scorer75

I guess I got a leak, from somewhere.

I lifted the bench of the seat to lower the 2nd row, and this smell hit me. I lift the carpet under where the bench rests, and it gets worse. The carpet is damp and it smells bad. Obviously there is a leak, from somewhere....

Is it from above? Below? Any ideas on where to start looking for this leak? Past experience? Are there drain plugs that may be missing? Give me some ideas please guys.

Turbo X_J

Pull the carpet, see if the rust has eaten through yet.

Driftunit

Could be a number of places man. If it were me id pull up the carpet and clean it out of the jeep then id pull the back panels and have someone water hose the outside. You can also have some one inside with a steamer and go around the seals an windows and if you have any leaks you will see puffs of steam. Ive seen people use a smoke machine too, theres youtube vids of that.

jeepride

I have the same problem on mine except it's the front passenger seat floor board carpet is soaked.I started ripping out the carpet this evening.

jeep19xj91

i see them rot out alot where the front of the rear wheel wells meet the floor under the back seat. The gap was filled with seam sealer from the factory but as it starts to rot the sealer splits and bam, water.

FISHIES848

Upgrade your cup holders :P

cruiser54

Wear Depends?

Brett

Mine leaks also same place.... all I know is its coming from the firewall on the passenger side and running all the way to the back seat. Mine rusted out right above the muffler

FISHIES848

In all seriousness, start by inspecting drain plugs under the jeep in the wet area. Also look to make sure the seal where the wires go into you're door is sealed. If they all are ok I would peel the carpet back and find out if u have a rusted out floor

scorer75

Ok, so I'll pull the carpet up and I'm looking for rusted spots in the floorboard, at the wheel wells, and also checking the door seals.

Thanks for the info guys. If/when I do find the source, I'll update and post pics if they would be helpful to other users.

Can anyone tell me how many drain plugs are there in the Cherokee, and where they are?

Also, how loud would the Cherokee be without carpet??? Bad idea?

Thanks guys!

VTJeep

Chances are ya wont have to look too hard, man.. A lot of XJ's have this problem. As for drain plugs, there's 4 in the hatch area, 2 in the rear seat floors, and 2 in the front well. 8 in total on my 99 I think. There may be water leaking in from door seals, comes in basically just behind the A-pillars. Someone mentioned a smoke test..? As for noise, it will be a noticeable increase. There are all kinda options to help deaden road noise. Once you fix the leaks, get the rust and (potential) holes fixed in floorboard, roll on some high quality material like http://www.monstaliner.com/ also, once you get moisture problem solved, you can put carpeting (maybe not OEM carpet) in.

Rock Toy

My passenger floorboard water problems were caused from water coming through the cowl area and leaking out the bottom of the heater. The drain was plugged causing the water to run into the foot well.

jeepster90xj

i had that same exact problem except that the whole cargo area carpet got wet. took out the carpet in the cargo area and monstalined it and took out all the interior trim pieces while i was at it. after the monstaliner dried we sat inside with the water hose running over the roof. all we could tell was that the water was coming in from the back upright by the hatch on both sides. couldnt see EXACTLY where but i just took insulating foam for windows and sprayed it in there behind the foam in the pillars. also i used clear silicone caulking on the outside back there by the gutters to seal up anything that could leak. put all the trim back in and it seemed to have fixed my problem with the leaks

scorer75

ok, so it's coming from where the wheel well meets the body. Now how do I seal that seam? Can I put something over it from the inside? Seal it form the outside? What did guys who had this problem do to fix it? It's not rusted almost at all, which is the good news

Marks2000XJ

Mine just started doing this. I am like dang...

Where is the drain located for this area you are talking about? Because mine is leaking out of the bottom of the heater as well. I would like to fix this asap as I am getting tired of wet vacuuming the passenger floor board...