My drivers side floor on the 97 xk8 has been getting saturated with a very wet couple of weeks. Did a search and tried checking the drains on the weather stripping on the a pillar, those are fine and there doesn't appear to be any gunk by the firewall. Windshield seal looks fine. Here's the kicker, the carpet on the firewall and on the rocker stays dry, it is just the floor that gets wet. Rained the past 2 days and I sat it looking for any evidence of water and there wasn't any. Got in it this morning and it was wetter then yesterday so it is taking time to get there. Didn't drive so it isn't coming in from road splash somewhere. Stumped.

 

Directly under the floor on both the driver and passenger sides, there is a metal plate that hangs under the metal floor of the chassis. These plates were used to help turn the body during the production process at the factory, and serve no purpose now.

The plates hold water and moisture against the floorboard, eventually causing rust...and then eventually causing holes...which leads to wet carpets. This may or may not be your problem, but it's a known issue and you should give it a look.

XKRacer has posted photos on this forum showing the method he uses to repair this problem. Good luck.


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I did look into that initially but no rust plus I would suspect you wouldn't get a ton of water in there without driving the car in the rain right?

 

Pulled the carpet up enough to get a good look at the floor board. Yeah I'd say there is a gallon or so of water down there. No holes, no rust on the inside at all except for the one plug is surface rusted. I'm simply shocked as I don't get that much water into my TVR when it rains and it isn't the most weather tight car out there.

 

Check and see if the leak is coming from the windshield. Lay a piece of newspaper
on the floor and spray water over the windshield.

 

That'll be the next step, still have it ripped apart trying to dry it out while we have so nice dry weather for the next few days.

 

Ran water over the windshield today for 15-20 minutes. Didn't leak in yet. Will check again in the morning. I did change brake pads as the last owner bought the cheapest semi metallic pads they could and it shows brake dust just looking at stopping. Was going to drain the brake fluid but the 1st caliper I came across has a damaged/broken bleeder valve so that will have to wait. I did find that the fuel canister had a hose not attached so maybe that is what's giving the smell of gas coming thru the vents.

 

Check the AC Condensate Drain Tubes (item 5) aren't blocked or detached.



Condensate should drain through two tubes either side of the transmission and exit beneath the vehicle. A detached or blocked drain allows condensate to pool on driver's and/or passenger's floor.

Graham

 

Will give it a shot. Are you saying there are 2 drain hoses. Tough to tell from the pick. I do know I get the typical condensate drip when the ac over by the pass side footwell area under the car but if there is one on the drivers side that ties into it then it is possible.

 

YES - there's 2 of them.

That illustration is from the Parts Catalogue. I've checked JTIS but there's no better diagram available there.

Graham