2009 LTZ- Water On Passenger Side Rear Floormat

13879 Views 26 Replies 11 Participants Last post by Malibu Pete, 1 mo ago

Sabres88

Discussion Starter · Apr 6, 2017 (Edited)

Hello all,

This is my first post here and I am hoping that this awesome community will be able to assist with the issue I am having with my new (well for me) 09 Malibu.

I am experiancing an issue with pools of water on the rear passengers side floor. It is important to note that this is the rear ONLY. The front passenger's side is bone dry.

I've checked all the obvious stuff like door seals, roof seals etc. There is no water anywhere besides the rear passenger floor under the floor mat (and the mat itself).

Looking around the forum I've seen that this could be any number of things:
-AC drain plugged
-Sunroof drain plugged
-AC condensate issue

I have not been able to pinpoint if this only occurs while it is raining or if it occurs while I am running the AC as it has been raining non-stop over the last little bit and I have been running the AC a decent amount.

The car has about 80,000 Miles on it if that means anythong.

There is not (as of yet anyways) any moldy smell in the car so this leads me to believe this is a relativley new issue for this vehicle.

Given that if this was occuring for quite sometime there would be a considerable smell by now I can't see it being related to the TS bulliten that was put out about a bad sealer used on one of the AC components.

The number for the bulliten I am refering to is: #09-01-37-002D

However that bulliten specifcally mentions the fromt passenger footwell being affected as well.

So given all that information is there anything I can rule out or does anyone have any idea what it could be? I am going to take it to my mechanic on Monday so any suggestions would be very helpful.

If you need any more information please advise.

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1 - 20 of 27 Posts

DrivenDaily

· #2 · Apr 6, 2017

It's a sad way to welcome you to the forum, but that's what it's here for, eh?

I thought of 2 possible things:
1. Body-to-roof sealant (under the plastic trim on the roof) has been a suspect in some water infiltration issues.
2. Was water spilled in the back? (Seems kinda simple, but ... )

Sabres88

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 6, 2017

DrivenDaily said:
It's a sad way to welcome you to the forum, but that's what it's here for, eh?

I thought of 2 possible things:
1. Body-to-roof sealant (under the plastic trim on the roof) has been a suspect in some water infiltration issues.
2. Was water spilled in the back? (Seems kinda simple, but ... )

Hey thanks for the quick reply!
1) I checked the door seals and the roof. No water anywhere besides the area directly in fromt of the rear seat (where the floor mat sits). Nothing coming from the doors nor roof. It has to be coming in through the floor.

2) I noticed this first last weekend. Thought it may have been water or something they spilt while detailing it before I got it from the dealer. I cleaned it up completely dry and just noticed again today.

As an important update I'm about 99% sure this is weather related now. Have not had AC on all day. When I checked the spot on my lunch break it was pretty damp. Came back a few hours later after work and noticed there was now a pool of water. It has been raining non-stop since last night.

So my question is what could cause rain water to come up through the floor? I''m leaning heavily towards sunroof drainage. But does that even drain around that area?

Thanks in advance

DrivenDaily

· #4 · Apr 6, 2017

Sunroof has 4 drains, 1 in each corner. (Unless I'm wrong, in which case there are 2.)

If there are 4, they have tubes that are supposed to go all the way to under the car but sometimes they have come apart.

If there are 2, then each side drains toward the front and down the A pillar. As above, sometimes they separate.

Under the car, check the floor pan for the round plug that is supposed to be there to keep water from coming in from under the car. It could be there but not sealed, too.

TheSilverOne

· #5 · Apr 6, 2017

another option would be to get in the car and have someone spray the car with a hose

Sabres88

Discussion Starter · #6 · Apr 7, 2017 (Edited)

Thanks for the replies everyone.

According to the specifications I've found on here there are 4 drains.

I will have to wait until it stops raining out to proceed with anything. Hopefully it knocks it off tomorrow and I can get the sunroof open and try to pour some water through the drain.

Any advice on how to get everything apart as far as tracing through the drain goes? On top of it being plugged it may also be disconnected.

cartire98

· #7 · Apr 7, 2017

Sabres88 said:
Thanks for the replies everyone.

According to the specifications I've found on here there are 4 drains.

I will have to wait until it stops raining out to proceed with anything. Hopefully it knocks it off tomorrow and I can get the sunroof open and try to pour some water through the drain.

Any advice on how to get everything apart as f ar as tracing through the drain goes? On top of it being plugged it may also be disconnected.

