Hi! I, like many first gen owners, have a leak in my car. It seems to be coming up from the bottom of the car and into the passenger footwell, but when I tried spraying water all over it didn't seem like it was coming in from anywhere I was spraying. I even tried spraying into the wheel well and had no luck there either.

I notice that when I drive through water, even if it isn't a puddle and there is just some water on the ground, it seems like water is getting into the car. It would appear that my passenger side fender liner is missing though, so maybe that's what that is, although that could be the source of the leak. I don't really know.

I like to think I know a little bit about cars, but truth be told I don't really know what I'm doing all too well. (I've replaced my own coil packs and I know how to change my own oil, but my knowledge pretty much ends there.) Any thoughts (preferably explain like I'm 5!) would be welcome, thank you so much!

 

Can you confirm that the passenger side wheel well liner is missing? It's not quite clear from your description. Can you also confirm that your leak happens when there's water on the road, but doesn't require active rainfall?

Let's assume that the leak is most likely coming from water thrown by your tires. Even without the liner I wouldn't expect a leak on a new car in this scenario. However, yours is 15-ish years old, so it's likely that the seam sealant used between body panels has cracked, which could allow water to get in when thrown from the tires. Another thing to consider: whatever caused the liner to disappear (assuming it's gone) might have damaged the body panels. Finally, there are holes through the firewall for wires and hoses to pass through. I'm not sure if there are any on a Fit in the location where you're getting a leak, but there could be. These holes are sealed with rubber grommets, which can pop out and allow water intrusion. I had that happen in a previous car (on a tropical island where it rained pretty much daily) and it was a mess until I figured out the problem.

My advice would be to take a careful look at the wheel well to see if you can find damage, cracks in the seam sealant, or missing grommets. I would get the front of the car on jack stands and remove the wheel so you can get up close and personal with the problematic area. Then move to the interior and check on the floor and up the firewall as far as you can reach. If you want to do this properly, you're going to have to pull the carpet back, which isn't hard to do (at least on a 2010 Fit), but does involve removing interior plastic trim.

If that's out of your league, a decent mechanic or body shop should be able to figure out where the leak is coming from and can likely fix the problem (e.g., apply new seam sealant if yours is compromised). Good luck.

 

My car was leaking into the passenger footwell as well — seems it may have been coming in through the door panel and dripping off the speaker there. I stuck a piece of plastic sheet between the door and door sill right under the speaker shutting the door over it to hold it in and (knock on wood) haven’t noticed any water in the footwell the past two years.