, that will explain it running into the floor board when moving the truck, you should be able to see on the under side.

 

[GTyankee]

Have you looked at your Cabin Air Filter ?

 

[BobWh]

Yes, it certainly would be more helpful to know what type of vehicle it is. In fact it is a 2019 ram 1500 Big Horn. I currently have the blower motor out and can see all the way up to the defrost duct and I have determined that the water is coming from high up. The cabin filter was jampacked with little tiny Pineneedles. And with everything disassembled I still get Pineneedles falling onto the floor along with more water depending on when it rains. Almost all the time I hear water sloshing around in the dashboard, but depending on how much water is in there it may or may not overflow onto the passenger floor. I haven’t seen any pictures on the internet of the cracked or insufficient weld on the firewall yet. I don’t even know how I would get to that. I still have two more weeks until my dealer appointment, this may be so intrusive that I may have to let them take care of it.

 

[chri5k]

It is a tough area to access for diagnostics and repair. From the outside, the cowling below the window has to be removed. Even then it is hard to see inside because the hood is in the way when open. If you close the hood, it covers a good portion of that area. From the inside, the dash must be removed. Back in the day we would have the body shop remove the hood so we could gain unimpeded access to the area. Today, the use of articulated video cameras may allow inspection with the hood and or dash in place. The hood or dash would most likely need to be removed for repairs. Lots of labor charges for removing the dash.

 

[BobWh]

 

[BobWh]

I found this illustration of the plastic cowl that fits over metal tray and venting of number four and number five. Water would flow through the cowl and through the large holes in number four and collect in number five and flow outward towards number six. I can’t seem to follow the flow through number six which is likely where the clog is backing water up onto number five and then through the fresh air duct in number five on the passenger side. Maybe someone else might have a different perspective or experience here.

 

[BobWh]

The problem has been figured out. You can’t see them but, in panel number six there is a rubber flap approximately 1 1/2 x 2“ that allows for water to drain down behind The two front wheels. These can be accessed by putting your hand through the openings in the spaces just under the removed plastic cowling on either side. The passenger side has a heavy piece of foil dumb dumbed to the metal which apparently prevents water from running into the fresh air duct located below it. What happened in my case was, dirt had slowly build up in front of the rubber flap and built up to the point where the water pressure could not no longer open the flap. You can easily reach in your hands with one or two fingers and push the flap open. I found debris had built up in front of the flap.

 

[mikeru]

Glad you found your problem. I'm not really following your description though. Any chance you could post pics of where this flap is? Or at least where you reach your hand into to push the flap open?

 

[Mark V]

The problem has been figured out. You can’t see them but, in panel number six there is a rubber flap approximately 1 1/2 x 2“ that allows for water to drain down behind The two front wheels. These can be accessed by putting your hand through the openings in the spaces just under the removed plastic cowling on either side. The passenger side has a heavy piece of foil dumb dumbed to the metal which apparently prevents water from running into the fresh air duct located below it. What happened in my case was, dirt had slowly build up in front of the rubber flap and built up to the point where the water pressure could not no longer open the flap. You can easily reach in your hands with one or two fingers and push the flap open. I found debris had built up in front of the flap.

In retrospect, could a power washer aimed through the cowl in the general direction of the flaps have cleaned the debris and improved drainage? I have the same water intrusion issue and was hoping to avoid removing the cowl.

 

[Rado]

The problem has been figured out. You can’t see them but, in panel number six there is a rubber flap approximately 1 1/2 x 2“ that allows for water to drain down behind The two front wheels. These can be accessed by putting your hand through the openings in the spaces just under the removed plastic cowling on either side. The passenger side has a heavy piece of foil dumb dumbed to the metal which apparently prevents water from running into the fresh air duct located below it. What happened in my case was, dirt had slowly build up in front of the rubber flap and built up to the point where the water pressure could not no longer open the flap. You can easily reach in your hands with one or two fingers and push the flap open. I found debris had built up in front of the flap.

Thanks for updating