I live here in Colorado and we've apparently hit the monsoon season. It has been raining and thunder storming for about the past week and a half and last night there was torrential rain for the entire night. My 1997 Jeep Cherokee is parked on the driveway which is a pretty steep slope. Earlier today my brother and I left and when we reached the bottom of the driveway, water was streaming out from under the dash on the passenger side. I got out and looked there was an enormous puddle underneath the passenger seat and it has also soaked the floor in front of the rear seat. I removed the front seat and vacuumed out all of the water. The total water that had accumulated was an inch or so deep and it was a dark brown rusty color, and even though the car is 18 years old I doubt the carpet would have been dirty enough to turn the water that color. Any idea where it could be coming from or what a solution would be? Thank you

 

Well time to go get the hose....start obvious, look at the door seals and the windshield area. One person inside and one on the hose. You could also have a grommet failure in the firewall but that's less likely to cause a flood.

 

Welcome to CF Prowler! Before you dive in to the common "cowling leak", (google that with cherokeeforum.com), make sure it's not where the blower fit's on the firewall, and also the body putty there where the inner fender meets the firewall. That inner corner there can leak.

My mistake looking for it by leaving a hose running low in different spots, was to not wait long enough for water to make it through. If you do do that, give it a good 10 minutes to puddle up in there before dripping.

Also there is a tray there to catch condensation from the AC, with a drain that is known to clog. Again searching "AC drain" with cherokeeforum.com with google will get you on track with that. It'comes out of the firewall below where the heater hoses go in and is often cleared with compressed air. (once mine soaked my right foot while I was making a right-hand turn)

 

How's the door fitment? Some XJs don't have the best door fitment and there are some pretty big gaps between the seals and body.

 

Thank you for all the suggestions. I pulled my glove box off and found where the leak was coming from. I'm not really sure where to go from here though

 

Keep following it up, there are a few things through the firewall on that side. Could be a bad grommet. Pop the hood and look at the area around the heater core. You might need to use a buddy and a gentle spray to check the individual areas. You don't have to go big here, just run a little water and watch inside. Once you see what's leaking you can decide what type of sealant to use. There is also a firewall weld that opens up sometimes. If it's that you can just caulk it up.