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Re: 2001 Pathfinder LE - water seepage into front passenger floor [almatti]

by almatti on Wed Oct 01 19:58:22 PDT 2008

To All Owners of This model Pathfinder: Found the source of water seepage. There are weep holes in the windshield wiper area. They divert the water from that area down along the inner door hinge area into the door well. There are weep holes in that well area. That allows the water to drain out to the ground. They were Clogged with leaf debris [those freakin polynoses from maple trees mostly] and the water backed up into the door well and into the flooring. My son and I picked up the carpet and the entire floor was soaked, the padding is ruined. The carpet is salvagable. It's been cleaned and dried out (with a shop vac and hair blower). Now the padding will be replaced and the carpets fully shampooed. Hopefully - good as new.

2001 Pathfinder LE - water seepage into front passenger floor

by almatti on Sat Sep 27 16:37:27 PDT 2008

The seepage was detected more than a year ago. I thought it steemed from the firewall/windshield area. A "real" honest local mechainic told me that there was probably a clog in the weep hole area in the door jamb. Looking into the door well when U open the door revealed that leaaves and maple tree 'poly noses" have gathered into the door well. Cleaned that out, dried the carpeting and seemed OK. Now it really leaked, cleaned the same area again [my son at college uses the Pathy], but this time, the entire passenger front side carpet and padding is soaked and smells. Is there a service that can clean and deordorize the carpetting or does it require to be replaced which is expensive.... Anyone. Advise is much appreciated.

Re: Water Issues [lmaher63]

by kts0347 on Sat Sep 13 20:29:46 PDT 2008

Hi imaher63, I have just removed my door panels today (for the second time) I will attach the detailed instructions on how to do this so it will be easily available in this forum. Here is the simple version. 1) Don't try this without a set of trim removal tools. I bought a set at Harbor Freight for $5 and they work like a charm. Forget about the special tools mentioned below. Just go buy a set of the plastic trim removal tools (they look like various shaped pry bars and miniature crow bars). Don't get the wimpy ones, they will just bend instead of popping out the fasteners. 2) Start by removing the door handle trim. It is held in with four clips. Pry gently on the top and the top ones will release. There is a tab at the rear edge, so remove the trim plate up and forward. Pull the door handle out to make it easy to remove. Unclip the wire harness and set the piece aside. 3) Next remove the tweeter trim on the inside of the ORVmirror. Pry from the top. There is a push clip. Then rotate gently out. There are two plastic tabs on the bottom and rear - don't break. Unclip the wire harness and set the pieces aside. 4) The door panel is held on by a series of push pins surrounding the sides and bottom. These should be popped out with a pry tool, starting from one edge near the bottom, and working slowing around. They have foam washers to prevent rattling. Retain. 5) After the push pins are popped, the panel should be lifted up and to remove. It is still attached in two places, and these are freed up by lifting. The first is a lip on the top edge that fits over a metal strip on the door inner panel. The second is two clips that provide support for the armrest grip. They slide out of grooves on the door inner by lifting up. Disconnect the main wire harness at the blue connection and the panel is free. To reassemble: 1) Remove the two armrest clips from the door trim panel using a needle nose pliers to compress them. Don't squeeze too hard, you gotta use them again. Slip these clips into the brackets mounted on the door inner. (Now they are positioned so you can just press the door panel onto them to secure) 2) Reattach the main wire harness connection. 3) Hang the door panel on the top metal strip. 4) Ensure the clips are all in position on the door trim, and not stuck in the door itself. Two longer clips go on the lower edge and act as the pilot for re installation. Put all the clips into the respective holes before seating any of them. Then position the two armrest clips into their respective holes. Now that everything is lined up, seat all the clips. 5) Reinstall the tweeter. 6) Reinstall the door handle trim. Pull the door handle out to allow the trim to seat itself, beginning at the rear. What's behind the trim? The most McGiver'd waterproofing solution I have ever seen. Water runs down the window channel into the door. There are weep holes along the bottom edge of the door for it to escape. However, there are lots of large openings on the door inner. These are sealed by a large formed piece of polyethylene that is "glued" to the door inner with a band of black mastic. Water obviously runs down the inside face of this polyethylene, because the door inner has several drain holes to allow the water to run back into the door. The mastic is applied so that these drain holes are in low spots. Well, that's the theory. But after several years of baking in the sun, the polyethylene tends to "wave" and the mastic releases (usually in those low spots where the drain holes are located). So, instead of draining back into the door, the water just flows downward, past the lower edge of the door trim and inside of the door weatherstrip. This seems to happen near the trailing edge of the door, and from there it goes under the sill plate, under the carpet, and usually ends up puddling in the rear foot well. I said I had removed my door trims twice. The first time I just pressed hard on the polyethylene to try to reseal the mastic. It looked good and I put it back together. Next rainfall I sat in the car and watched two rivulets of water flowing from each of the front doors (my rears don't seem to be leaking). So today off came the panels again, and I am going to get more aggressive with sealing the polyethylene. I got clear RTV silicone at AutoZone. I am going to try to adhere these sheets to the door inner once and for all. I got the RTV silicone for a second reason too. I also have water leaks in my trunk. Inspection indicates two areas. 1) There is a small opening in the factory sealing of the sheet metal near the right tail light. This is just a quality problem and a little sealer will take care of it. 2) The tail lights, center reflector bar, spoiler, and a filler plate at the lower edge of the trunk are all attached with bolts that penetrate the trunk compartment. They are sealed with washers that have a mastic on them. Water seems to be coming in from some of these. I thought a dab of silicone on each would stop that. Mold: My carpets had some visible mildew so I removed them for cleaning. I have a swimming pool so the first step was to wash and soak them thoroughly in chlorinated pool water ( 5 ppm) This cleaned them up nicely. Then I took Imadol's advice and went looking for Concrobium. I found it at Lowes, It is in a 32 oz spray bottle and consists of 1% Sodium Carbonate and 99% water. Cost $9. I sprayed it on both the upper and lower surfaces of the carpets. Instructions are to let it soak in and dry. No color fading no residue. no mold. Rust: My floor was rusty in the rear foot wells and particularly in the battery tray, which seemed to hold the majority of the water. I wanted a simple, and not necessarily perfect cosmetic solution. Turns out there are products that transform rust into a hard black crystaline material that can be painted. One product is called "Rust Doctor" and is available on the internet but only in gallon jugs. My application was much smaller, and I found that hardware stores carry a number of similar products. I bought Permatex Rust Treatment for $8 because it comes in a 10 Oz spray can and I could spray it into some of the seams and openings on the floor. These products need to be covered with a surface coat of non-latex paint to prevent rust from recurring. Rustoleum or equivalent will work fine. Here are the detailed instructions for the door trim. There are also some drawings that didn't want to copy, so they don't appear below. If you want to see the instructions including the drawings go to: http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=253&p=1301&hilit- =how+to+remove+door+trim#p1301 Trim Panel Replacement - Side Front Door Tools Required J 36796 Clip Zip Tool J 38778 Door Trim Pad Clip Remover Removal Procedure Remove the inside door handle bezel. The front inside do

