wet floor

i have recently purchased a 1992 grand am se. the floors semm to be wet from something other than the weather. could this be a problem with my heater core? any advice would be helpful

If it is the heater core the floor would be wet on the passanger side only. The fluid on the floor would be engine coolant not water. You didn't happen to purchase the car from a recently flooded area? One way to tell is to reach under the seat and pinch the seat spring and slide your fingers along the spring if you come up with rusty fingers chances are good that the car came from a flooded area. The seat springs rust quickly because it is unprotected steel.

Other than that you could possibly have bad weather strip around the doors being the car is a 92 I would be willing to bet they have seen alot of wear. Other problem areas would be the different drainage holes. They could be clogged with road grime or dirt and debris.

Hope this helps. I see this is your second post... Welcome to the forum, you will be able to get alot great information and assistance with problems that may occur with your car.

This sounds to me like the evaporator core drainway has gotten plugged.

From my own experience.... http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=329750&highlight=water+leak

hoags, surperfret78, thank you for the responses,

the rear portion of the floors are wet and the springs are rusty under the seats, just like you mentioned, however, i was considering my heater core because i get hotter air from my vents than from the heater. in fact, the heater harldy blows any heat out at all. if this is not the HCore, then could it be the radiator? or just an old POS

also, where do i look for the evaporator core drainway

If it is the rear portion of the floors unless the carpet is in the process of drying then it is neither the heater cor or the evap. drain, both of those are on the passanger side at the front of the floor by the firewall. Is is possible that the place you purchased the car trird to clean the carpets and just git them too wet? Just a thought.

Other than that you are going to have to look for another source, check the underside of the floor boards under the carmake sure there are no holes there, and check all of the weather strips around the doors and windows.

As for the heat issue it sounds like a dampner door problem, is there more air flow from the vents than from the floor? If is then there is an issue of the air flow direction and air mix door. If you had a problem with the heater core/radiator you would not get heat at all top or bottom.

hoags, thanx again for the response.

i think i figuered out the culprit, SUNROOF. i recall from my '94 cavalier with a sunroof that the rubber seal was letting water in drip by drip. i am not sure yet because i have not driven in the rain, but that deffinitley makes sense as a possibility

also, i do get heat from the vents but not as much from the heater. when i buy a repair book, i will look into the dampner door more thouroughly, but that would make sense. as an older car the dampner door could have malfunctioned.

but one more thing, would the dampner door only misdirect air, or could it obstruct the flow also?
if it obstructs, then that could accout for the weak air flow through the vents and very weak flow through heaters

thanks again for your input

Depending on it's position it could be missdirecting the air flow enough that it would cause the low flow to the floor, it may not be opening enough to let the air flow out to the floor. If that is the case then the air is just kind of backing up and not going any where or out some where that you are not able to detect.

as for the sunroof leaking, that could very well be the culprit, and with all of the rain/rnow of winter it could have caused a constant drip and with the low air flow from your heater the carpet has no chance to dry. All of that moisture sitting below the seats would cause the seat springs to rust. Like I indicated on one of my eariler posts, rust on the seat springs could indicate a flooded car, in that case I woud think you would have had other problems.

I hope I have been able to help you out, I know that sometimes it helps to figure out a problem just by bouncing ideas off someone. Once you pick up a manual either Chilton or Haynes(both are good and offer pretty much the same info.) you will get a lot of ideas as to where to start when a problem arises.

Hey, good luck and don't hesitate to PM me if you have to.

Dan