Slip/sloshing away - AKA Wet Passenger Floor

[Papagut]

What electrical problems did you have?? I have some real strange things happening on my Cayenne which i believe are linked to my wet floor.

It was a bit of a cascade of errors - I am not sure if it was one problem that was causing a chain of events, but the worst was a disk proportioning error, along with ABS failure, shifting problems, and full PSM failure. The car would start, but the shifter would lock in park. In the end I had to remove the panel and manually disengage the lock to put it into gear and move it.

A single fine wire with a corroded connection on the passenger side was causing all of this. But I have it feeling it could have been related to wheel sensors or something - a critical part of the system that caused everything else to fail. As soon as I cleaned it up and reconnected it, everything pretty much went back to normal.

Good luck - hope that helps out a bit.

[thewhirls]

What electrical problems did you have?? I have some real strange things happening on my Cayenne which i believe are linked to my wet floor.

It was a bit of a cascade of errors - I am not sure if it was one problem that was causing a chain of events, but the worst was a disk proportioning error, along with ABS failure, shifting problems, and full PSM failure. The car would start, but the shifter would lock in park. In the end I had to remove the panel and manually disengage the lock to put it into gear and move it.

A single fine wire with a corroded connection on the passenger side was causing all of this. But I have it feeling it could have been related to wheel sensors or something - a critical part of the system that caused everything else to fail. As soon as I cleaned it up and reconnected it, everything pretty much went back to normal.

Good luck - hope that helps out a bit.

Thank you ever so much, i'll have these checked and let you know what happens.

[deilenberger]

Yup. Thanks for the info. Guess I've gotta look again before winter sets in. No electrical problems yet (knocking on oak-grain-formica). but it won't hurt to look. Shame that car/bike manufacturers don't spend the extra $5/vehicle it would cost them to use marine grade wiring in vulnerable spots like this. Marine grade wiring has fully tinned conductors - so the water being pulled up into the wire by capillary action can't corrode the copper conductors. I always use it when doing wiring on a car or motorcycle..

[deilenberger]

I can report that the carpet/padding stayed dry right through hurricane Sandy. I'll be clearing out these drains again once the trees stop throwing leaves at the truck..

[Timmy2]

I have just found this thread and site, and it may be a dead thread but...

I just realized this morning that my STBD side (passenger) floor was soaked and the car stinks. I pulled up carpet where I could and it was literally deep water. I was shocked literally when i moved the green corrosion section of the fabric tape, and decided to get online to see what can cause this.

I have since pulled both arch covers above the front tires. I have pulled the drains and blown them down. I pulled all the plug drains along the outer edge of both sills on the car (three on each side) and blew them down. I pulled the hose off the cabin HVAC and blew it down, but did not pull it out of the firewall. I then went to check wetness of floor and it is all the way back to the STBD passenger seat (back row) and super damp. I think I should pull the seats and get it dried out. How do I pull them and do you all think that the gallon or so of water I got out of the front could have been the cause over time in my vehicle? It seems like so little water to show so much in the cabin.

What kind of dehumidifier would I buy for this?

[deilenberger]

I have just found this thread and site, and it may be a dead thread but...

I just realized this morning that my STBD side (passenger) floor was soaked and the car stinks. I pulled up carpet where I could and it was literally deep water. I was shocked literally when i moved the green corrosion section of the fabric tape, and decided to get online to see what can cause this.

I have since pulled both arch covers above the front tires. I have pulled the drains and blown them down. I pulled all the plug drains along the outer edge of both sills on the car (three on each side) and blew them down. I pulled the hose off the cabin HVAC and blew it down, but did not pull it out of the firewall. I then went to check wetness of floor and it is all the way back to the STBD passenger seat (back row) and super damp. I think I should pull the seats and get it dried out. How do I pull them and do you all think that the gallon or so of water I got out of the front could have been the cause over time in my vehicle? It seems like so little water to show so much in the cabin.

What kind of dehumidifier would I buy for this?

