Greetings all, it's been awhile since my last visit. I was one of the Moderators at Pacifica World forums for several years, but that site has gone the way of the dodo bird... the owner lost interest and stopped hosting. ANYWAY...

My '07 4.0L Pacifica is ending up with a soaking wet rear driver's side carpet, every time it sits in heavy rain. Water is coming in somewhere. This is the back seat floorboard by the actual door, not the 3rd row seat or cargo area. How can I determine where the leak is? The ceiling and headliner stay completely dry, as does the interior door panel... so that rules out roof and window seal.

Should I just replace the around-the-back-door gasket and assume that will fix the problem? I'm also curious to know the best place to find uncommon parts like that (versus regular maintenance parts like spark plugs and oil filters). I have shopped at moparpartz.com before when they had decent prices, but I haven't bought anything specifically OEM in awhile. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

No ideas on this? I didn't think I would have been the only one with a leak in the interior like this, but maybe so. After all, it's the first serious leak I've experienced in ~22 years of car ownership so I guess it doesn't happen all that often.

 

Where do you live? Hate to bring up an ugly possibility but rusted rocker panels left my floor wet on an older vehicle. My '05 limited in NW OH had pretty bad looking rockers. Take a good look underneath the LR floorboard area from outside. The rocker panel trim is excellent at holding water and salt.

 

Middle of IL, so we get the same winter road conditions that you do in OH. I'll give the rocker panels a look - could your body rust be easily seen from the underside, or is there plastic moulding in the wheelwell or elsewhere that covers it?

 

Sorry for the slow reply. My really bad experience was with a GM vehicle that had rocker panel "facia". Underneath that trim was..... nothing. Rusted completely away. My Pacifica is not rusted through, but on a lift I can see the underside of the rocker area is pretty badly pitted. Again, from my experience being underneath cars in NW OH it will be pretty obvious. I've looked at floor pans and seen the carpet backing. Hope its not that

 

Hello Scotty - I was a member at Pacifica World, seeing your post I just went and deleted it from my bookmarks. It's not surprising to see some of that "consolidation" happen, and who knows how many Pacificas are still on the road. I still have mine, 2005 now with 83K miles.

I haven't had the specific problem, maybe another option would be to make sure the door drains in that door are free. Could water be accumulating in the door and leaking into the interior somehow when it sits in heavy rain? I'd think if it's the gasket, you should be able to easily see a place where it's pinched or loose or otherwise not sealing properly. Good luck!

 

Had an '05 on the lift the other day. This is looking forward under right side. Notice the large hole that opens up into the rocker panel. Similar to my old GM vehicle that had consistent water in the right front floor.

 

I'm almost positive that underbody damage is not my issue, as my leaking happens even when (and actually most noticeable when) the car is sitting still. Such as, parked in a rainstorm overnight and the next morning the rear carpet would be soaked. Plus, I am under my Pacifica a few times/year at least, for oil changes and other stuff. I've never noticed any serious underbody corrosion or rust-through like that... so far.

I finally gave up poking around myself, and took the Pacifica to the mechanic I've been using. He noted some "shrinkage" in the back passenger door gasket, and ordered/replaced it. We were both optimistic, but next rainstorm resulted in wet carpet like always. So currently, he is removing all of the trim/carpet/padding in that area, and will then run a bunch of water over the top of the car to see if he can identify "live" the actual leak while it is occurring. Good idea but it's going to cost me some labor dollars. :P Oh well, that's the "price" of owning used cars. I still save a ton in the long run.

I will post back my results and final price tag on this repair when I have it!

 

Mechanic says he found the leak, and it is hopefully fixed. It ended up being a quarter-sized hole in the cowling area between the top of the hood and the bottom of the windshield. Yes, somehow water was entering there, running along the body and/or through the doors, and showing itself on the driver's side backseat floor. That rear passenger door seal was also replaced, so it's possible that water was coming in 2 places.

My Pacifica's interior literally had be torn out to eventually find this leak... seats, carpet, padding (which needs to be replaced due to repeated water exposure and mold risk), and underdash brake cable and computer. Then the upper vent and cowl by the hood/windshield, a bunch of crud/buildup removed and scraped away, which led to discovered of a blocked drain tube and standing water that caused corroded hole to form over time. It was all patched up and sealed with several layers of body fill and waterproof roof flashing caulk material.

I'm a little concerned about the number of labor hours I'll have to pay for here (Pac is still getting reassembled and I don't have final bill yet), but since I wanted to keep the vehicle it was all fairly unavoidable. Now I can only hope that there are no more sources of water intake hiding in there!

 

Was shopping for a Pacifica and found one at a fine price. I think it was a 2006. Smelled musty inside, the seat tracks were severely rusted, and when I went to put the seatbelt on, it was wet when extended. This was in rural NC, possibility of flood damage but the title was clear. I bought a 2006 from a reputable Chrysler dealer with no mustiness but a keeping alert for water leaks. Hoping it is not a high mileage issue for these vehicles.