emason78

Please help! I have a 2005 Scion xB and I have had an awful smell in my car off and on since June. It's gotten worse and I noticed the Driver's Side carpet is wet (we've had a lot of rain).
I pulled up the drivers side carpet and there is water underneath!! It has all but destroyed the insulating foam stuff and has soaked the carpet. I can't figure out where it is coming from.
I believe it is just water...

Anyone had this problem? I've seen a lot on passenger side issues but can't find anything on Driver's Side. It's only in the front of the carpet.
Also, once fixed, anyone know how much it would cost to replace the carpet?

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CSUnited14

its coming through the firewall through a rubber groumet thingy... have anything done stereo or anything amps

RedneckwithanxB

mine was from the small grommet in the actual floor being MIA... pull up the carpet and check under it, also check the Grommet on the firewall...

emason78

I have the original stereo equipment- nothing aftermarket...
I will look for a grommet on the firewall... once I figure out what that is :-).

emason78

Do you mean that rubber plug thing? I have one and when I take it out, i can see through to the ground. Is that what you are referring to? I have it, but I can take it out-- is it supposed to be sealed? I guess I don't know what a grommet is... LOL.

RedneckwithanxB

no as long as its there you are good

ajcadoo

yes, there is a rubber grommet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grommet) on the passenger and drivers side of the underside of the vehicle. If those are intact, then you may have a problem with your A/C or something other than external water getting in.

emason78

Thank you! Am I supposed to be able to pull the grommet out? Or should it be sealed? Because I pulled that out today-- rather easily...

CSUnited14

it should be snug.. but check for cracks in it anything out of the ordinary... umm there should be some surrounding the wires going through the firewall.

ajcadoo

The grommet is removable. It can be removed by hand so that is normal. I think you may have some other issue, how many miles you have?

burstaneurysm

Check the grommet first... is it also possible that the water came in on your feet? I had my carpet mats in for a while one winter and the snow would soak in then freeze and never dry... smelled moldy too.

ciscokid1970

Check your front passenger side and rear passenger side.
IF it is damp or wet...then it is the AC drainage hose in your car.

AC drainage hose is located in the top part of the front passenger side footwell.
It comes from the center of your dash and pokes through the floor board so that it drips outside. It is very common for it to pull out when moving your carpet around since there is a loop of carpet around it, so when you pull on the carpet the hose pulls up a little. Common problem if you have some AMP or wiring installed in your car.

Carefully pull up the rubber hose, make sure it is not plugged up. Then stick your finger through the firewall hole make sure it is not obstructed. Then poke the hose through the hole.

Good news is...you can do it all by yourself. Bad news is to remedy this problem correctly...you need to remove your passenger car seat and pull up your carpet.
There are real good instructions located on this site and in the scion manual you can download. It WILL NOT dry without pulling up the carpet.

I was lucky enough that it only leaked for couple of hours so when I pulled up the carpet I used towels to suck the water out of the padding and floor.

Then I drove around for 2 days with carpet pulled up and windows open and parked in the sun to let it dry out. The carpet padding was completely dry and no longer smelled. Before putting it back together, I placed DYNAPAD on the floor and dusted some baking soda on the floor of the car.

Put it all back together, did the same thing to the drivers side (on the weekend since I could not drive it).

emason78

First, let me say you guys are all awesome and so helpful. I pulled up the rugs and the only thing I saw that might be missing was near the brakes-- there is one hole that doesn't have either that plastic piece with the screw coming up threw it or a rubber plug. MAYBE this is it? Now I'm trying to find a rubber plug set... I might duct tape it and put the hose on the car to see if that hole is the problem.

My car is a 2005 with 77,000 miles. The water is only on the drivers side. I don't think it's from my feet b/c it was a lot of standing water, though it has been rainy. In any event, it STINKS!

If it's not the grommet or that missing piece, I guess I will have to take it in.

Where do I find the manual? I'll keep you all updated. I love, love my car and got laid off so I'm trying to keep her in shape without spending too much at the mechanic!!!

Thanks, if anyone thinks of anything else, let me know!

ajcadoo

i bought my manual on ebay, most people do this if they lost the original owners manual

CSUnited14

good luck dude...

usdmbB

Where are you located?

I still have mine from my first xB! Let me know.

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TheTxChef

I found a floor pan seal, that was cracked, it is some type of weird wide weld, but looks like tape of sort, mine was cracked.
Rear Driver's side was soaked and smelly now sealing forward to driver front.
So I will patch it and dry out the carpet after treating with Lysol. Update in a week or so if I get the chance.

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