Need Advise1998 Sc300 Water Leak

[Scott Gordon]

Hi sc owners,

Well I am 3,000 miles into ownership of a 1998sc300 (50,000mi) and only issue so far is this water leak. During rainy days car's rug is saturated with water on both passenger and driver sides. water appears to be coming in at about dashboard air vent height where the door meets the car body.

The car was run through car fax and dealer inspection and no indication of accident or flood damage was noted.

My guess is water after hitting the roof runs off and is channeled by the door's black rubber gasket towards the front of the car where the door slopes down towards the front quarter pannels.

Has anyone else experenced this problem? how did you fix it ? Is their another way water can get into the car and end up soaking the floor rug other then by a falty gasket ? nothing else gets wet but the rug.

Also is there any electrical wiring that can get messed up that runs under the rug?

Your advise/help is needed.

Thanks Scott

[yersinia51]

Hi--

Could be your windshield. If it were recently replaced they might have done a poor job of sealing it. Just take it to a glass shop and have them look at/test it. I bought my car with this problem--passenger side only--and ended up replacing the windshield (~$200). It's kind of weird how you don't see any trace of the water coming in--just soaked carpeting. Also, check your glove box--I would have water standing in mine. :)

Regards,

ron h

[DomLee]

It can be the seals along the door jam, could be the sunroof, and the front windshield.

[cruznroadking]

I've seen water get inside from a clogged moonroof drain. Also if there was any body work done on the rear quarter panel, most body shops remove the rear quarter glass before painting instead of masking around the window which usually leads top poor paint adhesion & peeling. My point is if the glass is not resealed properly it will leak water inside the car. LOL

[Scott Gordon]

thought I had it figured out using the hose and going over door gasket I thought it was coming in where windshield meets car body and door gasket . Gave it a dose of calk and no leak with light watering but when I turned up the volunm it came in again . So off to get the pros to take a look at auto glass place. stay tuned.

[Scott Gordon]

Hi Folks,

First thanks Cruz for responding to my request, I did find those holes (old eyes young heart) Well one more time with the hose and leak is not coming from door gasket it now appears if its from sunroof. I am going to get drain holes cleared with a shot of compressed air.

[Scott Gordon]

An update on leak so I take sc300 to my machanic to blow out the drain holes with compressed air but he checked with a buddy in auto body business who advised against this as it could detach the hoses. Ok so I set up visit to auto body guy but in between I have this idea I get heavey gauge weedwacker nylon and snake it down the drain holes no obstruction. then I got another bright idea and get a straw tape a funnel to one end and the other end fits by the way perfectly in the drain hole and proceed to pour copiouse amounts of water down the funnel with no apparent leak or at least no outward signs of a leak. Then I blast the car for 2 min. of hard hose action, that in the past got me a little niagra in the car, so far so good. Well I'm gonna wait for a storm as I can't believe this is the end of it, but at least it appears I had some positive effecthopefully tangable rather then psychological.

3500 miles and this is the only issue so far, bought a small tarp to cover sun/moon roof (no garage) just in case. stay tunned.

I got a bad feeling this is going to cost me since if the leak reappears its not from ther drain holes then its gotta be from the window itself

Anyone know of a what it would cost to pull the moonroof ?

regards

Scott

[Scott Gordon]

OK well its raining finally and I get to see what my interventions have accomplished.

8 hours of rain and so far water is kept out of the car, so success(cross fingers) will be credited to drain hole cleaning( weed wacker nylon does the trick) and silicon calk(GE II clear in/outdoor silicon) over holes under around etc, door gaskets.

As an aside I put piece of paper between sun roof and car body and went around circumfrence of sunroof to get a handle on space that water has to enter. then got the bright idea to use thin window gasket ( used for house windows) around the circumfrence of sunroof to seal the gap it worked fantastic no water coud get in at all.BUT I could not open the sunroof it was locked shut, lucky for me I could pull the gasket out (glue on gasket back had not yet hardened) otherwise the sunroof would be inoperative. If it does ever leak I might seal it perminently.

I hope this success is perminent.

[TexasComputerMan]

I have a similar problem with my SC400 (1992). We have checked Everything above the driver's seat level. Nothing seems wrong there. But my mechanic put my car up on a lift and found that there are a number of drain plugs in a body channel under the driver's side floorboard. These drain holes are open. I have ordered the plugs that they need. We Hope that this will finally solve the leaking problem. In the rain, we therorize that road water is being thrown up and into these holes. It keeps keeps water under the driver's seat and back to the rear and under the back seat. The rugs are soaked. BTW, this Can short out the telephone plug under the back seat and mute all of your speakers. Isn't that just great?

Once these plugs are replaced and after the next rain storm here in Texas, I will let you know if that worked.

[Scott Gordon]

I have a similar problem with my SC400 (1992). We have checked Everything above the driver's seat level. Nothing seems wrong there. But my mechanic put my car up on a lift and found that there are a number of drain plugs in a body channel under the driver's side floorboard. These drain holes are open. I have ordered the plugs that they need. We Hope that this will finally solve the leaking problem. In the rain, we therorize that road water is being thrown up and into these holes. It keeps keeps water under the driver's seat and back to the rear and under the back seat. The rugs are soaked. BTW, this Can short out the telephone plug under the back seat and mute all of your speakers. Isn't that just great?

Once these plugs are replaced and after the next rain storm here in Texas, I will let you know if that worked. 

   

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Sounds like your onto something. two storms and driving in the rain interior stillbone dry so I guess I got the cause . I'll check my drain plgs on the under floor boards next time I put car up on lift. Hope ypu fixgets it done.

[TexasComputerMan]

I have a similar problem with my SC400 (1992). We have checked Everything above the driver's seat level. Nothing seems wrong there. But my mechanic put my car up on a lift and found that there are a number of drain plugs in a body channel under the driver's side floorboard. These drain holes are open. I have ordered the plugs that they need. We Hope that this will finally solve the leaking problem. In the rain, we therorize that road water is being thrown up and into these holes. It keeps keeps water under the driver's seat and back to the rear and under the back seat. The rugs are soaked. BTW, this Can short out the telephone plug under the back seat and mute all of your speakers. Isn't that just great?

Once these plugs are replaced and after the next rain storm here in Texas, I will let you know if that worked. 

   

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Sounds like your onto something. two storms and driving in the rain interior stillbone dry so I guess I got the cause . I'll check my drain plgs on the under floor boards next time I put car up on lift. Hope ypu fixgets it done.

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Well we just had two days of very heavy rain and I Had to drive out in it. NO LEAKS NOW! My problem turned out to be the driver's side door. That door had a bad hinge. I had it replaced and now all of the door seals work properly. Thus, NO LEAKS!

:D :D :D :D

[Scott Gordon]

glad you got the cause a hinge who would have thought