Dolphinride

My 2003 maxima appears to have a leak. It is definitely not antifreeze or coolant. I only see water pooling when it rains. But, not EVERY time it rains. I have heard / read that it may have something to do with the sunroof. I have attached pics. The nickel shows where the water seems to pool on the floor, and the pen shows a spot where I felt water when I reached up behind the glove box as I was laying on the floor. Any insight appreciated.

ac max 92

iTrader: (13)

If you felt it was coming from behind the glove box check the seal where the plastic cowling meets your windshield and re seal it. Could also be the seal around the windsheild. If your able to peel back the plastic even just a little on the passenger side chances are the rain is running down the windshield and behind the plastic. This happened on my girlfriends focus and just re sealed where the plastic meets the windshield with some rv sealant and it solved the problem.

The_Fixer

iTrader: (1)

If you have a sunroof the drain tube empties around that area it may be loose or clogged.

Turbobink

iTrader: (2)

+1 ... check that first.

Any staining on your headliner near the right side A-pillar?

Open the sunroof all the way. Have a look at the surround. How's it look in there? Evidence of pooling/backed up water? Debris present?

SicOne

cabin air filter seal?

Not 100% sure on these cars but I deal with this all the time on my fleet of town cars

tosheto

iTrader: (5)

I had that leak on my 01. Never bothered to fix it, but from ton of reading seemed that it is either the sunroof drains are plugged up, or the seal at the bottom of the windshield was bad.

ac max 92

iTrader: (13)

My guess is the seal at the bottom of the windsheild being that he mentioned it was wet behind the glove box. There should be drain tubes on either side of the wipers under the plastic aswell for drainage that may be plugged.

sfaber

I had this problem on my 02 on the drivers side. I checked sunroof drains. I then had my windshield replaced by insurance , because of a crack .And the installer found a leak in the windshield seal. They found rust on windshield frame they touched up. Fixed my leak on my Maxima GLE

Montego Murph

iTrader: (1)

There's no mention of your location so I can't say whether or not you're using the AC/Defroster frequently... Another POSSIBLE cause is that the AC Evaporator drain tube is clogged, and overflowing into the car.

Phantasm

Subscribed. I had the same issue on my 02 recently. Went to movies. Terential downpour during movie ( could hear it in the theater ) Came out and the floor mat was soak just in front of the passenger seat. Odd thing is the carpet itself wasn't so wet, more the floor mat. No evidence of water dripping in from above and dry toward the engine bay. Water is very stealthy. I ran a hose on the roof toward the windshield for 30 minutes and couldn't reproduce the wetness. Very odd.

Dolphinride

I am the author of the original post.

I had left out some information because I did not want anyone to jump to conclusions regarding the cause of my leak.

In October of 2013 I had the windshield replaced under warranty.

A few months ago a guy from the same windshield company came out and resealed the passenger side A Pillar.

Today, a guy came out from the same windshield company. He removed the windshield wipers and removed the cowl ahead of the windshield. It looked very clean under the cowl.

The guy today told me that he was 100% sure that the water that I was seeing was not caused by any windshield leak. He reiterated this several times.

He squirted water inside the car where the dash meets the windshield to demonstrate that the seal was not defective. I did not see any water on the other side of the seal.

He told me water would have to travel uphill for the leak to be at the bottom of the windshield.

He said that he thought the water intrusion was either because of clogged sunroof drain lines, or some clogged lines in the 'clean air' box.

He advised that I run a copper wire down the sunroof drain holes.

This is frustrating. I do not see how the water could back up in the sunroof drain lines without water leaking through the sunroof area into the passenger compartment.

My next steps are to take an air hose and try to loosen anything in the sunroof drain lines that way, and to put an ad on craigs list offering a gig to seek a mechanic who has worked on a maxima with my symptoms.

Any comments or suggestions?

Scott LaRock

iTrader: (5)

I have this same issue, leak is coming from where my hand is at.

I actually have small bugs coming in my car because of the leak, very nasty.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2013.12.31.jpg

230

I had a similar problem with a 2006 maxima. The drain tubes for my sunroof were clogged. I used weedwacker line (Trimmer Line ) about eight feet of it and ran it down the drain tubes for the sunroof. No more water inside the car after that.

Dolphinride

I am fairly confident that 'blowing out' the sunroof drain tubes has fixed the problem. Will make a more certain determination as the summer rains hit.

I used kind of a thin long 'wand', which was connected to an air compressor. The tip jugged right into the drain holes, seemed to be a near perfect fit. I had not seen where anyone had tried to use this method to clear the drain tubes, but it just made sense that it would work.

I will update after the car has been subjected to a couple more downpours.

NC5thGen

Windshield green clip under the wiper drain cover. I took out my blower motor and reached up with needled nose pliers and squeeze the clip up. Seal the clip hold with silicone. Make sure blended door is open and look straight up you will see the green clip.

KWAK

Can anyone describe the process to remove the cowl?

I have a similar leak on my '00. On a few occasions I have found water pooling on the passenger side floor. During a recent rain, I witnessed water dripping from underneath the glove box. I checked the front sunroof drains by pouring water into the drains. The water never backed up and the water came right out of the bottom of the car, as intended. So I suspect the clips under the cowl.

I want to check those clip seals. I checked the repair manual, but there isn't much of a description.

nestorlugo

iTrader: (11)

Fairly simple..


1.remove the lil round covers to expose the 14mm bolts at the base of the wiper blade arms , remove the bolts and take off the wiper arms.

2.remove several plastic push tabs retaining the cowl then remove cowl plastic...

3.done

Roymg

Great idea..!!!

KWAK

I'd like to thank those who helped describe removing the cowl. I was able to remove the cowl a few weeks ago. The leak REMAINS! What else can it be??

I did check the sunroof drains, and they were clear. I checked the drains under the windshield cowl, and they were clear. I did replace the four white rectangular plugs, and all the cowl pins, yet the leak remains.

I was able to see water leaking from the blower housing. There is a small black, plastic door on the underside of the blower housing. It has a foam material on the back of it. That foam was wet, and water was dripping from the door.

I also pulled off the windshield pillar trim, and saw no signs of moisture there, so I do not think that the sunroof drains are plugged.

What else can be leaking???

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Dolphinride. Update?

Ian Childs

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

Nice advice. The only thing wrong is that you need to check the date on a post you are responding to. In this case, you are a lot more than a little late to the party.

SubwayVQ

You gotta give credit to them for searching though. Too many people make recreation threads because they don't search.

Dolphinride

Just noticed someone had replied to my post from a long time ago. Trippy. My problem was solved. It was the drain holes in the sunroof being clogged. I blew them out with an air compressor and like a long thin 'wand' type attachment. Glad to help, glad someone is reading my post from so long ago.