96 legacy wagon 2.2 EAT,  has A/c

 

I read where a clogged drain could be causing water to come out on to my floor, 

I don't see anything dripping.

 

Today I put a zip tie up the drain tube that comes out of the firewall,, didn't see any water come out.

 

The carpet is really wet... if I push on it,, I can see standing water.    

 

Only on passenger side.   only on the flat part of the floor.

 

Anyone deal with this before?

 

I don't see any way for the plastic cowl to come off ,, (at the base of the windshield),,, to look for a plugged drain hole in there....

 

 

ive delt with this in other cars but not a subaru yet. have someone spray the car with a hose while you sit inside and watch where the water comes from.

it is possible that the drain hose is disconnected/broken inside the cabin...

 

or - you have a leak somewhere on the right side of the car...

 

or - your heater core is shot and leaking on that side...

You don't mention antifreeze, so i'll assume that we are talking water.  Rotted floorboard or a punctured but covered floorboard if it gets wet while driving ,  windshield seal or body seam if it happens sitting still in the rain . Running a hose works if you can expose enough to see where it enters. Sounds like a big leak so with help you should be able to track it down.

Does it have a sunroof? The drain tubes on the sunroof pop off and water runs down the inside of the A pillar trim and will fill the floor with water.

 

 

I've also seen the drain holes in the bottom of the door clog and water runs in from behind the lower edge of the door panel after the bottom of the door fills up.

 

Need to figure that out ASAP because the ECU is on the floor on that side. IIRC there is also another module under the passenger seat carpet.

No sunroof.

No antifreeze,, I changed heater core last summer.   The water is clear and no smell.

 

The hose inside the cabin looks in tact  as far as I can see, 

 

I think I will try some air up the drain tube in case the zip tie didn't do the job.

 

I can also check under the car and look at the floor pan..

 

but the hose treatment might be the way to go.    I just haven't seen a thing dripping.. Just a sopping passenger side floor.

no sunroof, not antifreeze, and the ACsystem drain tube appears to be intact....

 

you definitley have water getting in from somewhere - door/window seal, rust hole in the floor pan - something...

 

my best guess - unless your car is a rustbucket, would be a leak around/near the windshield on the passenger side somewhere since that is the side that is getting wet...

 

or as fairtax suggested, a plugged up door...

 

Door would be easy to eliminate quickly - just pop off the door panel and see if there is any standing water in there...

If not, back to the windshield area...

Blast a little compressed air up the hose first.  I have used a zip tie successfully in the past, but it is difficult.  If you can drop the pan below the evaporator, that would be the best way to clean it long term, but in many vehicles, you can't drop the pan without first removing the lines to the evaporator core.  Bad design in my opinion.

its been a while and the front passenger carpet is still wet.  

 

Went to carwash to get the salt washed off ,, there is a drip under the dash,, close to the pillar.  not Super far under the dash..  

something is leaking...

  Windshield?  

 

Im not going to pull the windshield.     Go get some silicone?  

I'm still going for the drain at the front of the windshield. Don't spray the entire windshield. Get a small funnel and run water JUST down that hole and see if your leak appears. Fingers crossed.

Update on my problem.

 

I took the cowl off above the firewall. 

There is a drain there,, and one on the drivers side.  Poured water down the holes.. didn't notice anything of note  no leaks visible in the cab.

 

As I had the passenger door open and feeling for leaks and observing the water pouring , I noticed  the  black door seal was not in the right place and  loose.

 

The water that comes out of the drain runs down the front of the door jam to the ground,,   very close to where the door seal would be working against water.

 

I THINK     (not confirmed)

That the water was running  down the drain  and  behind the seal of the door and into the cabin that way.

 

ruling out the impossible to find the possible here.

 

window looks fine, floor pan,  its not the heater core.   

 

The only other think I havenet  done is to shoot air up the exit hose of the A/C system.

well.. if you cant sort out where its coming from, or even if you can, just drill a couple little holes in the lowest parts of the floor pan. then even when you cross deep water it will all drain out and you wont end up with just under your carpet

I had a similar issue in my 2014 Outback, and it did turn out to be the a/c drain hose. I crawled under the car with an oral syringe (the kind you use to give kids medicine), put that in the hose and pulled the plunger and promptly got splashed in the face with a pint of water. It hasn't leaked since.