Reminds me of my ole Gen 7 with the sunroof leak problem. Mine had a plastic tube break free from one of the drain feeders/connectors. I do not remember there being 4. Anyways, I used a combination of a 1" cut length McDonalds straw and a 3/4" cut off piece from a cheap FRAM fuel filter when I "MacGyvered it"...

On the front tubes, you have to take off the sun visors and pull out the trim. Since yours is is the rear only, I assume its running down the middle between the doors, thus different trim removal prIocess and could be ugly.

I googled for an hour and found a Gen 7 owner who took the time to upload a You tube video. Perhaps you will get lucky for a rear tube problem, and/or it just needs a high performance Blow out due to some crud if not disconnected like most get. If you search here just right, there is a thread where I posted my tools/straw/filter gizmo and the one video I found from last year. I spent 100 dollars at the dealer who told me that I had no problem....after getting 3 inches of water in my car after a heavy rain and having to keep 8 beach towels in the car for months....Good luck.

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Sabres88

Discussion Starter · #8 · Apr 7, 2017

Thanks for the info cartire98!

The post that I am referring to regarding there being 4 drainage tubes is called "Sunroof Exploded View".

I will search for your post and see if I can find any information about pulling it apart online. I think you are right in terms of the path of the tube. It would make sense if it goes down between the doors and across. I will confirm this and post back.

If I can't come up with anything it is going into my mechanic on Monday who already suspected it was the sunroof. He has the proper tools to clean the entire line out.

Sabres88

Discussion Starter · #9 · Apr 7, 2017

I found a diagram which outlines the drainage from the sunroof to the rear of the car. If you google "2009 Chevrolet Malibu SUNROOF DRAINAGE" it will be fourth link down (wholesalegmpartsonline [dot] com)

This suggests the drain goes nowhere near the rear cabin floor... I'm now at a loss.

cartire98

· #10 · Apr 7, 2017

Sabres88 said:
I found a diagram which outlines the drainage from the sunroof to the rear of the car. If you google "2009 Chevrolet Malibu SUNROOF DRAINAGE" it will be fourth link down (wholesalegmpartsonline [dot] com)

This suggests the drain goes nowhere near the rear cabin floor... I'm now at a loss.

NO, it makes perfect sense. Mine was disconnected at the #5 on the front due to "shrinkage"...LOL. Yours "maybe" disconnected at the #5 on the rear.
So now, identify the procedure to get to it. You may have to disconnect all sorts of stuff - Airbags, seat-belt or whatever, or maybe you're gonna get lucky.

If you find out the tube shrunk, you may also find that you don't have enough slack (That's why I used a Straw and the air filter end piece.) You may be even luckier if your tube is still connected at #5 and it only needs a blow...per se.... :surprise:

Sabres88

Discussion Starter · #11 · Apr 7, 2017

cartire98 said:
NO, it makes perfect sense. Mine was disconnected at the #5 on the front due to "shrinkage"...LOL. Yours "maybe" disconnected at the #5 on the rear.
So now, identify the procedure to get to it. You may have to disconnect all sorts of stuff - Airbags, seat-belt or whatever, or maybe you're gonna get lucky.

If you find out the tube shrunk, you may also find that you don't have enough slack (That's why I used a Straw and the air filter end piece.) You may be even luckier if your tube is still connected at #5 and it only needs a blow...per se.... :surprise:

It has stopped raining for now and is not suppose to start up again until Monday. I'm going to do some drainage testing tomorrow.
As I said it is going to the mechanic on monday. He has the correct tools to blow it out (haaaa) or take panels apart if need be.

I will keep ya updated

Sabres88

Discussion Starter · #12 · Apr 8, 2017

So just wanted to provide an update.

Upon positioning my car differently on the hill outside of my house I was able to get water to flow into each of the sunroof drains. The front two drain as expected. As does the rear driver's side. The rear passenger's side does also drain.... just not as fluently as the other three. Although it is hard to say for sure as the actual water flow out of the drains can't really be measured effectively without measuring cups etc. lol

So that should hopefully eliminate any thought of a possible disconnection of the line. That means if the water in the cabin is related to the sunroof drain at all then it must be due to blockage.

Car is going in on Monday to be blown out. We'll see what happens after that. For the time being the carpet is almost dry and should more water get in post-blow we can eliminate that as an issue.

Papawgrogg

· #13 · Aug 29, 2018

So I’m curious if anyone has found the solution or the culprit to what causes this. I have had a dirty, pungent smell for last two weeks, and finally found that I had water on rear passenger floorboards as well

Sabres88

Discussion Starter · #14 · Aug 30, 2018

Hello!

I actually did determine it was one of the sunroof drains. It went to the dealership and they ripped the roof lining down to find that the drain was disconnected on the front passengers side I believe.

