Water In back footwell of Jazz

[Type-R]

Hi guys, 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.

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.

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

[Type-R]

To add to the previous post... 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 Brisbane 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.


So at this stage i don’t know how it got there....

[0.o]

hey i got this too but it was in the front passenger side....and i think i ahve to same floormat as u too....

[EG5[KRT]]

maybe your a/c drain hole is blocked and seaps out into your carpet instead of under your car....

is it still under warranty ?

[sassy_fit_vtit]

^ Thats what i was thinking to, it happened in my 626.. -.-

[Type-R]

Thanks for all your feedback guys, really appreciate it!

0.o – Did u manage to fix your car’s issue? Yeah, the floor matt is a genuine Honda one that came with the car in 2003, so most likely the same as your’s.

EG5 – yeah I first thought about the ac waste water pipe too. But I thought that if it is the cause it would be leaking in the front & not the back. I know it could possibly drip to the back, but the jazz has the fuel tanks under the driver’s seat…so I thought it would act as a barrier stopping water flowing to the back footwell of the car.

Also, another thing I found out today, the Jazz’s exhaust goes right under the rear driver’s side footwell, so the fact that the heat generated by the exhaust didn’t cause it to quickly evaporate is a bit more worrying…I know there is a heat shield but I would have thought that some heat would still reach the floorboard & thus the carpet.

Unfortunately the car is out of warranty (finished in Oct 08), so the fix will be out of my pocket.

Does anyone know where the waste pipe is located for the AC? Passenger side of engine bay?

I downloaded the jazz / fit service manual but haven’t been able to locate.

[totti]

very common problem with cars that have been poorly repaired from any accidents???

[Type-R]

Fortunately it hasn’t been in any accidents, and we have owned the car since it was new in 03. It hasn't even been lent to anyone and over the last 2 years i have been the sole driver.

Whatever it is, I can’t understand why it happened so suddenly, so badly. I usually clean the car every fortnight and have never found any water in it before last weekend.

[EG5[KRT]]

have u tried the door panel membrane.. ? the either clear or polystyrene thing inside the door panel ? if thats broken it can sometimes let water in.

[fundies]

I've got an 06 model VTI, and it gets water in the boot ( spare tyre ) recess. It drove me crazy trying to figure out how it was getting in ( still working on it ) but when I pulled some plastic trim from the rear boot area, and poured water onto the rear tailgate/hinge area, a short time later I noticed water entering the car via a sheet metal seem. Put some silicon on it, and it seems to have helped somewhat, but there is still some water entering this spare tyre area from another location that I'm trying to track down.

I think it might pay some of the forum members to have a check of their spare tyre recess ( especially after heavy rain ), to see if they have a similar problem as well. We dont need rusted out boots

[Chundermuffin]

I've got an 06 model VTI, and it gets water in the boot ( spare tyre ) recess. It drove me crazy trying to figure out how it was getting in ( still working on it ) but when I pulled some plastic trim from the rear boot area, and poured water onto the rear tailgate/hinge area, a short time later I noticed water entering the car via a sheet metal seem. Put some silicon on it, and it seems to have helped somewhat, but there is still some water entering this spare tyre area from another location that I'm trying to track down.

I think it might pay some of the forum members to have a check of their spare tyre recess ( especially after heavy rain ), to see if they have a similar problem as well. We dont need rusted out boots

MY GOD! I have the same problem! I've got an '02 VTi-S, 3rd owner, had it since February, and it's obviously been going on for a while because I have a bit of rust near the tyre! I am afraid to park/drive my car in the rain Also, much like the OP (but not quite so bad), after heavy rain I noticed moisture under the right passenger seat!

I've called various smash repair shops/Honda shops (my car's not been in an accident, either) and they all deny that such a problem exists with these cars. I'm not so sure. Seems to be a problem overseas as well.

[fundies]

I'd say this problem could be quite widespread. Problem being, that no one usually looks in the spare tyre recess, especially after heavy rain. I've drilled a couple of small drain holes under the spare tyre, and they will remain until the leak source is found.