wet carpet in cabin of 2006 VE SS!

[firie]

G'day to all,


I have had a 2006 VE SS commodore for a couple of years now. I don't know if its because of its age but it's starting to give me a few problems and has cost me a bit of money recently!

My latest saga is water getting into the cabin!! At first I thought it was just the rear foot wells. Further investigation showed that both the passenger and drivers side carpet (against the firewall) is all wet as well!!

I have read a few posts in regards to this as it seems it was a problem with VE's but none with a resolution to the problem. Has anyone experienced this? What was the solution?

I love the car but it's starting to cost me a bit of money lately!!

Cheers in advance.

[firie]

Ok it is worse than I thought!

Just went out to investigate further....

Carpet on top feels dry in majority of areas. However, when carpet is lifted up it wet everywhere!!! The whole floor of the car is wet!! In fact in some areas it is pooling!!

What the hell am I going to do?

[ssv402]

Personally I would be getting a professional to look at that and clean it up ASAP before it causes permanent issues, and then sell it! I seem to recall people having issues with water coming in from behind the firewall? Or check the door seals are still okay, same with the plastic liner behind the door trims.

Have a family member sit in the car when all is dry, and soak the car with a hose to see where the water comes in.

[vxssblown]

I had the same problem in a VS Commodore i had, when the window got replaced they didn't seal it properly and when it rained the water would run down the window and behind the dash and make its way on to the carpet. Or i could be the heater hoses that go into the firewall leaking some where.

[firie]

I am trying to work out where the water drains to from the windscreen plenum so I can track the water.

I have noticed a couple of more things. With the bonnet up there is some foam up against the firewall. This is wet also.

The second thing (with the bonnet up), on the passenger side directly above where the front left wheel arch is there is a black plastic bag looking thing. Its kind tucked away inside A pillar. Does any one know what this is?

[chrispie123]

we had an issue with water leaking into the car passenger footwell last night in the rain ours is a late 08 so still have some warranty left will be keeping an eye on it

[vess330]

I dont know if it'd be this...

My mate had the problem in his BA XT. Ended up being a kink in the A/C overflow line. Blocked up and ran into the passenger side footwell down from behind the dash??

[chrispie123]

that was my first thought still yet to look into it my old au used to all the time using ac sheds to small to move around and look into it so will have to wait for a dry day

[firie]

Thanks for your replies.

I am in Melbourne and yesterday and overnight we had a fair bit of rain. So today I noticed the 'mouldy' smell. So it has to be from the rain I think?!

[ssv 427]

my cousin had to take his ve ute back to holden friday, as after a few days of heavy rain his roof lining and carpet was a wet:confused:, holden said it was something to do with the seals around the front and rear windscreens? its got me beat how the roof lining could get wet really? dunno how but they re-sealed it for him, dunno if this is the problem your having? has the roof lining ever been wet

[firie]

Not sure about the roof. Working night shift tonight will check tomorrow. What year was his car? Was it expensive to fix?

[ssv 427]

it was 2008 mate, well his uncle is manager of the dealership so it didnt cost him anything, but it was only just out of warranty to i think,

[MOE308]

Lucky for your mate his uncle worked at a dealership..

[UTE346]

had the same prob took it to holden they said where the pollen filter is there is a drain hole it was blocked cleaned it out seems to have fixed the issue hope this helps

[Sime]

Same problem in my VE. The water runs down the windscreen and under the plastic. This is a common problem. For most people it just flows into the engine bay. The water comes back in my car through where the clutch pedal mounts to the firewall. Mine also leaks in at the base of the A Pillar through the gap between the A Pillar and the quarter panel. Both leaks are on the drivers side and if I park on a hill it flows into the back as well. I have that black plastic thing on the passenger side but not on the drivers side.

I solved it all with silicon. It's not pretty though but you don't notice it if you're noT looking for it. I ran the silicon along where the glass contacts the plastic therefore stopping the water running down the fire wall. The A Pillar leak is a bit harder to describe but involved taking the trim off that runs down the A Pillar and squeezing a heap of silicon on the windscreen side of the gutter that runs down the pillar at the bottom corner.

The first thing you can do to check for leaks is pull the kick panels off and peal the carpet back off the firewall. Then get the hose out and give it a good soaking. Then get your head down in the footwell with a torch.

[firie]

Thanks for your reply Sime.

