Wet carpet under floor liners

So Ill throw "what happened to me" out there for you...I left my windows open, it rained, and it took FOREVER, and I mean, FOREVER for my carpet to dry. I THOUGHT they were good to go and all dry, installed my weathertechs, and nope...pulled one up a few days later, and WET! So, I had to actually LIFT the carpet up, held it up with a roll of duct tape (so useful that duct tape) and put a portable heater on a milk crate, aimed UNDER the carpet, and let it run for 12 hours, to REALLY dry out the carpet foam under/attached to the carpet..what a PITA...but theyre dry now..if you leave even a little moisture in your carpets, it manifests into the damn everglades in just a day or two...and youre back to square one...

So that being said, did you leave the window open? or door seals may have let water in during a wash...cause once its wet, it STAYS wet...

 

Didnt leave the window open- just took out the Husky liners one day and noticed the carpets were wet.
So far I have blown compressed air into the A/C condensation tube, lifted the carpet and inspected the rubber plugs in the floor(front and back), inspected the floor pans, weatherstripping, etc. Took off the cowling between the windshield and hood. Took off the inner fenders and cleaned out some leaves and debris. The carpet on both sides is soaked. Sopped it up with a towel and will blow dry it today.(been raining) So i will check today and see if any more water has entered the cab. I'm gonna silicone around the third brake light also today as some have said this is a water entry area. I will figure it out eventually The truck is super clean with minimal surface rust on the frame. All weatherstripping is in nice condition.

 

@robson1015 Seriously...if you dont get your carpets DRY..and I mean desert dry, they will be wet again tomorrow...with the humidity in Ohio, a lot like Michigan, man...it was an exercise in frustration...maybe leave your floor mats out for like a week...and see...

When I lifted the carpets, there were puddles on the chine areas of the floorboards...you may not have a leak, just continous moisture! Did they get snow under the mats over winter?

 

I'm not sure how the carpet got wet but it smells musty. I didnt get any snow or water on the floors. I'm gonna go see if the rain has made it worse. Its been raining for two days.

 

Good Luck!!

 

Got everything dried with a squirrel cage furnace blower(about 6 hours). Had the carpet pulled up and blew under it. Siliconed around the 3rd brake light. A/C seems to be working correctly. Went ahead and diverted the A/C discharge hose so it wasn't dripping on the frame. I will advise further after several days and after the next rain event. Thanks for all the input so far everyone. Research shows that this is a very common problem with Tacomas...

 

Hi Bob, that's a beautiful truck looks just like mine. You take good care of it! Always wanted to see mine with black rims. Next tire change, I'm going for it. Anyway, maybe you could put some cardboard in place of the floor mats to narrow down where the leak is coming from . Good luck in your endeavour

 

Thanx Rob- I'm 'all in' in preventing water from coming in. Next thing is I'm gonna seal the windshield with flowable silicone sealant.
The rims are painted steel original rims, turned out nice.

 

You'll want to remove and sun dry the carpet, upside down. Fans help, but it needs to be thoroughly dry, not surface dry.

Check the Center High Mounted Stop Lamp, and consider having the windshields professionally checked.

Just saw your update a few posts up. Keep the carpet out and have your GF hose the truck while you're sitting in it. Helps when the panels are removed as well.

 

Didnt take the carpets completely out cause didnt want to remove the seat with all the airbag wiring. Did pull up the front carpet and fan dried the floor/carpet. The rear carpeting was completely dry.

Did silicone around the 3rd brake light and i noticed the rubber seal at the bottom of the center rear window was split across the back. Was checking the drain hole in the back window track and noticed the rubber strip at the bottom of the window was split all the way across. Sealed it up with flowable silicone.

 

It can be normal for condensation to build up under rubber floor mats. Pull the mats out, set the hvac controls to the floor setting and check again in a week. If it's still wet you have a leak somewhere

 

Does anyone on here with Husky floor liners have wet carpets from condensation?? I have weathertech mats in my F150 and dont have an issue.

 

I have weathertechs, and like I said, any amount of water, seems to multiply. Snowy feet and they drip under the mat? Wet carpet..for DAYS and DAYS...the plastic/rubber doesnt let the fabirc material breathe and voila, wet carpet...

 

If you find that all of your previously mentioned efforts still haven’t kept water out, I have one more possibility although it doesn’t sound likely in your case.

If everything else fails, maybe check to see if you have pre-drilled holes in your roof for a roof rack, under the weather stripping.

I used to have a roof rack and when I took it off, that’s exactly where water would pool (driver and passenger side foot area) until I sealed up the holes on the roof with silicon.

Not sure if your truck has those holes from the factory, but I suppose it’s possible those are leaking just due to the age of the truck. Just a shot in the dark.

 

Thanks - It is the base model so probably doesn't have the holes but I will look...

 

@robson1015 they all have the predrilled holes, covered by clear tape. if you pull up your weather stripping, you will see them. If someone installed factory roof racks, they will peel off the tape, but the rack comes with adhesive washers for those particualr bolts to seal them, and you can install them without the washers...ask me how I know...

 

That’s good to know that all the trucks come with the wholes pre-drilled. I suppose it’s definitely possible that the weatherproofing under the roof strips has started to fail given the age of the OP’s truck. Especially since they just use that single piece of tape to seal the holes.

 

OP….Here’s a thread I did on how I waterproofed my roof rack holes after I removed my roof rack. If you’re interested. It’s been a while now and the seals I did are working perfectly.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/waterproofing-roof-after-roof-rack-removal.753989/

 

No holes on the roof.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2nd-gen-dc-oem-roof-rack-install.369400/