AUDI R8 IN THE WATER...

by bmlexus on Wed Aug 20 14:43:03 PDT 2008

No this is not a scene of some freak accident during the shooting of Iron Man 2 nor is it Top Gear testing crashing another supercar. According to reports a 33-year old man from Netherlands took a brand new Audi R8 for a test drive when he lost control and drove it into a river bank. No one was hurt during the accident besides the Audi R8 which is enough to make us weep. Officials say the man was traveling at least 80 mph but onlookers say that he was going at least 125 mph when he hit a bump on the road

Radiator leak

by mike251 on Wed Aug 13 19:07:16 PDT 2008

Why do you want to flush the radiator? Where is the leak coming from? Don't put that leak stop fluid into the system it will just cause build up and component failure. You might want to take a good look at the water pump pulley on the L/H side of the engine looking aft. There is a weep hole behind the pulley which allows coolant to come out when the water pump seals fail. The water pump typically goes bad between 100,000 to 120,000 miles. Sincerely mike

Re: S10 Lemon [s10_gary]

by the_big_al on Sat Feb 18 00:07:34 PST 2006

No Lemon for you -- AC Delco shocks are horrid -- never should have been placed on the vehicle. This has been true for all GM trucks from what I have noticed, although I pushed mine to 60K miles, I should have replaced them long before that. 3rd door handle - Same thing has happened to me - it is because the handle uses one tiny plastic knocker to push open both the top and bottom latch on the the 3rd door and usually if the door is adjusted properly, it will not break - but that requires making sure the door is properly adjusted and even then that is not a guarantee. I have also replaced mine once and now that one has broken. The handle is sitting on a shelf still as I have yet to put it in. I guess when the flimsy seat lever wears out I'll break down and replace the 3rd door handle so at least I can get behind the seat :D. (This is also a common S-10 problem) I have also replaced my A/C compressor. This was on a 4.3 motor so not sure if the same type, but could be possible that failures for this component are common? Also had to have my radiator retanked as well. Problem? The factory used plastic side tanks that are prone to cracking and breaking. My shop re-tanked with a more sturdy unbreakable kind (not made out of plastic). The water pump leaking out of the weep hole I can't help you with as I do not know much about the 2.2 motor. This could just be an isolated problem. The other problems are more common with this vehicle. I have come to call them quirks and while they have not been convenient, over all my experience with the truck has been great.