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mtkcherokee:
Hello.  I was reading some messages about people having leakage problems in their vehicles when I saw the last entry on the page...yours.

I was wondering if you could tell me EXACTLY where you had to drill the hole to access the drainage clog.  I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee as well and my passenger side floor  (under front seat mostly) is very saturated.  We've concluded that the A/C MUST NOT BE DRAINING properly.  My husband pulled the carpet back from the front passenger side and found a round unit in the firewall (passenger side upper center section -  not near the center of the vehicle, but center area of the 'passenger side' section of the vehicle) and drilled a hole in that.  Very little water came out of it, but he stuck a hanger in the hole and we couldn't see it from under the hood anywhere.  I can tell you that when I start my vehicle, I hear all kinds of 'flowing water' for several minutes until the vehicle has been running a few minutes.  I feel the vent in the floor next to the center console leading to the passenger front seat and don't feel any water coming out.  I never seem to be able to 'catch' the actual water leak -- only get the results.

I'm thinking we need to drill a hole somewhere else - near the center of the vehicle to get the water to drain properly and completely before entering the inside of my vehicle.

IF you could give me any DETAILS before my husband goes drilling more holes in places we don't need to be......it would be a TREMENDOUS help.

I don't have the original owners manuals and the Repair manual I have does not SPECIFICALLY state 'where' the A/C drain is supposed to be.  So...it's all a shot in the dark  (literally).  

I greatly appreciate your help,

mtkcherokee

thanks for the information; i'm a novice in car repair, but i will discuss this with my "private mechanic"; i call this vehicle my son's red bomb--  a 1996 grandam,4door, 4 cylinder, which is probable first and foremost the basic problem.  why does a car have to be part of what the marketing profession calls "planned obscolosences(SP?_)????  

Hi,
well.. long distance (I write from italy) but same problems.

Outside raining and after 15 minutes who is sitting in the backseat behind the driver in my '96 stratus convertible is just washing his feet.
Plus a nice sound of moving water from the bottom in the chassis.

Searchin around in the net i found this:
http://www.sebringclub.net/gallery/drainholes

Got me where I wanted. Yes, all the familiar complaints - sloshing sounds like a fishtank in the trunk, wet carpet on one side, an inch of water inside the car after a downpour, drowned stereo booster. Also: no visible leaks in the roof, no wet seats, no wet trunk.
Clean the five or six drains at the underside by inserting a clothes hanger wire - problem solved. It's not water getting in, it's water not being able to get out...

Hope I helped.
Cheers
Diego  

Hi - I have a similar problem in a 1998 Lexus ES300. Water was appearing on the passenger side mainly, with a litte on the drivers side. My wife mentioned that, once in a while, on a clear hot day, she felt water dripping or spraying onto her ankles while she was driving the car. There was also some sloshing heard in the vicinity of the gove compartment during certain turns. I took it to the dealer a few months ago and he found the air conditioner drain to be clogged. He said that he cleared the blockage and drained out a lot of water. Plugs about the size of a half dollar under the floors were removed so that water could drain or be squeezed out of the carpet onto the road.

After some days, I finally got the carpet pretty dry. Then, within a month, I found water on the passenger floor again. Trying to find the source of the water has been tough. We can only hope to get an idea after we get the floor reasonably dry sp that we can tell it's getting wet again. It's pretty clear that the floor gets wet when there is a heavy rain and the air conditioner is used. Even when it's cold out, the air conditioner runs when the defroster is turned on. I tried to find a leak by spraying the car with water from a hose but couldn't detect the slightest amount of wetness. Some weeks later I returned the car to the dealer and this time he said that the drainage hose had worked loose. He now put it back on.

Well, a few days later my daughter used the defroster in a reasonably heavy rain storm and sure enough, the carpet became very wet again. In fact, in some cases since, I have seen a quarter inch of water on the floor.

Finally, I took this Lexus ES300 to the dealer expressing great dismay. The dealer took the car for several days. The first comment that he passed on to me from his mechanic is that the water is coming from the foam under the carpet which has gotten so wet in the past. In fact, he said that mold was growing there. Of course, they think I should replace the carpet and foam backing. Well, I'm certain that foam is not the source of a quarter inch of water after we dry the carpet. I'm not adverse to considering replacement of the carpet but certainly not before we determine the real source of the water and stop it. The dealer ran the car through a car wash several times finding no leakage. I theorized that perhaps water was siphoning up from a rain drenched road through the half dollar size holes that were unplugged so  I had the dealer replace those plugs. The service manager personally drove the car through rain showers and ran the defroster/ac and still found no leakage.

