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Ok, so musty smell in car and passenger side floor where your feet go is wet, mostly where your right foot would be but then it soaks over to the left.
Thought maybe a window had been left cracked open and dried it out.
So, I have that drying out now but wanted to get your thoughts. I squeezed a lot of water out of the insulation pad under the carpet so I'd say that the amount that leaked in was maybe 1/4 gallon or so, so it's quite a bit of water....but it did rain for almost 2 hours.
Windshield - Was replaced about 3 years ago by safelite, this is my main suspect.
Passenger side door - I looked around and it seemed pretty dry so I don't think that's it.
Some sort of drain issue from the wells below the window?
Any thoughts\advice greatly appreciated. Obviously this has been going on for a little while but probably has gotten worse recently.
Lack of enough information.
Floor rusted out?
Used car previous accident?
When it dries out take to dealer and have them check it out (dry).
Bought new, no accident, floor has no rust.
I was thinking I might tape plastic over the windshield and see if that works with the hose on it or after it rains again. If it does I know it's the windshield seal and it's under warranty from safelite.
Dry everything, and run the air conditioning on high for 20 or so minutes with the cold air directed to the foot wells. The air conditioning system has ducts/pipes that are insulated where they pass through the firewall. If this insulation has rotted or eroded away, the condensation which forms on these chilled parts can drip down into all kinds of places...especially foot wells.
If you are NOT using the A/C system and still have leakage, disregard and continue trouble shooting...
Sounds like you've got water coming in from outside. A leak. Key indicators are your mention of the car being parked when it happened. (This also eliminates the A/C as a suspect)
May very well be your windshield, I'd be very suspicious of that as well having it been replaced. Do you have a sunroof on the Highlander? Blocked sunroof drain tubes can cause this as well. Dirt/leaves/debris will block up a drain hose. They route down the A pillar.
My suggestion: (And I've done this many a time as a former professional technician) Pull out the carpet. It's wetter than you may think underneath. It will take days to dry thorougly. The underlayment is thick and soaks up water like a sponge.
Concerns if you just let it be: Mildew and mold... that musty smell isn't going to go away otherwise. You have an SIR (airbag) control module mounted on the center of the floor. Don't want that swimming!
Diagnosis: Pull off the A pillar trim, the instrument panel lower closure, and the kick panel. One person's head goes underneath the dashboard with a flashlight, the other person runs a hose on the outside of the vehicle from sunroof (if equipped) to cowl at the base of the windshield. With the amount of water you seem to be getting inside the vehicle, it shouldn't take long to see it trailing inside the vehicle from some point. You can also attach your hose to a tree branch or garage door and latch the spray nozzle open to simulate rain if you're working solo.
Good luck. Not a fun job, but it's important not to neglect the situation if you want the car to remain in good condition.
Dry everything, and run the air conditioning on high for 20 or so minutes with the cold air directed to the foot wells. The air conditioning system has ducts/pipes that are insulated where they pass through the firewall. If this insulation has rotted or eroded away, the condensation which forms on these chilled parts can drip down into all kinds of places...especially foot wells.
If you are NOT using the A/C system and still have leakage, disregard and continue trouble shooting...
I had a similar situation with an Audi 4000, the drip tube that should let condensation water out of the air conditioning evaporator compartment was stuck shut. These are a short rubber tube with a "fish mouth" type opening at the bottom. Simply squeezing the tube so the "fish mouth" opened freed things up.
Sounds like you've got water coming in from outside. A leak. Key indicators are your mention of the car being parked when it happened. (This also eliminates the A/C as a suspect)
May very well be your windshield, I'd be very suspicious of that as well having it been replaced. Do you have a sunroof on the Highlander? Blocked sunroof drain tubes can cause this as well. Dirt/leaves/debris will block up a drain hose. They route down the A pillar.
My suggestion: (And I've done this many a time as a former professional technician) Pull out the carpet. It's wetter than you may think underneath. It will take days to dry thorougly. The underlayment is thick and soaks up water like a sponge.
Concerns if you just let it be: Mildew and mold... that musty smell isn't going to go away otherwise. You have an SIR (airbag) control module mounted on the center of the floor. Don't want that swimming!
Diagnosis: Pull off the A pillar trim, the instrument panel lower closure, and the kick panel. One person's head goes underneath the dashboard with a flashlight, the other person runs a hose on the outside of the vehicle from sunroof (if equipped) to cowl at the base of the windshield. With the amount of water you seem to be getting inside the vehicle, it shouldn't take long to see it trailing inside the vehicle from some point. You can also attach your hose to a tree branch or garage door and latch the spray nozzle open to simulate rain if you're working solo.
Good luck. Not a fun job, but it's important not to neglect the situation if you want the car to remain in good condition.
Excellent post. Absolutely not leaving this to continue.
1) I've already pulled up the carpet and was squeezing water out of the underlayment and mopping up with towels this morning. I then left it in the garage with the carpet pulled up and a fan on a chair blowing on it for the entire day. Will check progress when I get home.
2) No sunroof and yep, not the AC condensation.
3) I was going to pour water down the drain wells below the windshield to rule that out. I'm going to call safelite and see if they will just replace the windshield and if not what they will require me to do to get them to honor their warranty. If they replace the windshield then I can just see if that sorts out the problem.
Otherwise I will try your suggestion out as the next step.
I had more time to check things out tonight after work and it's drying out nicely.
I found a gouge in the rubber seal around the windshield at the bottom about 6 inches from the bottom corner on the passenger side.
Rattle, I'm going to try to attach the picture. I would think that with a few hours of heavy rain that this could possibly be the culprit but I have no experience. I assume that if this is the problem I can get some patch stuff from autozone or whatnot.
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