Hi guys,

First time poster, looking forward to making a lot more in the future!

Unfortunately my post is on a negative topic, being an issue with water coming into the rear driver’s side footwell. I was vacuuming my car on Sunday and found a very unpleasant surprise when I lifted the matt for the rear passengers driver’s side footwell.. The whole carpet was saturated with water (when u push your finger into it, u can see water ooze out). For the last two weeks I have noticed the car has been smelling musty, and almost every morning the windows would be misted out. I now know why...

I even got my brother to wet the whole side of the car & then force water into the door gap /seal while I sat inside to see if I could see anything or hear water coming in...but nothing.. The rubber seal on the car (not the door) was even 90% dry.


I also checked / know the following didn’t happen:

- I haven’t driven the car through water. The drainage around my area is pretty good despite all the rain Australia has had, so the water on the road has been fairly minimal.
- The car has been parked undercover all week even when I took it out.
- I don’t have any bottles of water or liquid in the car that could have caused this.
- I know that the water is not coming from the boot as I have already checked.
- I hadn’t recently put any windows down in the car, and if I had accidently, it would have been by a small bit as otherwise I would have noticed...
- The car hasn’t been in any accidents on that side in the 5.5 years we have had it
- I’ve checked under the car to see if a rubber grommet has come loose, but there is a heat shield for the exhaust that adds an extra layer of protection from water.
- I’ve check the hood lining & it is 100% dry.
- No one has travelled in the back of the car for the last month, which could have somehow caused this to happen.


P.S I’m from Australia – the car is a 2003 Jazz (FIT) 1.5L Vtec CVT and so the water is on the rear right side of the car looking though the front windscreen (we drive on right side of the road).

Pic of the car's carpet once the mat was removed.


The carpet side of the mat was pretty dry, but the rubber side was wet.


A close up of the water. When u push into the carpet, water oozes out



So i’m asking whether anyone knows a possible cause for this? I don’t want to sell the car just yet, so if i can fix this would be great!

 

Check that your air conditioner drain isn't blocked by dirt or debris. The evaporator is behind the dashboard, and if the drain is clogged, water that condenses out of the cooled air will back up and spill into the carpeting. If the air conditioner is running, you should see water dripping onto the ground under the car. If not, well, it's going SOMEWHERE.

 

My 07' leaks in the rear. after a rain i can see where the water collects in the door gasket and eventually drains over the side of the interior.

 

wow...thats not ummm....good

 

My '07 has same problem as Squab describes. The dealer changed the door seal, but this did not resolve the problem. I am currently negotiating with them to replace the body seal (Which made more sense to begin with). If you have the same problem as mine, it will only manifest itself when the car is stationary during a downpour. While driving, even during heavy rains, the water doesn't have a chance to pool at the base of the body side gasket and ultimately overflow first to the small well to the outboard side of the driver's seat, then to the low point at the rear seat support latch bracket. To confirm, stuff some paper towels into the outboard well before the next heavy rain, let the car sit thru it, and check afterwards if the towels are wet. I can't say for sure this is what's occuring with your '03 Jazz, but believe me, I went thru a lot (Including the A/C drain Uncle Gary prudently recommends checking) before I found this. Good luck. I'll let you know if replaceing the body gasket solves the problem.

 

i have the problem too. i recently discovered it but im too lazy to tear apart my interior and water test all the seams so after this summer i am just going to buy a waterproof car cover. the easy fix. haha

 

I had this EXACT same problem. rear right (if in the center of the car) underneath the carpet is leaking water, UNDERNEATh the damn carpet. WTF lol. But mine didnt have a trace of where the puddle leads from. IT was just a blob of water in the middle of the carpet. Like there was no trail, from the door, or anything

I made a thread about this, but since mine is a 07 tafetta fit, everyone treated it like it was crazy cuz the car was so new. Took it to dealers, nobody did crap. "uhh we did water tests, n no water got it wet."

Hmm hope theres a solution to this, as I only had this problem once, after a large downpour, and it hasnt rained like that since, so I cant figure it out. Ill be keeping an eye on this also, and if I find a solution i will post on all these water problem threads. Sighhhh...



Oh, people said these may help:
-Sealing the rubber seams on top of the roof, with silicone or something. Some say it leaks down all the way down there, but i would expect that to mess up the headliner :-\

-Carcover.
-

 

I have some good news, I discovered how the water got into the car!

Jazz GD3 – Hopefully this will fix your problem too. Even if your car hasn’t had any dents removed, the door lining may need re-gluing.

