2001 2 door fills with water

[JennyE]

This is an absolutely ridiculous issue I've been having for over a month now. While the car is parked on level ground, under the driver's seat fills with water when it rains. Those of you who have a Grand Am know that there is a decent sized "cubby hole" under the seat so it holds water like a bucket. The driver's seat does not get wet, the front floor does not get wet except for one three inch spot to the left of the clutch. The water will stay in the car as long as I don't remove it. It would just slosh around forever. Basically I know it's not a window/windshield leak. Also it's not a sunroof leak 'cause I don't have one. I read somewhere online that there may be a body structure issue. I guess I don't know what this means or what I should even tell my mechanic about where to begin his search. I've already investigated some angles myself but I'm game for any suggestions you all may have... and yes, it is definitely water.

PS. I can't edit the title, there should be a comma in there between door and fills. It is a two door coupe, it has nothing to do with the water. I figured someone would ask whether it was a four door or not.

[xeroinfinity]

Welcome to AF !

It probly coming from a rubber groumet(rubber piece that the wires go through on the firewall) around the clutch area, but higher up.

Also if you have a sun roof, the drains are known to leak down the pillar by the windshield, and runs down by the fuse box and onto the floorboard. Also feel your head liner and see if thats wet.

But what I dont understand is you title says door fills with water
If it is thiers two small openings at the bottom of the door, they are drains and are probley clogged.

Good Hunting

[JennyE]

Sorry, it's a 2 door Grand Am that fills with water. That's all I meant. :-)

[xeroinfinity]

OK , My Bad JennyE !

Its pretty common that the 99+ GAs leak.
Thiers several places, even GM knows of them and has posted Trouble shooting bullitons(TSB).

Like I said above the sunroof, and a spot under the hood on the firewall.

[thatotherguy186]

I have a 94' GA SE 4 door and mine will do that too, i ahve looked all over for leaks and can never find anything all i see is a wet spot under the floor mat on both sides of the car and that is the only thing that is wet nothing else just the floor and it sucks because now it is starting to smell kinda moldy and it being winter im not about to leave my window open overnight and get into a cold ass car in the morning

[xeroinfinity]

Originally Posted by thatotherguy186

I have a 94' GA SE 4 door and mine will do that too, i ahve looked all over for leaks and can never find anything all i see is a wet spot under the floor mat on both sides of the car and that is the only thing that is wet nothing else just the floor and it sucks because now it is starting to smell kinda moldy and it being winter im not about to leave my window open overnight and get into a cold ass car in the morning

The 92-96 GAs are bad about leaking water.
The only place it can come from if the floormats wet is from inside the dash area.

The typical places are the seams where the firewall is attached with cheap type of sealant. IT breaks down over time then lets air and water in.

Its right behind the strut towers under the hood.
Almost impossible to get to from above,
and hard to see it at all.
You'll almost need someone to pour water on that area, and look for the leak(s) inside.

The tail lights are also a known leak area when the attachment device(screws/fastners) its broken or cracked letting water leak into the trunk.

[JennyE]

Thanks for the suggestions. It's a good place to start.

[funcruise]

I have a 2000 GA 4door that has the water problem for a few months now that has been driving me right round the bend trying to find it. First it was under the drivers seat and then in rear passengers floor. Right and left. The carpet was too hard to remove completley so I just cut and folded them back. Then there was seams where body panels were put together and some sort of heavy sealent or caulking sealed them up. Well all I had handy was some roofing patch so painted the floor and up the sils with it and hoped for the best. Now under drivers seat is dry and so is the floor on left side of the rear, but the right side still has water when it rains. A fellow at a body shop said it comes in via the tailight. Kinda hard to believe but I tried sealing the tailight with silicone seal but didnt work. Frustrated, I took a dril and drilled a few holes in the floor. If the water comes in it can now go out. This car will last the winter then I will eather junk it, burn it or push it over a big cliff. No more GMs of any kind again. This was the first and the last....

[JennyE]

That's so frustrating, especially where it's not that old. I'm hoping that I can get this fixed. I bought a small wet-dry vac the other day. I may have to carry it around until I pay off the car so I can suck out the water every time it rains or the snow melts. I suppose, as my dad (an old school mechanic) would say, cars these days aren't really built to last. He has a 1950 Plymouth that he's restoring that still runs... go figure.

[tommy00gt1]

When my Trans Am developed a leak (way back in the 70's, lol..) I also used that thick, black roofing patch material underneath the car. It worked perfectly. I used an old paintbrush to spread it out on the (underneath) the floorboards. It worked great because it dried hard, but semi-flexible too.... had very, very little flexibility to it; just enough to take minor expansion / contraction extremes.
And of course, it lasts just about forever too... good stuff.

[crazy Jim]

Originally Posted by funcruise

No more GMs of any kind again. This was the first and the last....

I've owened two dozen plus GMs since the late seventies and have had very good luck with them. I've put 100K plus miles on many of them with no major problems or lemons. You have had one GM and describe one problem and now you want to discredit GM forever. Wait till you buy from another manufacture and it has two problems with it....

[funcruise]

Ok Crazy Jim, I have owned a lot of cars since the 50s too and Im telling you this is a badly built car. The water isnt the only problem with it. The tranny shudders if you step on it too much leaving from a stop, the air bag light stays on, check engine light comes on and goes off again for no reason, why you cant even turn the headlites off at night if you wanted too. The car does this on its own. Then there is the problem of the intake manifold gasket going bad on these v6s. GM has cheapened their products to save a buck at the customers expense as all north american manufactures. Oh yes, one other GM goodie comes to mind. In the later 70s when they produced a 305 v8, the lobes would wear off the camshaft and GM would replace it under warenty, but they would replace it with another soft camshaft and the next one would be on the customer. Rust and paint problems from recycled steel in the 80s, rear disk brake problems in early 90s [even class actuon suits over that one] so dont tell me how wonderful General Motors vehicles are....These are just a small sample of the troubles they have....

[xeroinfinity]

Hate to break it to you funcruise, but all cars over the years have had troubles with many areas, not just GM.

IMO most leaks are just do to bad sealant used or missed spot welds on the underpan of the car.
As the years went by they used more pieces/parts to form the structural safty cage Thus having more areas that could potentailly leak.