Greetings, I thought I would document a few places where water was leaking into my 1989 and pooling under the carpets in the foot wells. Notes with repairs between the photos below. Also carefully check the metal frame that goes around your sunroof. Sometimes it shifts or loosens from the plastic roof and water can get in that way too. Hope this helps.

1.) I have the garden hose placed on the middle of the dash, but to pinpoint where the water is entering the car, start from one side and go to the other side -- go about 10 inches at a time little by little -- looking inside the car each time you move the hose. I already knew the windshield was not leaking, it was a dash/firewall problem, and pulled up the carpet on both the driver and passenger sides as shown below.



2.) This is the passenger side. There was a small crack about an inch long in the bottom right hand corner floorboard. Water was running down the OUTSIDE of the body and entering in through the crack and pooling under the carpet. The white filler is JB Weld Plastic Bonder for fiberglass. I applied a generous amount and sealed it.



3.) Next is the drain tube for the cowl tray on the drivers side. The tube was working fine, but the water was draining out of it, running down the body, and getting through the firewall some place and pooling under the carpet. There is little room to access or see where it was entering the firewall, I still don't know, so I decided to re-route the water with some plastic tubing. Now the water hits the ground directly, and not the body. I used twist ties to secure it.





4.) That same driver's side drain tube had a hairline opening next to it, (about 1 inch long and 1/16 of an inch wide), allowing water to run down the body and get in through the firewall as described in #3 above. I removed the cowl and sealed it with some flowable silicone. The silicone is the greyish colored patch.





5.) Water was also coming in on the driver's side next to the clutch fluid reservoir. I used some HushMat to seal it.



It seems to me that over time, whether it's a small or major accident, or just age, the body can shift a little causing these small openings. I won't know until the rainy season comes just how well these seals hold up, but after testing it with a water hose, there is a definite improvement. I hope this gives someone a few places to check if they too have water under the carpets in the foot wells of their car. Salute !

 

Thank you for posting this! I just pulled all of the carpet in my '95 coupe, and I've found soaked padding underneath. It looks like one of the culprits is a 1/2" hole that the previous owner had cut in the firewall for an amp power wire...but he didn't seal up the hole around the wire.

I've got some rust (and wetness) to the left of the clutch pedal, so I know that the hole isn't the only source of leakage. I'm going to check out the different areas that you've recommended.

 

I just saw your post now rimo, (almost a year later), and glad I could help. Those who are able to lift up their car in the air can also look under the body for any stress cracks/holes around the floor as well.

 

UPDATE: I successfully sealed the small cracks under the carpets as described in post #1, but after a year and a half of driving (with the body shifting/twisting), I noticed a little dampness in the carpets again, and a couple hairline cracks developed in the repaired area, so it needed to be 'touched up' in the exact same spot with a bit of fiberglass again. Lesson here for me is preparing the surface for the repair from the very beginning is important. Salute !