So I live in houston and as of right now, my wife and I dont have the luxury of a garage. It has been pretty rainy of late but rain never has been a huge problem in regards to where we live/flooding. Well I decided to take my car for a drive last night after a couple of days of just sitting in the driveway, and my wife and I would hear this weird sloshing sound coming from my side. Sounded like there was like a gallon or two of water/liquid just swirling around near the door side! We could only hear it when we were at a stop then accelerated or when we were accelerating and did a quick stop. The carpet was dry as could be, I checked the back compartments and they were dry. I checked the driver side door and nothing. Even unplugged the little stoppers at the bottom of the door and nothing really came out. It literally had sounded like there was a fish tank moving around. My wife thinks it was leftover water in the rear brake vents but I tried to check with a flash light and didnt see any build up of water there...Well this had me really scared so I went back out later last night to drive around and try to pin point the area but all of sudden I couldnt hear anything anymore. I went up and down the drive way and around the streets and the sound had vanished. I drove it to work this morning and it seems like it completely went away? Really confused, any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Sounds like you may have had an air pocket in your heater core. Check your coolant level.

 

Ok will do! Thanks brother for the reply...We were using the heater too last night for the first time in a while, Idk if that gives more evidence to the problem. If it was the heater core & coolant level is low, then would just a simple flush/refill fix the problem?

 

Well, it probably was in the frame. There are four oblong openings in the frame that could have allowed water in the frames which are rectangular tubes. Water could go in those holes and drain out as well. Be sure to check your passenger footwell and make sure there was no water near the BCM.

 

Ok will check this as well...is that normal or is there a way to seal up those openings? thanks for the info!

 

For sure, makes sense...So would this be considered normal then? it really freaked me out. Im glad I cant hear anything anymore but it was just really weird hearing it.

 

No i would not consider water inside the frame normal. No more than the flooding rains would be considered normal. In Fact, if the water got high enough to fill the frame, then I would be worrying about dampness inside the car as well. I would probably remove the seats and carpet if I found any dampness inside. Won't take long for it to smell like a gym bag in the car and there are some electronics that don't like water that are at floorboard level.

 

But thats the thing, my car was way up in the drive way. No way waters reached that high. I kept my eye on the rain the whole time too. It barely gets puddled up in our streets because the drainage is pretty good. I didnt feel any dampness by touching the carpet but I will soon remove it just to make sure. Honestly, I cant wait until we move and get our own garage. But until then, the houston weather can be a real pain sometimes.

 

Definitely going to check out all of these suggestions! Are the holes under the frame easily visible? I will put it on jack stands today after work. I dont think there are any rodents because I daily drive the car and it is parked in different spots some times. It was just a couple days since I drove it because of the weather. But I will definitely check that possibility out too!

 

Yes. the front ones are directly down from the door hinge seam. The rears are a foot or so forward of the wheel well. There is a cutout in the rocker panel where the holes are. The holes are about an inch and and eight long and maybe three quarters of an inch wide.

The original use of the holes is for tie-downs during shipment on a transporter. They are usually used by the owner as the reference point for jacking up the car. A hockey puck and a low profile racing jackare all you need.

 

Ok awesome. Will check it out today! thank you guys a bunch.

 

Hi
Probably way off here but any chance the wiper motor area has water in it

Due to blocked udders , just a thought mate . I have never had that problem so not sure if or what that would sound like .

 

I'd sure check that!

 

It sounds like wherever the water was had a slow leak that let it eventually drain.

Definitely check the udders/cowl area on the drivers side.

your description sure sounds like the door had water in it. I believe the rubber plugs would drain the door but then I'm recalling other drain holes in the door as well. Did you check if they were clear?

 

I didn't have much time today to check but I did check the udders, is there supposed to be a slit opening in them? One of them seemed to have an opening. Anyways, they had some debris in it but we're pretty dry. Yesterday when the sound was making noise I tried moving the door around and there was no indication of water being in the door. Left me feeling a little comforted that it wasn't in the door, but just left me more confused. It sounded like it was coming from my side but almost towards the back/door side. The rubber plugs were pretty dry though & gave no indication of a lot of water either. Well anyways the water noise is completely gone now. Coolant levels seems at a decent spot but I am going to flush it out soon bc I haven't yet flushed the fluid since purchasing the vehicle. I just pray there wasn't any permanent damage because of this.

 

I wonder if your drains around the rear hatch are plugged / slow draining. That would account for the sloshing sound being at the rear of the door. I'm not sure but I think there are four drains around the hatch (one in each corner).

 

Hmmm, that sounds reasonable too...Are these rear hatch drains easily visible from underneath? I will try to put it on jack stands today and check it out. Thanks for the input brother.

 

I don't know how visible they would be from underneath. I have a Z06 so the rear of my car is a little different and quite honestly never looked.

I would just pour some water in the track around the perimeter and see if it drains. If is does, no need to search further. A lot quicker and easier than jacking up the car.

 

Wise words lol Time for a car wash anyways

 

YOU HAVE TRAPPED water inside you HVAC AIR BOX.

Theres a rubber 90 deg fitting on the passengers side fire wall. Its there to allow HVAC Evaporator condensate to drain out of the air box.

NOTE!!! Check your passengers side carpet and under the carpet and see if it wet/damp.

Heres a picture of the fitting. You have to get UNDER the car to access it. The nipple end is stuck shut OR full of a SNOT stuff and the water cant drain.

If you pop the fitting off the pipe, and water gushes ou, you solved part of the problem. If no water comes out, the air box drain hole may be plugged. Use a tiewrap to fish in and push out the plug.














If you look at the rear of the passengers side head with a flashlight, you will see a bump on the fire wall where that fitting lives. Its VERY DIFFICULT if not impossible to access from the top.

Headers makes it FUN to access also!