erniel

I have a 2010 Max. Great car, love it, hate to think about getting rid of it. However, a few weeks ago, I noticed that I had a lot of water in the back seat footwell on driver's side. So much that I used a shop vac to suck the water out. A few days later I noticed that the water had returned and I had to vacuum it out again. I brought the car to the dealer for normal maintenance and asked them to find the leak.

The shop was unable to determine where the water was coming from. They checked the drain lines, the a/c drain, everything they coukld think of with no success.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this?

ernie

BlackMaximus04

Tell them to check the sunroof drain. I had this same problem & the sunroof drain was clogged up with debris. After they cleaned it had no more water build up but I'd tell them to check the A/C drain again to be safe. Cause the amount of water you're describing sounds like it's coming from the AC drain being clogged unless you're in a high rain area.

saltohio

Huh, I din't know there WAS a sunroof drain. Thanks for that.

erniel

Thanks for the suggestions. Those areas have been checked. I did notice that driving on wet roads seemed to cause water to get in. I am going to look for cracks in the undercoating or a hole underneath.

Is the backseat footwell the lowest place on the car?

lightonthehill

In this case, I suspect the difference in 'lowness' between the front and rear foot wells (or right and left foot wells) is not a factor, as they are essentially even. I think the water is getting directly into the left rear footwell. The question is how.

If you don't have the double panel panoramic roof, this is a very strange situation. If you do have the panoramic double panel roof, then, despite the dealer's claims, I would strongly suspect the LEFT REAR drain tube which should only be on the double panel roof version of the Maxima, is blocked. Try opening the roofs all the way, and on the rear driver's side, try running a plastic wire (sort of like the wire used on weed eaters and some fishing lines) down the drain tube to see if it can go all the way through so the water can reach the ground.

If the left rear roof drain tube is blocked, you might even be able to feel some dampness in the ceiling fabric above the rear doors or inside the 'B' and 'C' pillars immediately after the water has entered the cabin.

05RLS2

Where are the sunroof drains located on the Maixmas (standard sunroof, not the double), and what is the proper way to clean them out?

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

Good question. My 4th Gen developed rust in the rear quarter panels. A common problem with the 4th Gens. I believe this was due to drain tubes clogging. Does anyone know if the 7th Gen has some similar drain tubes? Where are they located and how do we make sure they do not clog?

lightonthehill

I keyed a detailed approach to this three times, only to find when I tried to post it that maxima.org had timed me out and thrown my post away. I give up.

Without getting into details, I will just say that the method I suggested several post back on how to check the rear drain tubes will not work because opening the double panel roof leaves the roof blocking the rear opening.

And very briefly, for normal sunroofs, the openings to the front drain tubes are in the corners above the 'A' pillars. Open the sunroof and look between the ceiling of the cabin and the roof into the corners near the top of the 'A' pillars. Sometimes following the little drain troughs helps lead us to the openings.

I used plastic wire intended as the cutting element of a weed-eater, rounded the tip so it would not easily catch inside the tube, and ran it rdown the drain tube from inside the sunroof opening.

If the wire can reach the ground, the drain tube is clear. If the wire encounters a clog, it may well be that it is not strong enough to dislodge the clog. Maybe a stiffer type wire could dislodge the clog, but, most likely, we would measure the length of wire that was within the tube when it hit the clog so we can tell the dealer how far down the tube the clog is. That should help him know where to begin disassembling things to get to the clog if he is unable to flush it out