To those who r interested, this is what happened……

After taking the car apart and being completely baffled, I finally had the chance to put the car out in the rain on Sunday. I had to sit inside for like 15 mins watching the back door to discover where the water was coming from. After taking the door lining off last week, I was able to see clearly that the water was coming from the inside plastic lining. It was only a few drops, but over 45 minutes the water started to build up (see pic 5). To my surprise, whilst sitting in the car I saw a small drip come down from the driver’s door (see pic 3) ending up in the rear footwell. Basically the reason why it happened that day was a combination of 3 things.

1) What happened to me was an unusual event. For the few drops of water coming from the 2 doors to cause any issues (i.e start soaking the carpet) the car need to be parked on a hill (nose facing up) for at least 90 mins to even have a chance of the water touching the carpet. It has to be heavy rain for the fulltime. That day my car was parked out on a hill for 10 hours. It was the most rain Brisbane had had in 20 years!

2) The reason why the plastic lining is leaking is due to it being removed twice before to have a few dents fixed up on the door (not accident damage). If the glue around the bottom of the door starts getting minimal in that area (i.e. due to the lining being removed a few times) you will experience the same problem as I did.

3) The Jazz has a slight design fault. If the door seal thing (the white plastic) is never removed, it won’t be an issue. But if it is removed even once for a dent to be fixed, then the flaw will come out. The issue is that the interior door trim ends before touching the car body’s rubber (See pic 6). So if anything leaks in the door it comes into the interior, as in my case. What Honda should have done is made the interior trim go right down and finish where the rubber is (so it meets it). That way the water can escape out and not get trapped in the interior of the car. However, I’m not sure if doing this would cause other issues.

At least the fix should be relatively cheap. Just need to source some of the new Glue to make sure those white plastic things are well stuck to the doors.
Hopefully this doesn’t happen to anyone else (the issue will only emerge when there is an extremely heavy, constant downpour). However if you see the same thing with your Jazz as in pic 2, then it is likely your car has the same issue as mine.

It pays for every Jazz owner to check all 4 doors to see if they have water pooling as in pic 2. If you do most likely you will one day have this same issue.

Front Door


Front Door


Front Door


Rear Door


Rear Door


Rear Door


I’m going to put an extra lining inside each door, to ensure this doesn’t happen again. I want to make it more water tight than Noah’s arch.

Thanks to everyone for their help and input!

Jazz GD3 or anyone else let me know if you need any further info – I’m happy to help!

 

Wow, that's a great find! I checked, and sure enough water was trickling out of the bottom of the door right wear you said. Thing is though, I've never had the door panel off. I'll be showing the dealer your pics and have them remove the panel to inspect. Thanks so much!

 

This may be the solution to my problem, hopefully.

SUR-V, did the water in the rear carpet have a trail like shown in your pics?
I dont recall seeing any water marks or trail on the plastic underneath the doors.
Is it probably only evident if I take off the door panels?
Or did you see those trails before you took off the door panels?
My puddle of water, I didnt find a trail or where the source is coming from.

Oh also, I'll be checking if the plastic lining shield inside the door has a messed up seal. What type of seal/glue did you use?

Many Thanks!

Own thought: Dang, even if i actually did do all this, I got no way of actually seeing if it is fixed cuz it isnt raining. But rain sucks anyways.

 

MarcoM, yeah if you haven’t had the doors off, maybe the glue wasn’t enough originally? On the other rear door, i do also have water collecting in the body seal as in pic 2 (though not as much)....and that door has never been off too. The Jazz/Fit must be very temperamental with that particular section needing a lot of gluing.

 

Jazz GD3 – hopefully this answers your question/s. I’m not entirely sure if you’re asking about the water trail in my original wet carpet pic, or the solution post with trail marks in pic 1,2, & 4?

- By trail do you mean how the car carpet got wet originally in the first picture I posted? I think the reason why mine has trails all over the place is that my mat has rubber studs that go to grip the carpet (my mat is a gunnie Honda one from 03). Yours being a 07 model (it if is like the 06+ ADM ones) won’t have these studs, but rather a grid pattern... If this is the case it explains why your water pooled in 1 place and didn’t go all over as in my case. The reason is with mine when the water hit the studs on the mat it had to divert either left or right (the studs are laid out in a diamond pattern), due to the mat studs being embedded firm in the carpet. Yours having the gridded pattern will be just sitting ontop of the carpet, allowing the water to flow in a constant directional stream and only pool in 1 spot.

- If u can put a pic of the underside of your mat up i can explain what i mean...or if u have no rear mat at all then this will explain the single pool of water.

