Water leak inside cab.

OK, have a water leak into the cab of my Tundra. (No, clearly not antifreeze related.)
’04 Tundra, access cab, V8, 4X
Over a month ago, upon opening my Tundra front passenger door for some reason, I spotted a considerable amount of water that had filled many of the indents of the passenger seat floor mat. And the remains of a drip hanging off the fan or motor housing protrusion beneath the general center of the glove box.
Speculating at the time where the water had come from, I came to 2 possibles;
- Rain, since we had some decent rain prior to spotting the water.
- Condensation, since I had been running the truck in hot weather and having the air conditioner on a lot.
So, I parked the Tundra, dumped the water off the mat, and fan dried the carpet area beneath the mat, and waited for more rain, to eliminate wetness being due to air conditioner condensation.
Yeah, have a car too to drive in the meantime.
And, no, did not want to do possibly unrelated test of pouring water on windshield with garden hose.
Well, it finally rained, and again the mat got wet (nowhere near the amount as initially). So I’m pondering again, and speculating whether it is a windshield leak or a problem/leak caused by “debris” damming water enough to flow it where it never would get otherwise. So I did get the hose out, put a little nozzle on the end and blasted the debris out of where it was compiling at the top of the fender beneath both bottom corners of the windshield, and off the screen all along beneath the windshield at the back of the hood.
More weeks go by with the occasional rain, but with no rain gauge out, I had no knowledge of how much rain. Checking for wet mat after the rains, did not find any and thought “Eureka, removing the debris had solved the problem somehow”.
Until this morning! As I’m typing this up for input where the water “may have” actually come from, and, since it is raining fairly hard, decide another look in the Tundra is due. “Well dang, dang, dang, mat is (only very lightly) wet again”! Feeling in under the dash, specifically of the components under the glove box, I’m finding drips in front of (toward front of truck) a small fan motor located beneath the right hand edge of the glove box, but drips/wetness are close to the back of the firewall inside the cab, and “not” dripping from any protrusion more centered beneath the glove box as found originally.
I’ve been told my Tundra windshield can fairly easily be removed and reused, since it has a rubber gasket as opposed to a space age caulk application like so many vehicle windshields use. Remove the windshield, replace the surrounding seal, and reinstall the original windshield? Possible???
Any knowledgeable input on this water source situation very much appreciated.

 

Probably cowl fasteners
https://www.tundras.com/threads/definitive-2000-2006-cab-area-rain-water-leak-thread.70464/

 

Yup, chances are, it's the cowl leak described (and shown in video) on that thread. I'd be shocked if it weren't.

My previous two most recent GM pickups had a similar leak over the cowl air intake hole, I dunno why the hell manufacturer's can't seem to wrap their head around why putting fasteners over an air inlet is absolutely stupid.

 

If you have a sunroof then it could be clogged drain tubes. They feed out on the a-pillars and c-pillars. Once they're clogged then it just backs up into the cab.

 

I thought it was out the b-pillar? I posted a pic of one on here. Dumps out under the running board, I think?

 

You're probably right. I have only had to deal with Rav4s and Highlander leaks recently but theirs are on the C-pillar. I haven't seen a water leak in a tundra here yet that wasn't due to the 3rd brake light issue or a poor windshield install.

 

Have you refreshed your cowl fasteners? If not, are you parking outdoors? Mine showed signs I'd been leaking a little bit a while back - or at least had been at some point in history - so I refreshed all of them. The process was pretty painless, but I recommend buying a few extra cowl fasteners (more info) before you get started on the process. You will break some fasteners unless you're some kind of magical genius with ultra-gentle touch. The fasteners you'll need are in the 'cowl leak' section of that thread, I'd recommend grabbing 3-4 of each. I've got spares of every fastener (including the cowl fasteners) if you ever choose to go there. If you ever park outdoors during rain events, I'd recommend it eventually. You may not know it's leaking - we don't go over and touch the passenger carpet often. And you don't want mildew to get roots in your interior plastics, once they do, you're screwed.

 

There ain’t no real B pillar in an access cab. And an AC with a sunroof is a unicorn. Don’t believe they were ever offered from the factory with one. Most likely scenario here is the cowl clips leaking.

 

There also ain't no sunroof or sunroof drains in an AC

 

Shit, I didn't even read that it was an AC. I'm just conditioned to automatically think "sunroof" when hearing about water leaks hah.

 

Exactly. And I guess if they are gonna not consider the part of the front door and rear access cab door latch the B pillar, then the back of the cab would be the B pillar.

 

That's my understanding, pillars are counted A, B, C front to rear. AC b-pillar would be the rear corner.

 

With the doors closed, you have a temporary B pillar between the front passenger and rear passenger space where the door latches. Wonder what they refer to it as instead.

 

Maybe lowercase "b" instead of uppercase "B".

 

The B is silent

 

"pillar"

 

Since he has an AC, it's somewhat moot but you are correct about A/C Pillars for drains if it was an 04-06, which was not offered till 04.

Pass Kick Panel A Pillar for front moonroof drain....



Rear moon roof drains, pass the B pillar to the C pillar....




As others mentioned OP, it's possible you cowl over the fan motor need some attention....

 

I had the same problem a while ago. It only happened when I ran the AC or defroster on high. On a drive down the I-5 in Cali it SOAKED my floorboards and carpet. It was the drain tube that goes from the bottom of the HVAC box out through the firewall. It was leaking the condensation from the AC onto the floor. The OEM tube disintegrated. Be sure to check that too, if I didn't read you already have, then proceed with the suggestions here if it's in good condition. I fixed mine with stock heater hose and a zip tie. (Toyota can special order the part, two weeks out). I had exactly this..."Over a month ago, upon opening my Tundra front passenger door for some reason, I spotted a considerable amount of water that had filled many of the indents of the passenger seat floor mat. And the remains of a drip hanging off the fan or motor housing protrusion beneath the general center of the glove box." It rains a lot here in Humboldt, I've not had any leaks there since.

 

This is the main reason I prefaced the definitive leak thread with "This thread assumes you've checked for obvious stuff, like ... making sure the A/C condensate drain nipple in the engine bay on the passenger's side of the firewall is clear, you're sure this is not coolant, i.e. you're not smelling coolant in the puddle, and you checked some more-obvious sources like roof lights and sunroof drains being clogged (if you have one), sunroof seal."

I've had the unfortunate experience you're describing in another vehicle. Slime molds/misc garbage, especially in cars w/o cabin filters, will definitely clog that nipple.