Dear Tom and Ray:
I bought a 2006 Pontiac GTO about a year ago. After a considerable search, I found one with an aftermarket sunroof. When it rains, or when I go to the carwash, my car fills with water. It sounds like there is water sloshing around inside the passenger door. During heavy rain or while driving at high speeds on a wet freeway, the rear passenger floor gets absolutely soaked. The water then moves forward to "dampen" the front passenger floor. I know what you're going to say: "Replace/repair the sunroof first." OK, I will. But just in case, what else could it be? Thanks in advance for your help.
- "Bathing Bill"
TOM: That water that sounds like it's sloshing around in the passenger door? It could be sloshing around in your passenger door!
RAY: Water can get into the doors when it rains. That's why doors have drain holes at the bottom - so the water can get out. But if your drain holes are plugged up, water could be accumulating in there. And if a few inches of water builds up in the door, it easily could spill over onto the floor of the passenger compartment.
TOM: So have someone check the drain holes in your doors for you.
RAY: If the door drains are clear and there's no water in there, then you might check the sunroof's channels. The water channels in your roof are supposed to drain away the water that gets in through the edges of the sunroof's opening.
TOM: There's no way to completely seal up the sunroof, since it's essentially a hole in your roof. So all sunroofs have channels that drain out whatever water does get in there. Those channels can be checked and blown out with compressed air.
RAY: If that's not it, another thing to look at are the seals around the doors. If the weatherstripping is damaged or dried out and cracked, a surprising quantity of water can get into the car through the edges of the doors - and that also could end up on the floor in back.
TOM: The same is true for bad moulding around the front or rear windscreen.
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