[Vcoat]

Picked up a Pearl white 2013 outback about three months ago!..love the car so far but very dissapointed yesterday to find water on the passenger side floor and i am talking like a half inch...i guess between the heavy rains lately and car washes it really got soaked. What really bothers me is that it is the same problem i had with my 2007 outback and one of the reason i got rid of it. I do park out side and yes under a large tree with falling leaves etc at this time of year which causes a some kind of return tube to get clogged and reroute the water into my floor. I wonder if there is anything i can do short of covering the car everytime i park in the driveway... ( chopping the down the tree not a option i wish !)Thanks in advance for any advice....

 

[Novablue]

Do you have a sun roof?

 

[Vcoat]

Do you have a sun roof?

No sunroof...must be something were the wipers are...a drainage hole i am guessing...

 

[worrst]

half an inch of water? Did you take pictures or bring to dealer?

 

[Novablue]

No sunroof...must be something were the wipers are...a drainage hole i am guessing...

Hmmm. That would imply that there is a hole somewhere and I'm not aware of one. I mean the car is not airtight but it should be able to get rained on. What about angle? Do you park on a incline? How long have you had it? A tree should not have really blocked the passages that fast, which I can't see being the case here.

 

[Vcoat]

guessing on the half inch...but the carpert was soaking wet..called the dealer they told me its a inherent problem with these cars ..a pine needle can clog the hole and then some evaporator thing fills up and drains into the passenger side floor. I will get more details when i go there today..

 

[Vcoat]

Hmmm. That would imply that there is a hole somewhere and I'm not aware of one. I mean the car is not airtight but it should be able to get rained on. What about angle? Do you park on a incline? How long have you had it? A tree should not have really blocked the passages that fast, which I can't see being the case here.

Only 3k on the car parked on level ground ...oak tree close by shedding leaves etc a heavy rain and a couple of car washes so far

 

[GasGuzz]

Only 3k on the car parked on level ground ...oak tree close by shedding leaves etc a heavy rain and a couple of car washes so far

LoL.<O</O
Nothing you’re doing is out of the ordinary, hilarious an OB would flood given it natural habitat (oak tree close by shedding leaves etc).<O</O
its a inherent problem with these cars ..a pine needle can clog the hole and then some evaporator thing fills up and drains into the passenger side floor… An empirical design flaw, you’d think they would have resolved it by 2013/now.<O</O
Thank for you report, please keep us posted.<O</O

 

[worrst]

This makes me nervous as i park my car under a tree in my driveway (1 month old '13 premium). Seen pretty heavy rain for the past month but haven't noticed the rain soaked passenger floor yet.

Please do keep us updated on what the problem/solution is.

 

[mikelipke]

Vehicle with no sunroof and water on the floor (not coolant) is often caused by a bad windshield seal.

 

[Busy Livin']

Usually, this is caused not by leaves nor pine needles...but by spiders. They will crawl up inside the evaporator drain tube and lay eggs/build a nest, whatever it is that spiders do with that sticky white stuff. That's enough to clog the small diameter of the tube and, voila, water in the passenger front floorboard. You know that water that drains out under your car when you have the AC running? That's the water now on your floorboard. Keep in mind that your AC evaporator can be utilized even if you are not using the AC (if you have the windshield defrost function engaged).

The reason I mention this is because how old (or new) your car is means nothing to a spider...they do not discriminate. Thus a brand new one is just as susceptible as one of a more mature vintage. Good luck with getting it fixed. Frankly, it is an easy repair that you can do yourself and save yourself the headache of taking it to the dealer. They would be justified in not covering it under warranty if it is not Subaru's fault (like a spider nest) but I'm sure they would out of goodwill.

 

[plain OM]

Hard to believe that this could be a design fault. The cars are put through tortuous water tests and with so many 3rd and 4th generation OBs and Legacys out on the road we would have heard a lot more about this. That doesn't mean something isn't wrong, but it might not be an inherent design issue.

