Water under carpet potential solution

I’m just posting this in case someone needs it. I couldn’t find my answer so I decided to figure it out for myself. Long story short, whenever there’s heavy rain, flooding, or I drive my truck through a car wash with undercarriage spray, I get the funky carpet smell. I took it to Toyota once, they said they fixed it (claimed it was improperly installed drain plug in floorboard), no smell for 3 months after (even with some rain) and then it smells again after STL area had the worst rain in 100 years.

Yes I’m sure it’s not a clogged AC valve/drain (Toyota confirmed), yes I’m sure it’s not the plastic cowl between the hood and windshield (Toyota confirmed). No I do not drive through deep water or cross rivers. It’s a small puddle of water in the corner of the passenger floorboard that forms if I drive through rain. It doesn’t spread to anywhere else and it is not wet higher up near the firewall. I’m so f****** tired of ripping the carpet up to dry it out, Toyota did it once, so they’re out. This is what I decided to do:

After ripping the carpet up, I hung a box fan from a bungee connected to the holy shit handle on the passenger A pillar to dry it out as best I could.

The corner above the orange bungee where the black foam wedge is the target area that is always more wet than anywhere else and basically isolated to that area with an 9ish inch spread to other areas left and down.


These are the drain plugs Toyota said were installed incorrectly. My money is on the big one in the upper right since it sits right under the corner of the carpet target area I was previously referring to.


I FlexSealed all 3 of em. I know, “what if I need to use the drain plugs?” I don’t give a shit at this point, I’m done ripping the carpet up over this issue. I can’t confirm which one is the culprit nor confirm it’s just one of em so they all get the treatment. I put flex seal down and with a rubber glove, spread the seal all around the edge, then put the plug in on top of the flex seal; then proceeded to put a generous amount of seal on top (yes overboard but I’m at the end of my rope on this).


The other reason I think it’s this one is because it’s made out of plastic and not rubber like the other ones.

I’ll be completely honest on 2 points:
1.) I have no idea if this will work but based on all my looking around both on the floorboard and under the truck, these are the only holes I could find where water could come up from the bottom. I have checked for wetness ALL over and it’s just isolated to the corner floorboard.
2.) Underneath the truck, I found where those drain plugs are and I have NO IDEA how water could be splashing up through because of them being tucked back and up but water flying off a tire at speed can probably push it into some hard to reach places.

Again, I don’t know if this works, I’ll report back later on to give an update. If you got ideas, feel free to comment.

Oh and I did unbolt all 4 screws holding in my seat in order to get a little more room to roll the carpet back but ya might not need to do that. I just wanted to be thorough about chasing down the wet areas.

EDIT: No roof rack or sun roof. Basically stock Tacoma with a few unrelated mods

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/water-leaking-in-passenger-floorboard.750360/

 

Do you have a roof rack? It's possible water could be coming in from above and collecting where those plugs are. Just throwing that out there. Good luck brother!

 

I doubt any of those plugs are your problem. That body mount plug is basically on all body on frame models for the past 20+ years and doesn’t really serve as a water entry point. My guess is by the time it’s noticeably damp and smells like ass, whatever residual water trail up the A-pillar is gone. I’d be pulling the headliner on that side and A-pillar trim and running a hose to see where water entry point is.

Idk if you have a sunroof or roof rack. Even could be roof antenna. But I doubt the holes being sealed will fix your issue.

 

This was my issue. Water started showing up in the A pillars and on the passenger side floorboard after I removed my roof rack. Issue was poorly sealed roof rack screw holes (that were now empty because there was no roof rack anymore).

Nice write up OP.

 

Not the same problem, but thanks

 

No roof rack, I’m damn near stock minus a Diamondback bed cover and rims. I forgot to say no roof rack in the first post, thanks for the reminder boss

 

All this talk about roof racks makes me wanna check my roof seals where a rack would be installed. I’ll give those a quick look and respond

 

They’re definitely not gonna be the problem now haha. I’ll keep trying and thanks for the suggestion about the A pillar

 

If the problem persists, it might be worth checking out the factory seals on the roof rack holes even though you haven’t had a roof rack.

Toyota only seals them with a piece of all weather tape-stuff (technical term) and some paint that doesn’t seem like enough to keep it watertight at all.

 

Great minds lol

 

Since you already have the carpet pulled back this would be a good time to go the coin car wash with a friend. One sprays and one stays inside looking for the water trail.

Good luck and be sure to report back.

 

Here is the thread I started on the roof rack-hole issue, in case you need it:

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

 

Ok I checked my roof seals and they’re on there good and I don’t wanna damage the seal that’s currently on there. I read the thread you attached. If I still have water, I’m pulling those roof seals off and flex sealing the whole thing. I got a whole tube of this shit and I’ll flex seal the whole damn truck at this point haha

 

i have a leak in the same area but it's dripping from a seam in the evaporator box. gets really bad in hot and humid weather especially when using recirculate AC. the a/c drain hose is all clear which i was hoping to be the problem.

 

lol! That’s too funny, I have a can of flex seal just waiting in my basement in case my silicon job starts leaking. That flex seal stuff is liquid gold.

 

Could be 3rd brake light or rear window. If you have a leak in either water will make it's way to the front carpet on both sides. I just went through this.

 

That’s what makes me think it’s not the 3rd light because it’s always and only on the passenger side. I check both sides every time but bone dry on drivers side.

 

Your advice got to me finally and I got the hose out and blasted the passenger side roof seal on high for 10 mins and not a drop of water. I blasted the wheel well facing the firewall for 10 mins and not a drop. Not discounting this theory yet but it does give me some warm fuzzy that it might not be the roof or A pillar. I’m due for my 20k mile maintenance this week or next so I’ll tell em to hang onto the truck and figure it out. Also since it’ll be the 2nd time in for funky carpet, they said they’d warranty it and replace it. I’ve had the fan on it all day and it’s still got a foot smell to it.

 

got my ac leak fixed today at dealer. leaky evaporator box. here's what they did: