I have a leak inside the car

[CaliManDan]

My girlfriend has a 2003 Pontiac Vibe (base model). She went on a mini road-trip today of about 190 miles and after she got back she said that her passenger side floorboard was wet. Sure enough, the flat part of the floor where the passenger sits (where your feet would be resting) is wet and if you touch it, it has a strong and bad smell to it. What is causing this leak? Is it a serious problem that needs to be fixed now or can it wait? My girlfriend doesn't have a lot of money right now and can't afford to get it repaired at the moment if it's not a serious problem.

[scherry2]

http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=10977a/c condenser drain tube is probably loose

[CaliManDan]

I read through the entire thread. That might very well be the issue. But what's leaking in my girlfriend's car doesn't smell like water. If you touch your fingers to the carpet and smell your fingers it's got a real strong smell, unlike water. Is this just because it's been soaking through the carpet? Also since that thread was from years ago the pictures aren't showing up anymore. Where exactly can I find this tube? People said there are two locations, one is towards the rear left of the passenger foot area if you pull back the carpet. The other hose is higher up under the dash. And this may sound stupid but what am I looking for exactly? I read some posts that said their hose was "plugged up" while others said their hose was "loose". How could I tell if a hose was plugged up and how would I unplug it? And how would a loose hose cause the entire passenger carpet area to soak through if it still exits out the same place that a secure hose would exit?Not very mechanically inclined here....

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by CaliManDan »Also since that thread was from years ago the pictures aren't showing up anymore. a common disadvantage to posting pics on an external host rather than uploading to a thread here.Mine came off a few years back, If I remember it right, it's under the carpet, about where a passenger's left toe would be if they put their feet on the front of the front passenger floor pan. If you don't think it's water, the other possibility would be a leaking heater core and the fluid would be antifreeze. Sponge a bunch up and put it in a clear jar, see what color it is. (It's a 7 year old car, so the water might be fairly dirty, depending on what kind of usage that carpet has seen.) Also check the overflow reservoir under the hood to make sure there is some in there. If it is a leaking heater core, and money is tight right now, then a workaround (until the weather gets cold) would be to find the heater hoses under the hood, and disconnect them from the firewall, connecting them to each other, so that water flows throught the hoses, just not throught the leaky heater core in the dash. I can't remember if the hoses are both the same size, if they are, you could just remove one hose completely, and use the other hose to connect the two coolant outlets on the engine, bypassing the core.Odds are it's the common "drain hose got kicked loose" issue.

[WooTinn]

Or it could be a bad heater core. Does the liquid smell like antifreeze?I don't know where the heater core is located on the Vibe, but I do know that I had the same problem in my 1988 Mustang LX 5.0, and I had to take the entire dash out to replace the heater core, because antifreeze was leaking in.edit: I posted that before reading the above post. XP You beat me to it.

[CaliManDan]

To be honest, I'm not sure what anti-freeze smells like....but this stuff definitely doesn't smell like water. It's got a strong, bad smell to it. I don't have the car in front of me at the moment but I told my girlfriend to soak up the liquid with some paper towels and tell me what color it is. She said it's brown. Does that help identify it at all? I wish this could just be a hose kicked loose or something but with the smell, I highly doubt what's soaking into the carpet is just water.If anti-freeze is leaking onto the carpet doesn't that mean that it's taking it away from the radiator and so the car will eventually begin to over-heat?

[VforVIBE]

Does the Vibe have a sunroof by chance?

[CaliManDan]

No it doesn't. Here's more to add to the story...I had my girlfriend bring the car over. I turned the A/C on and let it run for a good 5 minutes...the wet spot on the passenger floormat got noticeably more soaked. I wiped it up with paper towels and both my dad and I agree that we think it's NOT anti-freeze but just really dirty looking brown water that might smell bad because it's moldy or mildewey. I took some pictures, this is from the passenger seat looking down at the floormat right under the glovebox:And this is what is behind the carpet in that corner...is the lower hose/tube in this picture supposed to be loose from the upper grommet? like that? Or is it supposed to be attached to it?When I put my hand under that upper grommet I can feel cold air coming out from the A/C but this can't be the cause of the leak because when I feel around the grommet it's completely dry and the carpet where that tube is located is completely dry too. Didn't someone else in another thread mention another tube that's more towards the under part of the passenger seat? How do I pull the carpet back to locate it? I'm having trouble trying to free the carpet. It's secured in.

[djkeev]

THAT IS you leak!!That hose drains the condensation out of the evaporator drain tray and channels it under the car. Every drop of humidity removed by your AC is dripping on your floor right now.Reattach that hose and put a zip tie or hose clamp on it to keep it from falling off in the future.That hose can clog with gunk. ALso the plastic housing may clog as well. Take a short piece of wire and push it both up and down before reattaching the hose. If that nipple is clogged the unit will overflow as another location in the drain tray.Dave

[CaliManDan]

Okay thank you I will be sure to do that. One question though as I'm just a little confused. I would think if that was the cause of my leak wouldn't it be wet around that tube also? It's completely dry all around that hose and the tube and that upper part of the carpet...it's only lower down on the carpet that it's soaking wet. And also I ran the A/C yesterday for about 5-7 minutes and not one drop of moisture came out of that tube...yet the wet spot lower down on the carpet seemed to grow larger...so how could that tube be the cause of the leak?I really hope you're right, because that is an easy fix but I just want to make sure. Can someone tell me where exactly the second tube is located? Is it lower down like underneath the seat area? How do I pull back the carpet to get to it? I may as well check that one too....Thanks for everything so far guys!

[Squatch]

When I pulled the carpet back on my daughters Vibe that hose was not attaqched on hers also. she was having a problem everytime it rained hard not necessarily from the AC. I figure the water was splashing up when she went through standing water since the tubes exit angle from the firewall would accomodate this pretty easily at speed. We'll see...

[ou.grizzly]

A small compression hose clamp (like the one they use on gas lines for outdoor power equipment) works wonders for this issue, much better than a zip tie.