craigory

I bought an 07 equinox and its wet from front to rear. .. there isn't' a bit of dry carpet.
I bough this for my wife and our new baby girl. Of course I didn't notice when viewing the car.. but its smelling funky now which cannot be good for our baby.
I intend on fixing it myself as I haven'tthe cash to have it looked at professionally.
So where do I start? Im gonna hit all areas to be sure I find the source.
Every known water leak if you can help!!?? Please!

ruley73

Does your Equinox have a sunroof?

craigory

Hi there, yes it has a sunroof.

I have found some info regarding the drain pipes from the sunroof, going to have a look at that tonight.

The road where the car is parked leans off to the gutter so the car leans to one side and there was nearly 3" water in the passenger side foot well, would this all be leaking from the sunroof?

cheers

ruley73

It's possible, but I think it's unlikely that all that water came from clogged sunroof drains. I would also inspect the cabin air filter and make sure the drain in the middle of the cowl is not plugged while you're at it. The cabin air filter is located on the right side of the cowl under the hood near where the passenger side wiper rests.

I recently had a leak on the passenger side that was caused by a cabin air filter that was mutilated by a mouse. The misshaped filter was catching all the water that made it past the cover and funneling it right into the cabin. Your FLAPS should have one in stock for around $15. I would recommend the MicroGard brand from O'Reilly if you have those stores around you. It is comparable to the OEM filter. Otherwise, just get a basic filter that you can find. Don't get the more expensive ones with charcoal in it. They are a waste of money and don't live up to their claim of being able to filter foul scents.

You should also inspect your door seals. Pay special attention to the outermost seal at the top of each door frame. They have a tendency to work themselves out of place over time. When they get really bad you'll hear loud wind noise when driving at highway speeds. I've found that the best way to circumvent this is to periodically roll the windows down and pull the seals in with my fingers with the base of my palm against the inner part of the door/window frame.

craigory

Hi Thanks for your reply, I poured some water into the sunroof gutter area and it peed out the pipe in the front wheel well area so they dont seem blocked.

I had a look at the cabin air filter too, it was dry and seem perfectly fine, i removed knocked some small bugs out of it and refitted.

I have not checked the plug in the cowl, the cowl being the plastic moulding at the bottom of the windshield? That plastic bit sits quite a bit away from the glass in places, the seal is not touching the glass. would that be letting too much run off get by... its hardly a water tight seal anyways??

ruley73

The cowl is basically that whole plastic portion at the base of the windshield and the metal portion underneath it. That seam doesn't matter much at all. Any water that would get past would go into the cowl and be drained anyways. The drain is in the center of the cowl. If you pop the hood, you'll see a rubber spout that is just behind the ignition coil. You might need to remove the engine cover to see it. The top part of the drain & the spout is visible after you remove the cabin air filter cover.

There are also two rear drain tubes for the sunroof and those are the ones that are problematic on the Equinox. You'll probably need to park the vehicle on a hill and pour water in the sunroof to test those too. When the rear drain tubes are plugged, water accumulates in the spare tire area. Have you checked that area for water? Is the headliner dry?

2005-2009_Equinox_sunroof-housing-rear-drain-hose-replacement.pdf

craigory

so the cowl drain is fine and not blocked.

I did find something alarming tho, I removed the trim on the left of passenger side foot well and where the center section is bolted to the ground has completely corroded away.. the middle section where the shifter is is basically hovering in mid air.
Regretting buying this POS now.



Im just gonna get a half inch drill bit and drill some holes in the floor, what a shambles of a car..

ruley73

Yeah, that definitely looks like it's been leaking for a while.

I pulled the fuse panel cover off and peeked at mine for comparison. It's not nearly as corroded as yours, but at a glance it looked like it was floating too. I then noticed that it is not bolted to the main plane of the floorboard. It is bolted to a small pedestal that raises it off the floorboard about .75". I tried to get a decent picture without removing the console.


I thought of one other place you could check for water. There's some sound deadening insulation around the glovebox that I've circled in red in the picture below. Feel it after it rains and see if it is wet.


You'll also want to take a look at this TSB.

2007_Equinox_Torrent_#PIT4246_1-15-2007-wet-carpet-in-front-passenger-area.pdf

craigory

Oh now that looks more like what my problem could be. Being a 2007 model too. I'll have a look at it this eve.

Thank you again for your help! It's very much appreciated.

craigory

Tonight I lifted the carpet back up over the front seats and drilled a few holes in the floor, i couldn't believe how much water was actually in there.... sigh.
The foam part that goes up the bulk head was so saturated, i was squeezing pints of water out of it.
I dried up what i could with towels then cleaned out the areas around the strut tops, blew some compressed air in and dumped a few pints of water in and around both strut towers and couldn't see any water entering the cabin in the foot well. I'm still gonna seal the strut towers tho.
Gonna let it dry out as best it can before I put it all back together.
I directed the rear seat foot heaters under the carpet to help dry up the rear a bit but ultimately the entire carpet should be removed, then head off to the auto car wash and just keep an eye out for water getting in. I can't see the foam bit coming out tho as it looks to be fixed up behind the dash.
Big waste of time!