When you talk about removing the trim that runs down the A pillar do you mean on the outside or the inside of the car? I presume you mean the black trim that runs up the A pillar that covers the area where the windscreen meets the car on the outside? Also, did you apply the silicon on the outside or the inside?

Hopefully this is the problem. But the water must be getting in somewhere else as well, as the entire car floor is soaked!!

I love the car but it's like a dagger through my heart!!

[Sime]

Yeah the black trim on the outside. When you pull I off you can see the gutter that runs down the pillar. You can also see the sealant that attaches the window to the body. Towards the bottom, the sealant starts to disappear under the windscreen. This is where I squeezed a head of silicon to stop water getting in under there. You need to make sure you don't block the gutter though.

Before doing all this, check that it's actually leaking through there. For this particular leak the water was coming in behind the kick panel. If you pull the panel off, you will see a bunch of wiring. The water flowed down the body, behind all this wiring down onto the floor.

By the way, if the carpet is only slightly wet on top, it won't take long to dry once you sort this out. You'll need to pull the carpet up though and shove something under there to get some air through it. Took a couple days for mine to dry out. Took months for the smell to go away though.

[Sime]

For the silicon along the front of the windscreen, this was applied on the outside. I ran it along the top of the edge of the so called factory seal. I first tried it under the seal to basically stick it to the windscreen but it didnt work so instead created a seal like you have on your house windows. As I said, it's not pretty but it worked. You might be able to do a neater job than me.

I considered taking it to Holden but I read plenty of people who had the cowling replaced and it didn't make a difference. Plus i didn't want to pay Holden to try and fix something that is a design floor of there's.

[whiteknight2211]

Where do you park your car? Do you notice it at night if it rains during the evening?

I had a VY SS and when I lived in Cairns, I had the problem of finding water in both rear passenger footwells. I had never noticed it before however what I did notice was something interesting.

I had to park the car out on the street and the profile of the ground meant that my car was not perfectly level. This lead me to think that Holden only design their cars seals to keep water out with the car reasonably level.

So if you're parking your car on an incline and finding water in it, I would dry it out and park it flat to see if the problem goes away. Pooling water around your sealing areas will certainly make it's way into your car. Once I parked my car flat again there was no problem.

[Podge]

hopefully completely unrelated but my 06 VE shit the heater core, that caused steam to come out of the rear vents but check your coolant just to make sure it hasnt had a major failure up under the dash

[Sime]

The VE was designed during the drought so Holden didn't consider that it might actually rain on the car. Mine used to also leak in through 3 of the 4 doors.

[firie]

OK I think I am closer to finding where it's leaking through.

If I pour water straight onto the water plenum there is no leak into the car. If I pour water onto the windscreen, I noticed that majority of the water ends up going under the seal and I get water in the car!

From what I can see it only seems to leak through onto the passenger side foot-well and I can replicate it with no problems. I literally watch the water dribble in.

So I decided to remove the plenum and expose the air intake for the heater. Mine has a pollen filter which was absolutely soaked!! (as ute386 mentioned) At the bottom of the chamber there was leaves and all sorts crap! There is a tiny drain hole which was completely blocked as well.

So I will wait for some of it to dry and as sime did I think I will go crazy with the silicon and see if this resolves the problem. From what I can see the seal for the window seems ok. The water must be working it's way under the water plenum seals and ending up in the heater intake somehow?! It has to be the answer!

During the process of trying to workout where the leak was, I was shocked to see water flowing all over the engine, brake booster lines, the steering column, the windscreen wiper motor etc......

How could they spend $1b dollars and overlook something as simple as a seal??

[Sime]

It's crazy isn't it! You'd never know they'd been building cars for 60 odd years! Even if the window seal worked properly, all the water poors down into the engine bay anyway. Very poor design and yet they want to compete with the world!

[firie]

I don't know what the process is for building cars but there must be some sort public research done. They must have ongoing customers that they can get feedback off. They must have tons and tons of testing data to look back on. I always end up buying another Holden. It always seems to be the same problems!

After I sort this water issue, I am still yet to sort out my harmonic balancer issue! It's wobbling all over the place!! I remember my VN commodore had a 'common balancer' issue as well! Only three weeks ago I had the rear tailshaft bracket fixed!

[Slam3d]

Clean the water drain in the heater box. In the engine bay

[HSV2BE]

I am having the same problem with my ssv. I Checked the water drain in the heater box and all clear. I then decided to spray water on the widscreen and saw large amounts running down the firewall into the heater box and draining through the water drain mentioned above. Is this normal to have large amounts of water in the area?