- The water trail marks are really hard to see. In the case of my car, the pic of the driver’s door with the water going into the car after collecting on the rubber (pic 2) is only evident for about 2-5 mins after it rains. I had to literally take a pic as it stopped otherwise it disappears. Also, the cleaner and the newer the car is, the less dirt will be in the door, so when the water passes through it has less grit to pickup and will be less likely to leave a trail. Mine being a 03 is 4 years older than yours, so i imagine yours would be pretty clean being new.

- I haven’t sealed the plastic yet... i called my local dealer and they can only supply the new plastic for the front door (AUD $17) back door (AUD $13) but can’t supply any glue. I’ll have to call some panel beaters to see if i can buy some off them. I think i will only need the glue. The plastic is fine..

The easiest way to know if my solution will fix yours, is to put the car in the rain (or possibly soak the door for atleast 5 mins with a hose) and if u see what i had in pic 2 in my last post, then you have the same issue as I.

Let me know if your were asking about another trail....

 

Also another supporting factor that the door lining leaking is the culprit is.... if u have a look at the pic below u will see that the area of the mat right behind the legs of the driver seat (where it bolts into the chassis) is perfectly dry. This further support the fact that water coming from the front door (as well as the back door) caused the problem. When it came in from the driver’s door it would have hit the driver’s seat legs & diverted either left or right leaving the mat in that section 100% dry.


I think the driver’s door was 65% the cause of the water coming in and the rear 35%.

Finally as others have said, the door/s won’t leak if u drive the car in the rain. Only if it is parked out in the rain. I drove my car in pouring rain and it was 100% dry. Even when i stopped at the traffic lights for 2 mins nothing came in.

 

Thanks SUR-V,

my mats look exactly like your mats on the bottom end. Its rubber mats with those poky things.
The water problem also occured after a hard downpour overnight. So it seems to be very very very similar to what you have. HOPEFULLY.
yeah for the water trail, i referred to the pic 1,2,4, that I didnt really see those pouring down from the black panels underneath the doors. the water happend to just be like the pics in the first post of your thread, but on the sides, its not soaked, whereas i couldnt find where it was coming from, (thinking that the water has to come from somewhere, but there wasnt any marks)

im certain this is it. ill repost here if it is what it is.

 

Kudos to you SUR-V. The dealer removed the door lining, and sure enough, there was a gap in the sealant at the bottom, and a trail of mineral deposits running out to the bottom of the door panel. Thanks for your help in resolving this.

 

Should i put more glue on the inner plastic? btw, what kind of glue that the OEM used as "white paste-like glue"?

 

Sorry, I don't know what kind of sealant they used. I checked the service manual, but it doesn't list it. All it says is: "When installing the door panel, make sure the plastic cover is installed properly and sealed around its outside perimeter to seal out water." If you find out, post it.

 

I wish all new members were as useful as you are!

 

Yes i had the same problem in the begining when i bought my car.
One day after an heavy rain i open the passenger rear door and it look
like a pool, damn a new car.
I whent to my local dealer and even after 3 times they coldn´t solve the problem. Even them don´t no how to solve this.
So the last time they removed the rear door and seal it, and they applyed a special ink underneat the car for seal it , they say.
And at this days i don´t have no more problem.
2005 Jazz

 

Wow

Thanks for finally having a place where i could find out what the problem was in my 07 Fit.

My fit decided to have a small lake in the back passenger seats. After confirming that:

1) i was out of warranty
2) the dealer wants a small fortune
3) the damn windows are the cause of the leak
4) i have to park on an incline....my driveway is like that...
and
5) florida has a hell of a lot of rainy days



i bit the bullet and did this to help resolve my problem.

After removing my door panel and peeling back/drying my door liner, I did a patch over the center section of my door panel (duct tape ftmfw) to hopefully prevent water from intruding further onto the liner.

I did it back to back so that there was no sticky side facing the window mechanism to snag the motor or foul it up. Should have taken pictures but didn't figure i would post...hah

All i really had to do was make sure there was a slot for the wiring that i didn't feel comfortable replacing and that the entire center part was sealed. That section was where my water problem poured in from (/fail design).

After resealing the plastic liner and ducting over that.....i tested it out.
(Maybe a bit overkill on the duct tape but my fit now has the pungent aroma of death...which is making the wife not happy...)

No more leaks!


Also, the duct tape solution was recommended by the auto parts guys at autozone, walmart, some random guy who was listening at autozone and
my grandfather. I just got it in black so that it blends well with the door frame. It's not like you see it since it's covered up by the panels anyway. If worse comes to worse, it'll peel off eventually....