Another Cab drain thread

I have searched, and found lots of helpful information, and I was certain I had fixed the problem. After a full day of rain, the back seat tray and footwells are damp again. So here's what happened. A week ago I realized my rear footwells were soaked. I removed the seats, side and rear panels, and rear carpet, then lifted the main carpet up against the seats to vacuum, blot and air dry everything. There's no rust or damage, no wires were wet and the water was clean. I have no idea how long it was wet. A couple of things I found: The corrugated drain tube on the driver side was pulled off. In this photo, you can see the stains from water coming through where the drain pipe should have been attached. It's odd, given that all the water was so clean. I've replaced that corrugated tube with vinyl and zip ties on each side now. I cleaned the drains from the top and bottom (in the wheel well) including removing the fitting in the wheel well and cleaning out the little well that's there at the opening, presumably to catch debris. I cleaned out the trays inside the car as well. I dumped water all along the openings, and I put the roof up and sprayed around it as well. The water ran smoothly into the trays on both sides and out the drain holes in the rear wheel wells. On the passenger side, after two days of drying, I noticed that each time I came back to the car there was a small amount of water again in the footwell. Once I realized the carpet was perfectly dry, I thought it had to be seeping through somewhere. Sure enough, there's a big two inch plug in the vertical wall for the rear seat. I pulled that plug out and got probably two cups of more clean water. I removed the plugs all around on both sides. Driver side not as bad. What I can't tell (will try with camera once it's charged) is whether there is a direct connection between those two cavities, that would explain why the passenger side was wet (of course, the corrugated tube on the passenger side was cracked too, but I don't think a lot of water comes through those). Anyway, it rained all day yesterday, and the floor and seat wells are wet again. Behind the panels, the trays are slight damp right around the drain holes - so water went down them. The only new thing I found was that there is a bit of water up higher, underneath one of the boxes for the roll bar. Now I'm wondering if water could be flowing from up there. It seems like jsut a little bit. Driver side pop-up roll bar, there's some water at that lowest point. If it filled up, it would flow down onto the seatwell (ledge?). There's no evidence it has and it It just seems like such a small amount, but how did it get there? and finally, the passenger side wasn't nearly as damp as the driver side but it is damp again. The cavity under the rear seat is dry, and the one on the driver side is wet (but there is an untaped hole where water go down through the seatwell into that cavity, so it makes sense it would end up there). But on the passenger side there is a through hole drilled through to the outside. I can't imagine why that would be there unless a PO drilled it for a drain? The blue arrow shows where the big 2" plug goes, and the red arrow shows the hole in the floor. It's on the slope, so I can't imagine someone drilling it for a drain hole. All the channels around the roof are clean, and when I pour water it all seems to go to the drains. None of the upper interior parts of the car are wet to indicate that something has dripped or sprayed in. Any ideas?

My advice,have some someone use a garden hose to simulate a rain event and watch what happens inside.

are the front carpets wet?

I think I what you�re seeing is coming from the clogged drains under the hydraulic rams. When those clog and they will, water will eventually get everywhere. Including below the roll bar hoops. I think you might find my channel useful. https://youtu.be/5jypKBg2CUQ

The front carpet extends to the floor in the back, so it was wet there, but there was no moisture in front of that. Specifically, water had not reached any electronics under the seats. Thanks Yogi, I am subscribed and have watched them all (smiling remembering the driving in the rain video), I didn't watch all the disassembly of the roof parts closely because I haven't had any roof problems. I'll go back and watch again (I can increase the view count, but I can't "like" it twice). The drains in the back corner are clear, and with all the rear carpeting behind the roll bars I wasn't able to see any water, but it gives me another place to look. Would that (clogged drains under the rams) lead to water in the cavity under the seats?

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oh yeah definitely. And guess what under your seat? The immobilizer. Sitting in a pool of rain water. ALL the damage in Pepper was caused by those two clogged drains. Water was in the seat wells in the back AND front all the way up the sides of the inner wheel wells. My top may be in bad shape but it doesn�t leak. I�ve got a ton of raw footage I can sift through if you have a question. I pretty much know every inch of that interior now.

Update All drains that I've been able to identify are clear and functioning: 1) water that drains off of the roof gets caught around the base trim, directed into the plastic trays in the interior and down and out through the wheel well drain in front of the rear wheel. I've seen questions about what goes through that corrugated tube. It's from a secondary tray - like an overflow from the main one at it's highest point. It catches that overflow and redirects it to the main drain. 2) around the cover, through the panel gap, water drains through slots in the gutter and out behind the rear wheel. 3) there is an additional drain in the back corner on each side. Any water that rolled back instead of ahead of the wheel well exits through there. Again, all drains are clear and I've poured water through a funnel directly onto both trays, the gutter and directly into the drain to test that. With hose spraying and me inside, I can see all trays and drain functioning properly. The problem is that although I can't see where it comes from, after prolonged spraying with the hose water appears under the seat. Not on the shelf where the cushion is, but under it. There's a blue arrow in one of the photos in the original post that shows where I removed the grommet. I've blown it out with air, taped newspaper around every drain and obvious point of entry so that I can see anyplace water would go. Whether I watch it or just look after a "simulated rain event", I can never find the path of the water, but there will be water in that cavity. I'm wondering if water going down the outside of the rear quarter window is not draining out of the bottom where it should and is instead working it's way into the car. Am I right at least in thinking that water that goes down there has to have a way out of there? Does anyone know where that drain is?

Check your cabin air filter in the frunk. Specifically check the cover of the thing. Rain gets in there from the windshield and drains through the HVAC ducting.

I have a similar problem but in the Frunk! drains are all clear and draining yet I get water in the frunk tub! took all the carpeting and plastic out poured water by the battery down the windshield and no water in the frunk. Rains overnight and it pretty wet there. Im stumped

The cowl has a rubber weather strip on it. If it's all dirty or missing then water will flow behind the cowl and fill up your frunk. And if your frunk drains are all clogged, like mine, then the tub fills up (battery area) and drains back into the cabin via the firewall holes or god forbid, the cabin air filter area. Wanna see the carnage? You Tube

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I watched it first thing this morning. You did a hell of job cleaning up that disgusting mess under there. My front footwells are dry and it's clean around my battery, but I'll double check. I can't imagine how water would get under the back seats from there, but at this point I'll check any where water could go.

Got it! Anyone who has looked at or cleaned the drains has seen (assuming mine were stock) the round rubber flap/disk whatever it is at the bottom of the drain in the wheel well. Through more testing (with the wheel off and fender liner out) we observed on more than one occasion the drain would back up inside the car - not because there was any obstruction in the drain, but because that disk sealed itself around the drain opening! Now if I'm wrong, somebody please provide a correction, but I can't see how that is absolutely necessary and it's the only thing that we could ever see causing a back up during our testing. The tube simply filled up, the tray overflowed, and the water ran down the wall to the footwell and onto and under the seat ledge. Now it doesn't. So I can move onto rear shocks while I have the carpet out in the back. What a relief - thanks guys for the comments and suggestions.

I also picked up my “new to me” Cayenne and am very pleased. I sure like your color better than my black. Black doesn’t work very well in Texas. Enjoy and keep us informed about how it does.