dr_whigham

Quick background-

I work offshore. Last Tuesday I left the house at 2am to be at the heliport for 5am to come out to the rig. We had a bit of a good downpour in South Louisiana.

So, I open the car door and notice a small puddle of water on the rubber part of the OEM floormat on the driver side. Pull up that fromt left corner of the mat; SOAKED carpet. At this point I'm beyond pissed. WTF is this, a Targa Top C5? (Had issues with my last one I had to fix)

So I get off the rig on the 31st. Can't wait to smell the interior when I get in, but I'm hoping it just dried and went away.

I guess my question is, for the C6, and Z06 at that, where should I be looking for possible places for water to get INSIDE the car? It's the drivers side only, clutch / dead-pedal area.

My plans when I get home:

1) Pull the wipers and remove the cowl (check udders? C6 has them as well?)
2) Pull the driver foot-well plastic, lay down upside down (somehow) and have the wife run a hose on the "shower setting" on the driver's side windshield and look for the leak.

Has anyone else had this issue? I remember laughing at the C5 Z guys and their leaks.
Now here's me with a C6 Z having the SAME f*cking issue. Karma...

Landru

What a bummer, what's worse is *I* haven't heard of this problem, have been around 10+ years over several Corvettes up to my Z06.

Something really stupid to check, because this just happened to me.
Confirm your window's indexing, I know...dumb.
If it isn't indexed window's open just a enough to allow water inside cabin, outside in a downpour make it loads.

Had my car in for service & replaced battery, power disconnected.
Dealer's Z06 guy's good, drives one himself so I know he indexed both windows yet unbeknownst to me for several days my side wasn't indexing. Re-indexed & all's golden.
Believe me it's hard to notice, until it's observed.
Confirm.

dr_whigham

Oh yeah, been there done that. As a matter of fact when I went to PICK UP the car when I first bought it, I found it odd the window wouldn't go back up after opening the door. Did the re-index on the drive home, lol.

It's definitely not the window. I just haven't heard of this on the C6Z's before

dr_whigham

As an aside, the windshield HAS been replaced....

stefuel

The floor pans are only glued in place. If you don't find a leak any place else, pull the drivers side seat and carpet out and check the glued joint. Hit the joint from below with a hose while watching. Don't forget to put the seat bolts back in first.

MTPZ06

Was going to say that if this had been done...that's most likely the culprit. If you know who replaced it, and there's a warranty on the install, I'd have that looked at.

Landru

Bingo doc, you found the leak.
You may not have heard reports of leaks following a bad windshield install, but I sure have. Now, 'just' get it sealed properly.

dr_whigham

I'm leaning towards that as well. I think a "construction rock" has damaged it and I'm afraid I'm going to have to use my once a year windshield replacement coverage...

I'd still like to confirm for myself though. I'll diagnose when I get home and post a few pics wherever it is that I DO find the leak. Maybe it will help someone in the future as well.

Tech

I had this issue with my C5 Z06. Water would get between the weatherstripping and the channel that holds the weatherstripping on the A pillar. I never was able to make it completely go away, so I just made sure I parked it inside.

dcamick

dr_whigham

Windshield was replaced right before I bought it (traded-in cracked). No warranty... Either way a complete replacement is free so no biggie. I just want to pin-point it first.

I'm also going to check grommets at the firewall and the whole 9 yards. Pulling the wiper arms and cowl doesn't bother me in the least, so we'll find it one way or the other.

stefuel

So what's the skinny? Did you locate the leak?

dr_whigham

I'm not off the rig until Tuesday the 31st (deepwater drilling) but plan to pull driver side plastic at a MINIMUM.... then wipers and cowl if needed.

I think I know why the windshield was replaced though. Apparently something NAILED the previous owner, bc one of the wiper arms has quite the gouge in it.

Long Barrel Colt

Heater core? Cracked evaporator tube

dr_whigham

No, it was parked out of the garage that day and rained that evening. It was definitely rain water.

Jake5670

I would bet it is the windshield too... but worth checking the other areas you have noted.

KS_Vette

I had what seemed like the identical problem to this, late last summer. I never did figure it out, but it went like this:


It was in an 09 Z06 I bought at the end of July '15. ~8500 miles then.


First saw it when a freak downpour soaked the car when parked outside of work. When I went to drive it home, an hour later, there was so much water in the driver floorboard and on the dash area above in places that my shoe almost slipped off the clutch pedal, which was wet too! At home, I had to remove the floor mat, set up a fan, and run a dehumidifier in the garage to get it all dry before next day.


The next time the car was caught in rain, it happened again, but less.


A few rains later... and it does not happen any more.


My only guess is that, as this was sort of a garage queen before I bought it (7+ years old and only averaging a little over 1k miles a year) that a seal was dry and had shrunk. But I'm no Z06 or even Vette expert, it could have been something else.


Erick

dr_whigham

No progress was made on this whatsoever.

I would up bringing the car in for the seat wiring airbag recall and told the service manager about the leak. He asked if it was coming from the top, then laughed and "said never-****ing-mind, I'm an idiot. C6 Z... Duh"

They're going to locate it for me and fix it while it's there for the recall. I asked him to snap a few pics for me when they locate it and what they fix it with. I'll keep you all abreast...

dr_whigham

Final update:

Sorry it took a while wading through ten thousand ******* ADS in this section... JESUS

Anyway, when they did the master cylinder recall the seal at the firewall apparently rolled. The tech was installing another one and he SAW it happen, and that's when he put two and two together and checked mine.

So, airbag light fixed and the water ingress is now gone.

Now, back to your regular scheduled advertisements and about 20% tech.