I figured the theory about the rainwater siphoning up through the half dollar sized holes when driving on soaked roads was probably the explanation. Oops, just a few days ago, we had a heavy rain overnight, my wife took a reasonably short trip with the Lexus. The following morning, I cheked and the carpet was again soaking wet. I mopped about a cup of water out of the rear carpet on the passenger side. Then I found the plug under this area, removed it and drained probably another cup of water.

We also have a sunroof. Of course, I've looked carefully for any sign of water coming in from the sunroof or down the side wall of the passenger compartment. Where is the water coming from and how can it be stopped?  

i have a 98 Gr Cherokee....i noticed a build up of water on the passanger side floorboards everytime it rains. i started to notice this problem when i added a 2.5" lift. i pulled up the carpet where i could and didnt see any holes in the floorboard. i do have a sunroof but i dont think that is the problem because it started happening After the lift.  

I have a 2004 Sebring convertible with the right floor water problem.  I ruled out the frame drains pretty quick because my model has a large rubber flap covered opening in the frame near the rear wheels.  This is in addition to the raised slots in the seam.  Water would flow out the holes long before it could get inside.  I pulled out the passenger seat and shop vac'd the carpet and rolled it into the back seat area and reinstalled the seat so I could monitor it.  I removed the loose fiber pad which was saturated and left the foam pad in as it isnt as easy to remove.  The foam was soaked as well so I balled a towel under it to soak it up.  One 43 mile drive to work with the air on / no rain /  and it was running onto the floor boards.  Further investigation this weekend......

Update - fixed for under $3.00.  Here's the deal, at least on mine and I would think most if not all Sebrings are the same.  The condensate collection box has a formed plastic outlet tube that is part of the housing.  It passes thru a hole in the firewall and extends about 3/4" straight out beyond the firewall and is surrounded by a foam gasket and possibly some form of sealant to keep water out.  There is no downward bend in the tube.  The opening in the firewall is quite a bit larger in diameter than the tube, to allow for a rubber boot that serves as a downpipe for the draining water.  The boot is bigger around than the condensate tube and connects to the firewall like a rubber grommet would.  Therefore there is no tight seal between the boot and the tube.  In my case most of the water would drip down the boot tube, but some would cling to the bottom edge of the condensate tube and run back against the firewall where it would work its' way thru the apparently deteriorated seal and saturate the foam, padding, and carpet.  I solved it by pulling off the boot from under the car and attaching about a foot of 5/8" I.D. rubber hose with a clamp and routed in down under the frame.  That's all folks.

Just Don  

JustDon:
I have a 2004 Sebring convertible with the right floor water problem.  I ruled out the frame drains pretty quick because my model has a large rubber flap covered opening in the frame near the rear wheels.  This is in addition to the raised slots in the seam.  Water would flow out the holes long before it could get inside.  I pulled out the passenger seat and shop vac'd the carpet and rolled it into the back seat area and reinstalled the seat so I could monitor it.  I removed the loose fiber pad which was saturated and left the foam pad in as it isnt as easy to remove.  The foam was soaked as well so I balled a towel under it to soak it up.  One 43 mile drive to work with the air on / no rain /  and it was running onto the floor boards.  Further investigation this weekend......

Update - fixed for under $3.00.  Here's the deal, at least on mine and I would think most if not all Sebrings are the same.  The condensate collection box has a formed plastic outlet tube that is part of the housing.  It passes thru a hole in the firewall and extends about 3/4" straight out beyond the firewall and is surrounded by a foam gasket and possibly some form of sealant to keep water out.  There is no downward bend in the tube.  The opening in the firewall is quite a bit larger in diameter than the tube, to allow for a rubber boot that serves as a downpipe for the draining water.  The boot is bigger around than the condensate tube and connects to the firewall like a rubber grommet would.  Therefore there is no tight seal between the boot and the tube.  In my case most of the water would drip down the boot tube, but some would cling to the bottom edge of the condensate tube and run back against the firewall where it would work its' way thru the apparently deteriorated seal and saturate the foam, padding, and carpet.  I solved it by pulling off the boot from under the car and attaching about a foot of 5/8" I.D. rubber hose with a clamp and routed in down under the frame.  That's all folks.

Just Don

Where exactly is the condensate collection box? Is it under the hood or under the bottom of the car?

Where is the firewall?

I'm a female and want to see if I can fix the problem myself.  Do you have pictures?  

The collection box is actually inside the car behind the glove box but it is not necessary to access it for this problem.  The fix is from the outside and I did it from underneath the car.  I would have to look to see if it is possible from under the hood.  The firewall is the metal body of the car between the engine and the passenger compartment.  The rubber boot is located on the firewall on the passenger side of the car.  It points down and is about 5 inches long.  Simply grab hold of it and twist it sideways and it will pop off.  Replace it with hose as previously mentioned.  I can take pictures if it's still confusing.

JustDon