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Leaky Impala


LuminaPower92

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My mom just called me this morning about her 03 Impala having a soaked passenger side floor. It was damp when she first got it but not this bad. Anybody with some insight/ or experience would be helpful. I was thinking maybe the evap drain, but it leads me to believe something else.

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The leak is coming from one of two places...Either the AC drain is plugged, or the weather stripping under the passenger side windshield cowling is leaking. Either way, Pull up the passenger side cowling and if the cabin filter (if equipped) is wet, then that is your leak. If it is dry, than it is the AC drain. It is located on the firewall on the pass side. If you feel around for a rubber elbow that doesn't seem connect to anything, that would be it. Simply pull it off and the water should drain out. Then clean the rubber piece and put it back on.

 

Check out the thread i had made earlier this year when I had a leak issue. Stevo has images posted in there of the shield that he made for his car to keep this from happening. I plan on making one this spring for my car as well.

 

http://www.w-body.com/forum/index.php?topic=79425.0

 

And as for drying the carpet, make sure you lift up the passenger side carpet and really dry out the foam backing. The water on top is generally a fraction of what is underneath.

 

 

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The leak is coming from one of two places...Either the AC drain is plugged, or the weather stripping under the passenger side windshield cowling is leaking. Either way, Pull up the passenger side cowling and if the cabin filter (if equipped) is wet, then that is your leak. If it is dry, than it is the AC drain. It is located on the firewall on the pass side. If you feel around for a rubber elbow that doesn't seem connect to anything, that would be it. Simply pull it off and the water should drain out. Then clean the rubber piece and put it back on.

 

Check out the thread i had made earlier this year when I had a leak issue. Stevo has images posted in there of the shield that he made for his car to keep this from happening. I plan on making one this spring for my car as well.

 

http://www.w-body.com/forum/index.php?topic=79425.0

 

And as for drying the carpet, make sure you lift up the passenger side carpet and really dry out the foam backing. The water on top is generally a fraction of what is underneath.

 

 

 

The service manual says to insert a 10/32 drill bit 5 inches into the hole spin then pull out and apply silicone to rubber elbow, and tada your dry again!

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The service manual says to insert a 10/32 drill bit 5 inches into the hole spin then pull out and apply silicone to rubber elbow, and tada your dry again!

 

Whats a 10/32 drill bit?

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The service manual says to insert a 10/32 drill bit 5 inches into the hole spin then pull out and apply silicone to rubber elbow, and tada your dry again!

 

Whats a 10/32 drill bit?

 

Sorry, I gotta put it in Engineer speak 7.94 mm!

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The service manual says to insert a 10/32 drill bit 5 inches into the hole spin then pull out and apply silicone to rubber elbow, and tada your dry again!

 

Whats a 10/32 drill bit?

 

Sorry, I gotta put it in Engineer speak 7.94 mm!

 

Oh thats big, i was thinking like a 10-32 bolt sized drill bit which is alot smaller, like between 1/8" and 1/4"

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Does it have a sunroof? Could possibly be a plugged tube.

 

If no sunroof, I'd go with plugged A/C drain or bad weatherstripping as stated above.

 

Best way to dry the carpet is to pull that side up a bit, wedge something underneath it like a piece of wood, and put a fan on it and let it go until it dries out. You will have no problem getting the carpet dry, it's the foam backing that if it doesn't get dried out properly it will get moldy and smell terrible forever.

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^^OMG yes. My Beretta had the stupid wet carpet syndrome that all L-bodies do, and we "fixed" it twice, each time making it a little better but never truly gone. By the time I sold the car, it was really starting to smell.

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Went out in the pooring rain and found that the thicker part of the wetherstripping was facing down and the cabin filter was soaked and mildewy (hopefully more of the wetherstripping is supposed to be up to meet with the plastic cover) so I'm hoping that fix will stop the leaking... Forecast for the next week is rain :mad: so I'll find out. If not, I'll be making one of those plastic shields.

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