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Help With Identifying Where Rainwater Is Coming From

Gee-pah

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Hi All:

The floor carpet where the driver would place their feet when they are not otherwise on the pedals is sopping wet in my JLU. Perhaps you have ideas where I might look for the source of the moisture. The relevant facts:

  • The rubber floor mat above, which is cupped, so it would collect water (Bestop brand) is bone dry and has no holes in it.
  • The floor mats and carpeting everywhere else in the vehicle are/is bone dry.
  • Where I am located right now had a lot of rain last week.
  • I have a hard top in back and a Bestop Sunrider in front. The latter's latches were firmly closed. I cannot detect any trace of water from above, anymore than if I could, wouldn't the floor mat on top of the driver's side front carpeting have taken on moisture too? AS mentioned, it's topside is bone dry. Maybe direct exposure to sunlight dried it....?
  • For all the talk of limits in the rain gutters, particularly those of the Bestop Sunrider, which are somewhat covered near the windshield by the fabric cover, the vehicle hasn't been used. It's not as if water dripped down when I opened a door.
  • I've run wires from the engine compartment into the cabin via the grommeted hole under the steering wheel I believe normally used to run components of a standard transmission JL into the cabin (I have an automatic transmission.) I drilled through the grommet, ran my wires and sealed the grommet. As rain getting in is protected from the closed hood, certainly when the vehicle's parked, I just don't see this being the source of the moisture either.
  • The floor drain plug, having checked both sides of the driver's side plug (top and bottom, below the vehicle and above) is sealed. It has never been removed. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, water does not flow against gravity. I have absolutely no drainage problem where park, let alone did the water come above the 30" water fording clearance point.
  • The windshield is secured tightly. I don't see any water marks dripping down to where the water pooled in the carpeting. The dash and all else is bone dry.
~~~~~~~~~~

Maybe I just need to dry the area and run a hose over the top to see where the leaking point lies, but if you have any ideas I'm all ears.

Thanks.
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Mad Hatter

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I recently found the area below my WeatherTech Driver-side mat wet--at least very damp--as you describe. There are no holes in the WeatherTech mat other than the two "snaps" that hold the mat to the carpet. The drain plug was tight, no signs of leakage. No dampness on the sides or back of the footwell. I hope by coincidence I have the Sunrider top as well.

At some point over the last month or two, we had some strong rains in my area. Could that thin strip of exposed carpet between the door sill and the WeatherTech mat have gotten some water there, from either the infamous Wrangler gutter and/or the door being open when getting in/out? If so, that water might have migrated to the lowest part of the footwell, and was S-L-O-W-L-Y evaporating from that area fully covered by the WeatherTech mat. That's my best hypothesis for now.

I will look forward to subsequent posts to this thread!

Good Luck in your investigations!
 

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Sure the drain plug in the floor board under the carpet cutout, is tight?

and FYI: there is another plug under the seat.
 
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Sure the drain plug in the floor board under the carpet cutout, is tight?

and FYI: there is another plug under the seat.
Thanks Timm: I did NOT know about the plug under the seat... :)
 

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Hi All:

The floor carpet where the driver would place their feet when they are not otherwise on the pedals is sopping wet in my JLU. Perhaps you have ideas where I might look for the source of the moisture. The relevant facts:

  • The rubber floor mat above, which is cupped, so it would collect water (Bestop brand) is bone dry and has no holes in it.
  • The floor mats and carpeting everywhere else in the vehicle are/is bone dry.
  • Where I am located right now had a lot of rain last week.
  • I have a hard top in back and a Bestop Sunrider in front. The latter's latches were firmly closed. I cannot detect any trace of water from above, anymore than if I could, wouldn't the floor mat on top of the driver's side front carpeting have taken on moisture too? AS mentioned, it's topside is bone dry. Maybe direct exposure to sunlight dried it....?
  • For all the talk of limits in the rain gutters, particularly those of the Bestop Sunrider, which are somewhat covered near the windshield by the fabric cover, the vehicle hasn't been used. It's not as if water dripped down when I opened a door.
  • I've run wires from the engine compartment into the cabin via the grommeted hole under the steering wheel I believe normally used to run components of a standard transmission JL into the cabin (I have an automatic transmission.) I drilled through the grommet, ran my wires and sealed the grommet. As rain getting in is protected from the closed hood, certainly when the vehicle's parked, I just don't see this being the source of the moisture either.
  • The floor drain plug, having checked both sides of the driver's side plug (top and bottom, below the vehicle and above) is sealed. It has never been removed. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, water does not flow against gravity. I have absolutely no drainage problem where park, let alone did the water come above the 30" water fording clearance point.
  • The windshield is secured tightly. I don't see any water marks dripping down to where the water pooled in the carpeting. The dash and all else is bone dry.
~~~~~~~~~~