Below the windshield there's a black plastic cover. It has some openings and small drain holes, but these are not critical drains. Below the cover is the cowl area, a fairly open space that extends across the car below the windshield. It encloses the windshield wiper motor and the wiper linkages, and an opening for air that's drawn into the cabin by the heater/AC. The cowl has a number of fairly large holes at the left and right sides to drain water that gets in. The plastic cover isn't a tight fit, and water from its openings drains into the cowl area. The black cover's holes are generally small enough to prevent leaves etc from getting in below, at least anything large enough to block the cowl's main drain holes. However, accumulated small bits could build up and eventually slow the flow through the cowl drains, and if the cowl area were to fill up (this would take a very heavy rain), it could overflow into the heater intake. (The intake is raised above the bottom of the cowl to prevent this, at least in normal situations.) Water would then pass through the cabin air filter to the fan squirrel cage, and then down the duct to a joint where it would drip out onto the carpet. But I think this is a very unlikely scenario.

In any event, the cowl cover can be removed by first removing the wiper arms and then the plastic clips that hold the cover in place. The cowl area is then exposed, and can be inspected for drain blockage, or some other unusual anomaly.

a pine needle can clog the hole and then some evaporator thing fills up and drains into the passenger side floor.

This is not an external to internal leak, but it's also not uncommon. (There's a few threads here relating to this.)

The evaporator is what cools the cabin air when the AC is on. As the air, pushed by the fan, passes over the evaporator and cools, water in the air condenses (changes from a gas to a liquid), runs down the evaporator, and collects in a pan area below. The pan has an outlet to a rubber pipe that goes out the front right area of the firewall. When the AC is on, especially on hot, humid days, it's normal to see water dripping from this drain. (In fact, it's one sign that the AC is working!) But the small hose can become blocked, especially nearer the lower end. ( It can happen overnight if an insect crawls into it and builds a nest.) When it does, water can't drain and eventually overflows the evaporator pan and drips out of the heater/AC duct, which is above the front passenger foot well, soaking that carpet.

The AC is on anytime the heater/AC blower is used with the system mode switch set to one of the two windshield defroster settings; in other words it can be running even if the AC itself hasn't been manually turned on.

So while it's possible there's an external source of the water, I wouldn't discount the possibility that the evaporator drain hose is blocked, and the water on the floor could be from a recent drive with the heater/AC fan on.

All to say that I think there are some things to check out before concluding that there's an inherent problem.

 

[Vcoat]

Thanks for your response ... It seems the the tube connected to evaporator box was clogged... The dealer tells me this a common problem going back to 2002 there is a bend in the tube and that's we're stuff can get caught ... I just found it odd that it happened on my 2007 and now with my 2013...guess I have to pay more attention to stuff accumulating in the wiper area

 

[jackw49]

Picked up a Pearl white 2013 outback about three months ago!..love the car so far but very dissapointed yesterday to find water on the passenger side floor and i am talking like a half inch...i guess between the heavy rains lately and car washes it really got soaked. What really bothers me is that it is the same problem i had with my 2007 outback and one of the reason i got rid of it. I do park out side and yes under a large tree with falling leaves etc at this time of year which causes a some kind of return tube to get clogged and reroute the water into my floor. I wonder if there is anything i can do short of covering the car everytime i park in the driveway... ( chopping the down the tree not a option i wish !)Thanks in advance for any advice....

This is typically a result of A/C water drain hose plugged. It manifests itself with very wet carpet on the passenger side. My dealer unplugged it on my OB 2011 and it is perfect now...the carpet needed few days to dry completely.
Supposedly it is very easy to unplug the hose on your own but I did not tried it.
I think that it happened to my OB after I drove more than 50 miles on very dusty and sandy road in a very hot weather.

 

[plain OM]

I think that it happened to my OB after I drove more than 50 miles on very dusty and sandy road in a very hot weather.

I think that's another possible cause, although perhaps not so quickly. When the AC is running, the inside of the drain hose is wet, and dust can collect inside and build up until the flow is restricted. (See the linked thread for the location of the drain outlet.)

