[EastCoastImpalaLS]

So I get home from western NY today after celebrating the 4th with family and return to my 2003 Impala LS parked outside in MD, and when I go to put in some new floor mats, I found the floor area (where a floor mat goes) of the passenger side was soaking wet.

We have had some heavy rains today/this week, and I assume the water is from rain entering in through a vent somewhere. The car was parked mostly on the driveway at about a 30-40 degree slope, hood facing downhill. Maybe an hvac system vent?

The driver's side floor and the rest of the carpeting in the car was totally dry and normal. I'm positive all the windows had been completely closed.
I used our wet-vac and got the floor and stock mat as dry as I could, and ended up with probably a quart or more of water. The interior didn't smell too musty, so the water couldn't have done too much damage or been sitting long. I've witnessed water drip onto the floor during very heavy rains while driving with the air on (not a/c, just air/heat), but not nearly as much water was taken in as this time.

I checked underneath the dashboard, and the black panels seemed a little loose or not set correctly, but they didn't look wet or moldy from previous rains. Maybe a part needs to be installed or replaced underneath the passenger dash, I'm not sure.
We're expecting heavy rains here for the next 24-36 hours, and I'll keep an eye on the issue. If this happens again, I'll take it to my repair guy if completely necessary.:dunno:

Any input or advice with this issue would be awesome.

-East

 

[EastCoastImpalaLS]

Problem Solved

Hey guys,

Being new to the forum, I neglected to read the sticky thread about searching for your issue before posting a new thread about it, so I searched for the "passenger side wet floor" and found some good threads to solve the problem.

For what it's worth, I'll explain the fix I did and what the wet floorboard was caused by. I chose to check the seating and surrounding areas of the cabin air filter. I thought disassembling the air deflector vents under the windshield would be tough, but it was super easy (just needed a flathead screwdriver), and I followed the '03 Impala owner's manual instructions about getting to the cabin air filter/compartment, and referenced the thread (http://www.impalaforums.com/chevy-i...3-4-inches-water-in-passenger-floorboard.html) for pictures before I got started.

When I accessed the cabin filter, I saw the weatherstripping under the cowl vents that deflects water to the side of the car was detached and laying by the filter compartment. Also, I took out the cabin filter and found it was damp. Water was entering through it into the HVAC on the passenger side. It made my day when I found that had to be the only source of the problem. I reattached the weatherstripping, and took just a couple minutes to reassemble the cowl stuff.

Funny how a simple thing like this can cause so many headaches. Hope my spin on the issue does someone some good in the future.

My IOTM submission coming soon =]

Peace