Maybe I just need to dry the area and run a hose over the top to see where the leaking point lies, but if you have any ideas I'm all ears.

Thanks.
OK I have this same problem and I systematically narrowed it down to the cowling.
I thought it was the drain plug so I sealed it. Still got wet. So I took the carpet out of the jeep and let my wife sit the drivers seat and went around spraying water.
I sprayed a hard blast of water all under the jeep...........nothing.
I sprayed around the doors.........nothing.
I sprayed around the cowling and it came pouring in.
I took the plastic cowling off and unfortunately there isn't anything really there that is obvious that would allow water into the cab. It's somewhere further down.
I need to get my wife to lay on her head in the floor and look up to see if she can see where it is coming in at and then figure out what has to come off to get to it.
Obviously getting my wife to lay upside down on her head is going to be the most difficult part of this task.
Ill keep you updated.
 

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OK I have this same problem and I systematically narrowed it down to the cowling.
I thought it was the drain plug so I sealed it. Still got wet. So I took the carpet out of the jeep and let my wife sit the drivers seat and went around spraying water.
I sprayed a hard blast of water all under the jeep...........nothing.
I sprayed around the doors.........nothing.
I sprayed around the cowling and it came pouring in.
I took the plastic cowling off and unfortunately there isn't anything really there that is obvious that would allow water into the cab. It's somewhere further down.
I need to get my wife to lay on her head in the floor and look up to see if she can see where it is coming in at and then figure out what has to come off to get to it.
Obviously getting my wife to lay upside down on her head is going to be the most difficult part of this task.
Ill keep you updated.
Thanks BK. That could totally be it. I will try cowl examination too.

You'd think more people would have this issue......?
 

m3reno

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There was a post a while back stating there was silicone missing between body panels underneath the cowl that let water in. If you do a search you should be able to find it. I think it even showed where you had to silicone
 
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There was a post a while back stating there was silicone missing between body panels underneath the cowl that let water in. If you do a search you should be able to find it. I think it even showed where you had to silicone
Sal, BK @captnjbk :

Is this what you guys are talking about:

 

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Take out the seats and carpet. Line the entire floor areas with paper towels.

Wash your car by hand and look for leaks?

Just an idea GL!!! :fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed:
 
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Take out the seats and carpet. Line the entire floor areas with paper towels.

Wash your car by hand and look for leaks?

Just an idea GL!!! :fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed:
I was thinking about doing that in the effected area under the steering wheel Chris but I've got a house fan blowing on the carpeting continually as it sits on my driveway, and hopefully this will dry it sufficiently along with paper towels and popping the Sunrider.

As discussed above I took the driver's side cowl off today and sure enough found plenty of places where the A pillar welds were not one continuous seam, where water could get in.

I sealed that up.

Hopefully that's the source of the leak.
 

devron

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Did anyone find a solution to this ? I have a 2018 JL with a Bestop Sunrider also, which I installed about 2 months ago. I am not suggesting the Sunrider is the cause, but it seems to be a common denominator here. I know it was dry a few days ago because I cleaned it. Yesterday after heavy rain the driver side floor carpet was soaked, but the top of the mat was dry. I saw no evidence of where the water intrusion is coming from. I have also taken the Jeep through a car wash several times since installing the Sunrider with no issues.
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