See if you can borrow someone's standard cellar dehumidifier - and plop it in the rear cargo area overnight plugged in. If you pull the carpet up along the edges of the sill and stick some wood blocks under the foam to hold it off the floorpan that will speed things along. When I had water in the foam, I stuck large folded towels under the foam and then pressed down on the carpet to compress the foam and let the towels suck up the water. It took several times before water stopped flowing out of the foam.

I didn't see mention in the things you did - the sunroof drains. You really DO want to make sure those are clear since they can run water down into the carpeting and you'll never see it unless you disassemble the A pillar trim like I did.. The photos should make it a fairly easy job to do..

[seafeye]

Will post some pics in a few minutes.

I took out my headliner because it was sagging. While is was out i checked all 4 sunroof drains and found them clean. But i have water marks on my headliner. So now that i have a clear shot of the interior roof and the sunroof mechanism, i was able to see the leaks.

I poured a bottle of water on the sunroof and it started dripping out over the rear seats. I take it the actual sunroof seal is not doing its job. Turns out the seal is letting water drip through and the channel is lower than the drain. So it just drips. Hopefully pictures can describe better than me.

[deilenberger]

I hope the photos make it clearer -- I can't envision what you're describing. The sunroof has a sort of dam around the inside opening. This is supposed to capture any water that gets past the actual exterior seal (and some always will..) and channel it to the drains where it drains off to the ground. My drain looked fine from the inside - it was plugged up in the bottom of the channel the dam makes.. ie - outside. Could only see this by standing up in the truck with the sunroof open, and shining a very bright MagLight at the drain location. Then I saw the crud blocking it.

The water would fill up the drain part of the dam and when it got high enough flow over the lip into the interior of the car. I'd check this before looking at replacing the sunroof seal itself (which is going to be an ugly and labor intensive job and isn't likely to solve your problem.)

[seafeye]

So here are a couple of snaps. I have my headliner out if anyone needs a specific shot of anything just ask.

At the back of the sunroof frame is a drain. It has a bit of a reservoir then the tube to the back of the car. I sat inside the car while a buddy with a hose sprayed the roof of the car. No water came in. So i moved the car onto an incline and water started to drip. (Don't park on an incline, is the only answer i can come up with)

If the reservoir gets too much water then it will leak over the frame and onto your headliner. I am going to go full black alcantara for the interior of the PIG. So more pics will follow. Interestingly one of my drain tubes is blue. The others grey. Carfax was clean, so no real idea as to why this was changed. Although when it rains and rains i have water when i open up my rear drivers side door.

Attached is a picture of the plastic piece where the drains hook up to. I wanted to make sure this was 100% clean so i took it out. You can see the factory sealant that was displaced when i removed it.

[deilenberger]

So here are a couple of snaps. I have my headliner out if anyone needs a specific shot of anything just ask.

At the back of the sunroof frame is a drain. It has a bit of a reservoir then the tube to the back of the car. I sat inside the car while a buddy with a hose sprayed the roof of the car. No water came in. So i moved the car onto an incline and water started to drip. (Don't park on an incline, is the only answer i can come up with)

If the reservoir gets too much water then it will leak over the frame and onto your headliner. I am going to go full black alcantara for the interior of the PIG. So more pics will follow. Interestingly one of my drain tubes is blue. The others grey. Carfax was clean, so no real idea as to why this was changed. Although when it rains and rains i have water when i open up my rear drivers side door.

Attached is a picture of the plastic piece where the drains hook up to. I wanted to make sure this was 100% clean so i took it out. You can see the factory sealant that was displaced when i removed it.

Good photos..

The kink in the blue hose - last photo - sure could cause some backup, especially if some crud got caught in it. You might be able to straighten it out if you can get the hose out of the fitting and shorten it by 1/4" or so - or use some coathanger wire and electrical tape to make it run straight. Is that the side that's backing up? And have you blown out the hoses?

I do seem to recall mention of these hoses (which I believe run down the C-pillar) coming disconnected about where the rear-hatch struts attach in the roof, apparently there is a joint there..