Hope this helps ya out.

BitingChaos

· #15 · Aug 30, 2018

I don't have a sunroof, so I'm going to assume it's my AC condensation.

GM issued Technical Service Bulletin 09-01-37-002, A/C - Front/Rear Passenger Carpet Wet

There's some pictures of the fix I will try in this thread:
https://www.chevymalibuforum.com/fo...6-passenger-full-full-water-8.html#post523042

JPerkins

· #16 · Aug 30, 2018

My wife's car had to go in for this issue a few weeks ago.

If you're fairly certain the issue is weather-related, it's probably the sunroof drain. Question is which end.

You can remove the A-pillar cover fairly easy; there are some YouTube videos out there that demonstrate how to do this. Once pulled out, you can see if the back side of your roof liner is wet. If it is, you can pull the visor out on that side of the car, peel the roof liner down a bit and with some finagling reattach the drain hose to the sunroof assembly, maybe taping it back to help seal the connection.

If it's not there, it likely is an issue where the hose makes a turn toward the door up under the dash and just ahead of the door opening. This is where the problem was in our car.

I didn't have much desire to remove the dash, so it went back to the dealer to get this one dealt with. $30 part and nearly $600 in labor. Supposedly required removal of the dash and roof liner.

An easy test to see if the sunroof drain is the cuprit:
- pull the carpet back from under the plastic trim panels under the dash
- open the sunroof
- pour some water around the sunroof track *carefully* so as not to douse your seats
- if you see water coming out on the floor just forward of the front door where you pulled the carpet back, this is likely your problem.

Good luck with a fix!

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cartire98

· #17 · Aug 31, 2018

When my Gen 7 had the sunroof leak I found this video useful back in 2012:

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Coolcree

· #18 · Feb 4, 2019

2

So I may have finally found the culprit for my water that was on the passenger side floor and under the carpet. I checked the upper drain hose that is attached to the drain hole in the front of the sunroof located under the headliner and it was still connected. I then wanted to check the drain where it exits the car. I have read posts where people say that you have to remove the dash and even one guy posted that he had the dealership do so, cost him over $600. So I removed the cover on the pillar next to the windshield. I looked down and the Green tube that attaches from the sunroof drain wasn't pushed into the L connector that allows the water to drain outside the car. Apparently, from reading other posts, the Green tube shrinks over time and can either pull out of either the upper or lower connections. I went to the store and got a 3/8 piece of hose and made the Green drain tube longer, enabling it to be connected on both ends. I put some sealant on the outside of the Green tube before inserting it into the 3/8 expansion hose. Then i sealed on the outside with sealant. if you look close at the second pic attached, you can see how the entire inside of the drain tube is dirty. As the Green tube is to be inserted at least a 1/2 into it, you would not see the inner side of the drain tube have signs of dirty water drainage residue up to the top. Hopefully this will help those looking to solve the Water on passenger floor riddle.

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FireNinja

· #19 · Jan 8, 2022

8

Coolcree said:
So I may have finally found the culprit for my water that was on the passenger side floor and under the carpet. I checked the upper drain hose that is attached to the drain hole in the front of the sunroof located under the headliner and it was still connected. I then wanted to check the drain where it exits the car. I have read posts where people say that you have to remove the dash and even one guy posted that he had the dealership do so, cost him over $600. So I removed the cover on the pillar next to the windshield. I looked down and the Green tube that attaches from the sunroof drain wasn't pushed into the L connector that allows the water to drain outside the car. Apparently, from reading other posts, the Green tube shrinks over time and can either pull out of either the upper or lower connections. I went to the store and got a 3/8 piece of hose and made the Green drain tube longer, enabling it to be connected on both ends. I put some sealant on the outside of the Green tube before inserting it into the 3/8 expansion hose. Then i sealed on the outside with sealant. if you look close at the second pic attached, you can see how the entire inside of the drain tube is dirty. As the Green tube is to be inserted at least a 1/2 into it, you would not see the inner side of the drain tube have signs of dirty water drainage residue up to the top. Hopefully this will help those looking to solve the Water on passenger floor riddle.

This was exactly what was going on with mine on both the passenger and driver's side.Fixed mine with the silicon tips for some metal straws.

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codyhonaker91

· #20 · 2 mo ago

2

I haven't been able to find a video on how to remove the headliner... now I was hesitant about buying an '09 LTZ as I HATE sunroofs and convinced they ALL leak but this was an okayish deal and I needed something to drive for work that was good on gas. I know this is an old thread and most you guys probably don't even own the cars still but can you give me a link to see headliner removed and where to buy the drain hoses please? Thank you

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