How-To: Prevent Water Leaking into Passenger Floor - SRT Forums

SRT-4 Jay · 05-07-2007, 11:04 AM

Basically, I've seen this question a lot lately, and it is a known problem with some Neons. 2" of Water in the front passenger floor isn't fun, here's how to prevent it and clean it up.

I have had the EXACT same problem on both of my SRTs. My first one was by far the worst. It is a fairly common problem, that I've heard and seen alot with all Neons. It's basically a design flaw that there is no practical fix for, but you can guard against it if you know it's going to rain like hell.

Basically what happens, is when the passenger side of the vehicle is lower than the driver's side. I.E. parked on a curb or slope, the rain water backs up in the fresh air vent at the base of the windshield. There is a drain for it, but it isn't located in a ideal location and does allow water to pool on one side of it if the car is parked on a slope. If it rains hard enough the water overflows the edge of the fresh air intake and pours directly into the the blower motor and onto the passenger floor.

There are really only two ways that I know of to prevent this.

1. One is to park on a level surface or with the driver's side lower than the passenger side. Also, try and make sure the rear of the car is lower on the slope as well.

2. If you can't park the car flat or with the driver's side lower, before you turn the car off, turn the HVAC control to Re-Circulate, which cloes the flap for the fresh air intake and this will prevent water from getting down in there.

The strange sound you may from the blower motor is the blower spinning out the remaining water inside it. If you drive the car around afterwards with a little spirit around the curves, the water in the floor boards will mostly find it's way out, then turn the AC on full blast with the temp dial turned to heat and let the De-humidifier function of the AC dry it out for you.

Then go to a parts store or stealership and get an AC Duct cleaner(Spray Can) MOC chemical, and BG both make it and go to town with that through the fresh air intake and that should kill and prevent any possible mold issues. Hope this helps. As I've had to do it multiple times. Just one of the joys of owning a Neon.

Oh, I almost forgot...

There is actually a drain on the bottom of the blower motor assembly under the passenger side dash. It's on the very bottom and has a rubber flap/boot on it. It sticks out a little bit so it isn't too hard to find. That will allow you drain out whatever water is still in there, so the blower motor won't spin it up into the rest of the vents. The first time this happened to me, and I turned the blower on high, it actually spit water out of the vents at me. So, given that drain is there, DCX must have forseen the problem. I guess you could also put a bucket under there to catch the water too.

Hope this helps everybody with this problem.

jc.turbo · 05-07-2007, 11:55 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by SRT-4 Jay

2. If you can't park the car flat or with the driver's side lower, before you turn the car off, turn the HVAC control to Re-Circulate, which cloes the flap for the fresh air intake and this will prevent water from getting down in there.

this is what i've been doing this year to prevent it. last year sucked, especially around corners after it rained, you could hear the water drain out and onto the carpet...

silverpheonix · 05-10-2007, 11:29 PM

damn, where was this last summer??? took my car to the dealership 3 different times and they had no idea what the hell was goin on. it always seemed to happen after the rain when parked in a certain area... now i get it thanks man!

SRT4Blubyu · 05-11-2007, 10:54 AM

This happened to me about a week ago and I was freaking out.

I parked the car on a slope and the passenger side was lower now that I think about it.

Slow4D00R · 10-14-2008, 10:38 PM

im having this EXACT same problem! the thing is i do park my car in the grass in front of my house and its on a little bit of an angle but theres nothing i can do i have nowhere else to park. Also, I realized that my a/c seems to be stuck on sucking fresh air in from the outside and i cant leave it on recirculate. was there any recalls on this?

cenedar · 10-15-2008, 03:30 PM

I had the exact same problem as well. But I fixed it. I first tried to lessen the space for the fresh air intake. Which did not work at all. But I noticed near the windshield edge and the under side of the frame. I wish i took pictures. But basically I used some sylicon to fill in where the manifactors missed. I also needed a mirror to see this flaw under the windshield area. It basically leaked when I would turn left after sitting in the rain.

I wish i could describe it better. I will attempt to post pictures of it. I used a flash light to see where the leak was coming from.

Ragin_SRT · 10-17-2008, 11:05 AM

I had the same problems the way I fixed it was I drilled 2 hole in the canal to drain it through the engine bay by the overflow tank

dragradial · 10-18-2008, 04:01 PM

I fixed mine by placing a little bit of silacone around the out side passanger air vent. When it would rain some of the rain would trickel in so I made a little sheald with the silacone to prevent the water from coming in.

After years with this problem now not one drop.

Slow4D00R · 10-27-2008, 06:18 PM

if someone could post pictures of their fix or where they put the silicone id really appreciate it

04electricblue · 10-30-2008, 02:50 PM

Well my carpet is destroyed, my dealership wants to let someone not associated with dodge to look at it. I'm all about saying 'forget that' I just want to know one thing if I silicone any hole I find on the interior of the car could there be any negatives to doing this? Water pooling elsewhere ect? HAs anyone tried drilling and placing a new line in the air vent?

cenedar · 10-31-2008, 10:51 AM

Sorry for the delay.

Here is the first pic

Right where the metal angles down, is where the water was going in. This was only a small amount of water. Only when I turned left the water would race down that small track and up into the hole. Then down and into threw the fresh air intake and onto the floor.

Here is where I applied the silicon.

We used a small flash light to determine where the leak was coming from. I also put in a small shield by the fresh air intake, but it did not fix the problem.

bravopl · 03-10-2009, 09:00 PM

Who the f... designed this car?? looks like blond dumb chick. Srt4 got lots of issues such as this 1-i own of such a junk( throwing codes 0123,0441, sunroof problem etc)

3.5yearowner · 03-10-2009, 09:07 PM

that scared the crap out of me the other day i turned the heater on and a tsuanami poured out

NIVO88T · 03-10-2009, 09:15 PM

Also, for those with waste gates, on our SRT the waste gate got so hot that it melted shut the drain tube for the evaporator/dryer of the A/C. when u use the compressor in either A/C mode or defrost water would leak in the cabin.

I made another hole in the tube, all was well.

domesticracer1 · 03-15-2009, 02:19 PM

Good thread, I have had this problem with my wifes old 01 neon, that is the reason we sold it. Now I have an srt-4 and its doing the same thing, I have it all sealed up now and am going to see how it works.