Water leak in drivers side!! Floor mat is soaked,water in hood popper! Please Help!
 

Hey guys, I did a search and only found people that have had issues similar to this but in the passenger side due to a speaker issue. Also heard of people having faulty sunroof water drain hoses but I don't think think this is my problem either.

My problem is in the drivers side. I've noticed this once before and I noticed it again today because it rained alot. When I opened my door I saw a pool of water on my plastic floor mat and noticed the carpet was wet. I also felt water droplets where the plastic black hood popper is, which leads me to believe that the water leak is coming from there..but HOW ?

Have any of you had this issue before ?? and if so how did you resolve it? Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys



UPDATED 5/5/11 with pics

Alright guys....I'm still having this issue and I took pics yesterday so you can see the problem I'm having. First two show where the water is coming from.....the hood release latch. And the other shows the effect this effing problem has had on the metal that holds the OBD2 port in place.....its getting all orangy from the water!!

If you guys have had this issue before please help!! I would greatly appreciate it!

Anyone ?

You may have rubber trim issues somewhere near the hood release hatch, not sure though... just check it out anyway.

Close your sunroof?:yesnod:

Seriously though, Are you certain that its rain water? Sop a little up with a paper towel and check the color. Also, check your coolant level frequently. Your problem *could* be that your heater core is leaking. It would leak straight into your dash and leave a puddle on your floor.

I can't be certain, but you may want to add it to your list of possibilities.

Only happens when it rains alot so im positive it isn't a coolant leak....

and you have checked the entire windshield for any leaks as well as around the hvac intake?

I've got the same issue - Is this on the same side as your heater box?

There should be a molding that stops rain water entering from under the plastic where your windscreen wiper is (Air is ducted in through here)

I'm trying to locate one at the moment as if I park the car down hill and it rains the floor is flooded with rain water. A friend of mine is a mazda car wrecker and he found the leak

We think the molding was damaged by a rodent prior to me owning the car as I found a nest in the heater box (Wondered why there was no heat )

Take your windscreen wipers off - removed the plastic trim - then remove the glovebox along with the air filters in the heater box - you should be able to shine a torch through from the firewall to the inside of the car if the molding is missing

Hope this might explain your mystery leak

I did yesterday but I have no idea what the heck I'm supposed to look for...everything seemed normal to me.



Thanks for the tip. The problem in my car is only on the drivers side (left-hand side), as I noticed water drips out of the hood release lever onto my floor mat whenever it rains. I have no idea what rubber trimmings is missing or damaged, everything looks normal to me. Ughh this is frustrating

Heater core leaking?

water leaks are really a pitta just as bad as an electrical bug.. sucks tracking it down..

if you have a sun roof, check the drains and make sure is sealing right. Also you said its driver side only? do you park that your car is leaning to that side? or level?

I had an issue like this with my GSX, but found out it was the outer seal on the hatch glass that was leaking.

your only spots i can tell, would be the apiller area of the winsheild, sunroof, or some place under the hood where water can enter threw the firewall as others stated.

good luck and if you find it take a picture for future "fix's"

same problem cant find it engine water levels fine need help please

Perform a coolant pressure check test, I still think heater core.

checked again not heater there is to much water and water levels are still fine

I just had this same situation happen to me this past weekend. My car was parked on an incline facing up and leaning to the drivers side right in front of my house.

I left for a couple of hours and when I got home the drivers side carpet was all soaked.

The only thing I noticed were two water marks traveling from top to bottom, right in the middle of my windshied.

Headliner is dry, A pillar is dry, didin't notice any water under the dash. Where could this leak be comming from?

Following the water marks inside my windshiled leads right to the headliner, exaclty behind the rearview mirror. Could it be from the sunroof? Where are the sunroof drain tubes located?

... find the water drains in the plenum area. If you car is often parked outside, it's very easy for these drains to get plugged up with leaves and other organic debris. There are also drains at the outside back corners of the underhood area which need to be open.

I have been having this windshield leak for a while. it came from the very upper driver side windshield molding, for those who took part of the headliner out and look up will probably know where I'm talking about.

