06 accord ex 4dr water leaks

[Tommy2500]

This is driving me nuts. Every time it rains a lot (I live in WA State so this happens often...) the floor in the rear passenger side gets soaked with water; I mean a LOT of water, like almost a quart! Standing water on top of the saturated carpet and pad. The car has only 120K, but lives outside all the time. I've checked the door seals and cleaned up them and the area where they seal on the body, and that all looks fine. Anybody else out there had this problem?
Anybody got any ideas?

Yeah, I know a tarp over the thing might work, but.....seriously, this leak has got me going nuts, and the windows fogging up inside from the humidity.

HELP AFers!!!!

[fejetmech]

My 2007 civic had the same problem. Here's what I found. After a rain, I opened the door and felt around the door starting near the finish interior plastic panel for moisture and found water was getting past the vapor barrier at the parting seam of the metal door and the interior plastic trim. Depending on the parked attitude of the car itself (tilted left, right, front, back) rather than level could exacerbate the problem.

Removed the plastic trim, peeled back the existing vapor barrier. Removed the old butyl rubber sealant tape from the plastic sheeting and door sheetmetal. I cleaned out all the debris in the bottom of the door that gets passed the window seals over time (leaf organic material, dirt, etc) making sure drain holes in bottom of door are free of debris. Applied new
Fabral Butyl Seal Tape, Dark Gray, 1/4-Inch x 3/16-Inch x 40-Foot, Leak Proof Putty Tape

that I found at Amazon.com in the original position as the old tape. Note, there are slotted areas in the lower areas of the door where the sheeting is routed and you apply the rubber tape just above those slots so any moisture splashing onto the sheeting will drain down the sheeting and be re-directed back into the door thru those slots.


Before you reattach the plastic sheeting onto the newly applied tape, accomplish items below.


I have also found water can drain into the door and run down onto the door hold open check rod and also onto the gaps around the door latch mechanism. ( removed the door latch mechanism a bit and applied silicone where the mechanism sits against the inner sheetmetal, then tightened the door latch hardware. Remember to reapply a plastic patch that typically covers access to the latch attach hardware so water does not enter door thru that hole there.


Further, I took some heavy plastic drop cloth sheeting, cut appropriate sizes and siliconed them in place inside the door over all the holes where the interior trim plastic pins fit into the door. (they are just flaps so the pins would not dislodge the sheeting but it would keep any moisture from getting onto the trim pins and entering those holes.)
Also, I cut a flap to fit above where the door check mechanism is on the inside of the door. (careful to make sure it does not interfere with window glass or door check operation.) and also a flap piece over the door latch mechanism.



NOTE: a big problem with my car is with the way they designed the rubber door seal to attach into the door itself. There are small rubber "tits" that are moulded on the door seal which fit into the small holes in the door and hold the seal in place. Moisture can drain down into the door on it's path to the drain holes, find it's way into the holes in the door bypassing the rubber "tits" and that water can dribble inward along the bottom of the door toward the secondary seal mounted on the car door opening itself. It then drips past that secondary seal onto the plastic trim inside the car and runs down onto the carpet.
Rather than just smear rubber silicone sealant on the door interior over the rubber "tits" which would make things more difficult if I ever replaced the door seal, I bought valve stem caps, applied the silicone to the cap and stuck them inside the door over the rubber door seal "tits". That way I could just pull out the old door seal and pop in a new door seal leaving the caps intact.


It was a long process but it did cure the water problem from the doors. Hope this helps others.