Regular checking of the drain is probably a good idea, even if it isn't listed in the maintenance schedule. Here's a thread -- one of a number -- that addresses this in more detail, with ideas on how to make sure the line is clear. Although it isn't specific to the 4th generation OB, they're pretty much the same in this area.

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/66-problems-maintenance/14076-water-leaking-passenger-footwell-accesing-evaporator.html

 

[Sandroad]

If it is the A/C drain line, it can be easily unclogged using compressed air (a can of it works fine), once you find the little rubber hose hanging down outside.

 

[firesail]

I had that problem not too long ago too. I heard sloshing under my glove box and the carpet was soaked. I didnt think it was the a/c at first but remembered another car I had with a similar problem of the a/c hose. Turned out mine was clogged. Disconnected the tube from the a/c, have to pull the carpet back and its on the top left side. Filled it with water and it didnt drain. Got a hand pump for a beach ball and cleared out the clog.

 

[Cedarviola]

It's rainy season, and lately each morning I find a puddle in the passenger footwell. Took me a while but think I found the problem and it was not the AC drain.

Browsing this forum it seems that the AC drain commonly clogged so I took a look -- it seemed clear but I removed the thermostat (i think it is) from the housing I could see lots of leaves and twigs -- with some effort with wire hooks and a vacuum cleaner got that part of the box clean. Poured water in that hole and it drained right away.

Put a garden hose up to the grill in the cowl cover and several gallons spilled away to the sides as it should and nothing on the carpet. Problem solved I thought, but no... Next morning after the night's rain the carpet was once again flooded.

So I wondered why water was getting in there anyway? Pulled the fan, poured water on the windshield and it was just pouring through into the fan housing -- Ahah! That's not right.

So I saw the post from Plain OM about the cowl cover. It came off too easily -- several of the fasteners were missing or broken on the windshield side. It was fairly clean inside but what I noticed is that one of the fastener holes on the passenger side is directly above the air inlet. And that was one that was broken! I found the top part of the grommet floating around on top and later found the bottom part amongst the leaves I removed from the AC box.

So, if anyone else has strange rainwater leaks hope this helps. What gets me is that if that fastener were just a few inches either direction, this would not have happened.

Jim

 

[subiesailor]

Usually, this is caused not by leaves nor pine needles...but by spiders. They will crawl up inside the evaporator drain tube and lay eggs/build a nest, whatever it is that spiders do with that sticky white stuff. That's enough to clog the small diameter of the tube and, voila, water in the passenger front floorboard. You know that water that drains out under your car when you have the AC running? That's the water now on your floorboard. Keep in mind that your AC evaporator can be utilized even if you are not using the AC (if you have the windshield defrost function engaged).

The reason I mention this is because how old (or new) your car is means nothing to a spider...they do not discriminate. Thus a brand new one is just as susceptible as one of a more mature vintage. Good luck with getting it fixed. Frankly, it is an easy repair that you can do yourself and save yourself the headache of taking it to the dealer. They would be justified in not covering it under warranty if it is not Subaru's fault (like a spider nest) but I'm sure they would out of goodwill.

^ what he said. 2 min fix with a dollar store sqeeze bottle. Soft flexible drain hose runs down the side of the transmission tunnel about where your left foot pinky toe rests when your sitting in tge passenger seat. Very gental tug by hand with a rag handy to catch the water sitting in the AC tray maybe a cup or less will trickle out. Take the little travel sqeeze bottle full of water stick the bottle tip on the end of the hose and give it a squeeze. Bingo fixed.

Mine has done this twice this fall, our spider season. Even when blocked the ac hose drained some but it was still blocked enough to cause the tray to overflow and soak the foor.

 

[AO River]

^ I've also had water accumulation in the passenger footwell for the past two weeks, only when running the A/C or using the defrost. I tried uncloggingg the drain hose from underneath the OB with no luck; I'll need to pull the drain tube from inside the car and try to clear it out that way - it just disconnects from the heater core with a firm tug? It seemed to be connected pretty securely but I didn't try that hard for fear of disconnecting something I couldn't reconnect.