Judging from the leaking spot, I thought it was the windshield, so I paid for a new one and it was installed 1/2 year ago. everything was good (or did I just didn't pay enough attention?)

Recently (last week), it pours and yep, it's soaking wet again.

This week I'm going to rip the whole headliner off and remove all the tubes and blow it with compressed air, see if that helps, HilFlite999, there is also a drain on the outside of windows? Windshield Wipers off and remove the plastic trim? u mean the one that sits right in front/bottom of the windshield ?

Yes, that's the one I mean. Since mine is garage kept, I haven't pulled it out of the RX8 yet, but every car I've worked on before has at least a couple of significant drains there for whatever comes thru the base-of-the-windshield grill.

Also, if I recall right, the front sunroof drain runs down the A-pillar (drivers' side). Search "drain" in the Body chapter of the FSM and it's depicted. You might get away with finding the outlet end and sucking/blowing that line clear without removing the headliner. Same for the rear sunroof drain which I think exits near the bottom of the left rear fender.

Mine sleeps inside, this is the first time it's been outside on a downpour.

I'll check these drains and let you guys know. Thanks

Well, lemme give you an idea where it leaks, I just rip part of my the headliner down to snap this pic, it's not hard, just 2 screws and this part will be out.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1336434905

This is where the water is "coming" from. so I don't think it has anything to do with the drain at the sunroof ...

I know where the sunroof drain tube is, pull this part of the headliner out and u will see it right away, it goes all the way from the sunroof to the A-pillar. I pulled the tube out and blow it with my mouth (yea) , there is some resistance, but it did blow thru.

Reason why I think the windshield is leaking because couple days ago I sealed the sunroof completely with tape, then I pull my garden hose and watered the sucker, after around 5 minutes, water starts coming in from the spot at the picture ...

this is the part that puzzles me tho, if it's "leaking", it should leak right away, right? but instead, it sounds like there is a spot somewhere there accumulates water slowly, and after a while it starts dripping from the said spot ...

I don't know man, I paid closed to 700 bux last time to replace the windshield, just to be safe, when I'm finally out of work on Thursday, I will pull everything apart, including all drains, blow it with compressed air, and clean whatever that might clog things up and try to water the car again. hope that will solve this problem.

Hummm, agreed, it doesn't seem like a sunroof drain. However, that location seems suspiciously close to the "gutter" on the roof that serves as the roof drip rails. When I look at mine, there's a couple little gaps near the front, behind the windshield gasket. Perhaps they are supposed to drain the front 1/3 of the gutter where is slopes down from the roof. (The back 2/3 of the gutter, by contrast, drains directly on the top side of the rear glass). If so, and if the installers of your new windshield plugged the "drain" further down, water fills up until it leaks through another defect of the install.

Maybe repeat the test, this time using a few oz of water into the gutter, just enough keep it full on the front downslope and not run everwhere. If that water shows up inside the car, a couple dabs of silicone sealant to plug the drain rail to gasket holes might stop it. Of course, the gutter then won't drain properly at the front and might spill to the side window, but that's better than an interior leak.

I'm def not the expert though, as I've not run into this problem (yet).

I'm going to ask them to rip the whole shit apart and re-seat it. Cuz before the new windshield install, it will "drip" from the same spot, but the water comes from somewhere in the top/middle of the windshield. I can feel it when I rub my fingers across.

now it seems that it's coming directly from that spot.

so I think it's just a bad install/seal, it was fine for a few months.

Let's see how it goes. will bring the car there either today or tomorrow.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/roof-top-leak-totaled-233060/

See if yours is the same.

Old thread but I have the same problem now. Its been raining here for a week nonstop and now my driver side floorboard is soaked. I believe mine is leaking below the front windshield under the wiper plastic. Watched water drip down right in front of the clutch pedal and on my leg.

Did you ever fix it? I bought an rx8 a few months ago and am having the same problem.

Water leak coming from hood latch area.
 

I just experienced this problem during a heavy rain. Could it be possible that water is getting on the hood latch cable inside the Engine bay, and traveling down along the cable through the firewall and dripping down at the hood latch release lever? I'm going to check this out tomorrow and see if I might be able to confirm evidence of this occurring.