Wadoka

Situation: My '99 FRC was parked today facing directly uphill at about a 10 degree slant, when a mild rainstorm hit.

Afterwards, when I returned to the car, there was about a half-cup of water pooled on the rubber anti-wear part of the stock floormat, directly below the brake and clutch pedal.

So it appears to me that being parked uphill like that allowed the rainwater to find a path through the firewall?

Have any of you experienced this before, and were you able to get it fixed? I'm long out of warranty. I am seriously hacked off about this, and worried about potential damage to the electronics behind the dash panel.

MC TORCH RED

a/c evap. tubes clogged up, common problem on some c-5's e z fix. the dealer fixed mine in a couple of hours free.

runamuk

If you remove the plastic panel at the rear of the front wheel wells you'll see the nipples that are supposed to allow water to drain, my guess is yours are clogged with leaves and other debris

ken-rx

a/c drain is clogged. Its behind the battery under the hood. remove the batttery, battery shroud and you'll see a rubber elbow sticking out. Thats the drain. Pull it off, its probably loaded with junk.

DAWS C5

Unfortunately, all the responses so far refer to water on the passenger side. That's what's caused by the A?C drain tube clogging.

Don't have any idea what could cause your problem. Sorry.
:seeya

Flyin'Brian

Unfortunately you might have to try and make it happen again to find out where it's leaking in at. Park it back in the same place pull the plastic cover from under the dash and get out the garden hose and flood the windsheild and cowl vent area and see if you can see where it's leaking in at.

IM QUIKR

Just my guess, but if you follow the advice above and remove the wheel well panel behind the front left tire, you'll see the firewall and 3 big rubber nipples hanging down. These direct the rain water away from the firewall. pull them all down, they pop off easily. Clean them out and put them back. What may have happened is that the rain water drained thru those nipples(love that word) and ran back onto the firewall via the hood latch cables. While flat and level the water would drip down. On a hill it could run back in the car. From what I understand the AC is on the passenger side. that should not be your problem.
I have just been in that panel noted above to install gauges so even possible to do it with the tire on and car on the ground. There are (9) 7mm screws to remove (6 in the wheel well and 3 below the panel. drop it down and turn the wheels to the left. Here's a picture of what's there.

You can see the cables there as well.

dpd

open the hood and look down near the wiper motor in the plenum.the drains[2] may be clogged and the wiper motor may be under water.if the drains are clogged,the water comes down through the grommet.just a thought.

LoneStarFRC

I have a tip that may save you some time checking on these three nipples. Depending on the size of your arms, it is possible to reach down from the top of the car and slightly squeeze each of the three nipples from the side, in order to force the slit at the bottom open. I've been doing this so long now that I will occasionally check them to clear leaves, etc and can do this very quickly. You can only use one hand to do this though. Between the fender and the brake booster there is a open area where you can stick your left arm in. (Removing watches and/or rings is helpful) I've learned to squeeze the slit open at the bottom and stick a finger into the opening to drag or pull any leaves, etc out at the same time. Remember, there are three of them and one is further back than the other two and requires you to reach a little further. Give it a try. HTH


Robert

Kinda sounds pornographic doesn't it? :lol:

Wadoka

Thank you, guys.

I'm away from my car until Friday, but I'll go check the locations suggested.

About the pic - what am I looking at? Is that 'down' into the space behind the wheel, or 'back' towards the firewall?

~

IM QUIKR

That picture was taken looking backward from the front left tire to the firewall. The black cow utters in the upper left are the nipples to drain the rain water. This is what you should see once the panel is removed.


[Modified by drcoffee, 7:02 AM 3/17/2004]

LoneStarFRC

Did some more looking at mine last night. If anyone has an A4, I assume you will have even more room to reach down there than me since I have to slide my arm down between my clutch master cylinder reservoir and the fender. Regardless, there is sufficient room to do this without removing any panels.
HTH.
Robert


[Modified by LoneStarFRC, 8:32 PM 3/17/2004]

Bill Curlee

Take my advice! You have clogged driver side cowl drains and the is leaking in from the wiper motor wiring harness/fire wall plug.! The next thing to stop working will be your wipers!! The wiper motor will flood out and your wipers will become possessed then they will stop working if you do not clean out the drains!!

Do not worry about the dash electronics! The wiper motor wiring harness is below the dash electrical components!
Bill Curlee




[Modified by Bill Curlee, 10:05 PM 3/17/2004]

almosttherec5

going to have to try this. mine is leaking on my foot!