Wet Driver's Mat With Air Conditioning On

[sparrow2]

I have continued to suffer from the damp spot. It appeared on long journeys made at the weekend and dried up in short journeys in the week. Finally my wife and I went to the coast (a 3 hour round trip) and a very large damp spot appeared. It had not rained at all in the trip! I attach a photograph. I contacted Toyota explaining the problem. After a week they sent me an email saying they were very sorry and had contacted my garage to contact me to sort the problem out. The garage phoned me to explain that, even though the car's warranty was extended, I would have to pay for any investigation unless it revealed that there was a fault. They said the first time they had the car (and not found anything wrong) they had only spent a few hours on the matter (though it had been with them for four working days) and so had not charged me as a goodwill gesture. This concerned me so I booked the car in for another 4 working days but went without a courtesy car to keep costs down. This time, although they could not duplicate my problem, they did find a fault which was registered on a database of common faults - some under seal had come away. They replaced this. Because they had found a fault there was no charge. My wife and I went to the coast again yesterday and no damp spot appeared. Although it is a little premature to be sure I am starting to be hopeful the problem has been identified and fixed!

[sparrow2]

Here is the photograph!

[big bad al]

Yep thats the water leaking back in to the car from the a/c drain hose, you can also find a damp patch in the passengers side too. I did the mod to mine as mention in the link earlier and never had more trouble. the pollen filter has nowt to do with causing this concern, if you have any grommets missing they will be most likely on the floor pan and these will not cause any concern like what you have. As for missing sealant ??? Very unlikely as ive seen how they check for water leaks in the factory and there is no way you could ever get that much water on a car in the real world.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I hate to say it but the location next to the clutch pedal makes me think it's as simple as water from a wet shoe being 'forced' into the mats material by the heel of said shoe (stilleto heel from the other half?), ensuring the mat stays wet for a number of days. A week later, after forgetting about the rain (and the Mrs driving the car?), the OP is then alarmed to find a damp patch.

But my experience of water in the footwells from a blocked a/c drain plug was in the passenger footwell and was higher up.

[sparrow2]

Well since I have had the car back after the garage had it from the 14th to 17th April I have not had any further problems. Before that it was a regular thing whenever I did a long journey. Although it is still a little early to be totally sure I am inclined to believe whatever they did has fixed the problem! My wife and I are off to the coast again tomorrow and I will check it when I get back. I never had any problems with the passenger side - the problem was always in the area shown in the photograph. I do not think a wet shoe was the cause - the problem occurred on totally dry long trips as well as wet ones.

[sparrow2]

Mw wife and I went to the sea side and back today. This was three hours and twenty minutes of operation in total. I checked under the front mats when we got back and there was no damp spot! I think the garage has definitely fixed the problem.

My theory of this is as follows. The air conditioning drain pipe is, as other people have written, poorly designed and causes water to dribble over the underside of the car. However people in general have not reported this problem of damp mats with new cars. I have had my car from new and the problem only started to occur when it got to about 5 years old. There is some other fault that overtime some sort of area develops on the underside of the car where this water can leak in. Hence there are two alternative solutions. One is to modify the drain hose and the other is to fix the spot where the water can get in. The second solution is actually more general. It will help in the unlikely event you are continually driving on a very wet road and there is spray everywhere for a long period of time.

[sparrow2]

I stopped off at the dealership on the way to work to tell them the good news and ask them what they had done just in case it happens again.

They stated that they had renewed quite a large are of sealant on the underside of the vehicle.

I also bought a new pollen filter for £14.66. I am going to change mine myself half way between services. That way I will be sure it gets changed at least once a year and yet if they do have a look at it or clean it at the service it will still not be work wasted.

[tarquin]

A note on pollen filers for the iQ. If your car is before 2010 , check your service booklet. Older moels have it stated in there under full service that at the full service, the cabin filter is replaced. On newer models it states check only and if required its at the customers cost. Mine has been replaced for free. It was pointed out to me that Toyota changed the wording on newer models

David

[sparrow2]

With regards to the pollen filter, my service book states that it should be replaced every two years. However the instructions that the garage have is that it should just be inspected. When I saw the state of it I complained and they gave me a new one about six months ago as a good will gesture. From experience therefore I believe they only inspect it and even then do not offer to change it. There is a picture of my one at the beginning of this thread and it did not look too good! I have the car serviced exactly as per specification which is once a year since I do not drive such a huge number of miles.

In any case by replacing it half way between services the worst case scenario is that it gets replaced again in six months. Since it only costs about £16 I can live with that.

[tarquin]

Sorty for the double posting. The site crashed as i sent it

David

[FROSTYBALLS]

Sorty for the double posting. The site crashed as i sent it

David

Sorted

[sparrow2]

I fitted my new air conditioning filter on Saturday and my wife and I went to the coast on Sunday. We had a lovely time in the good weather. I drove back without a break in 90 minutes with no problems. As usual I brushed out the front carpets when we got home and to my horror the damp spot was back! I went to the Toyota garage this morning. Everyone there knows me by name now! I was greeted with a "How are you?" to which I quipped "All right until yesterday!". I then explained the problem. The workshop foreman looked at the damp spot and promised he would personally check it out next time. The car is booked in for another two days at the beginning of June with a courtesy car. Watch this space!

[sparrow2]

I have just got my IQ3 back after two days at the garage to investigate the damp spot. I had a Yaris Icon+ to drive in its place. This drove well and had a couple of features I miss in my IQ3. It had dual zone climate control so that I could just leave my side on 22 whilst my wife kept fiddling with hers altering the temperature up and down without having any effect on me! I have got so inured of this behaviour in my single zone car that I now just leave it on whatever she last set it at since I can no longer be bothered to set it back to 22 when I am alone in the car! It also had cruise control which I have always found very useful in cars that have it to ensure you keep to the speed limit without having to keep glancing down at the speedometer - though I noted it only controlled the accelerator (some operate the brakes too) and so I did find myself speeding on a down hill stretch accidentally at which point I understood it did not operate the brakes!

After this third attempt they claim they have fixed the problem. They state "CARRIED OUT FURTHER INVESTIGATION INTO WATER GETTING ON OSF MAT- FOUND A/C DRAIN OFF NOT ALLOWING WATER TO MOVE AWAY FROM TRAY IN DASH, ADDED LENGTH OF RUBBER HOSE TO ENSURE WATER FLOWING AWAY". So I will keep my fingers crossed! My wife and I together with a lady friend of hers are having a long weekend together (separate room for the friend - all quite correct!) and driving quite far so I shall see how the IQ gets on. When I got my car back to the office car park I inspected the carpet and found it to be puckering up. I telephoned the garage again to complain. They said it should settle down but if it does not to bring it back for them to have another look at. I will show them the problem on Tuesday morning on the way to work if it has not settled down.

[iQ-Chris]

I'm pleased it's fixed, but I note that repair could have been carried out 5 months ago when Frosty linked to the relevant information. It's a shame it took the dealer so long to work it out.

Chris

iQ² ☆ black with red leather ☆ upgraded interior lighting ☆ white backlit dashboard/switches ☆ auto-folding mirrors ☆ smart entry ☆ auto-locking doors ☆ chrome exhaust ☆

[sparrow2]

I have just got back from our long weekend. The car has been driven for many miles with the air conditioning on and there is no damp patch! Things are looking up! The IQ seats three adults very comfortably if the rear passenger sits behind the front passenger. With the other rear seat down there is just about enough room for all the luggage too if you choose appropriate bags.

I am not sure why the garage took so long to diagnose the problem. The letter of complaint I wrote after the first visit included a link to the relevant article from this web site. However from past experience some problems take longer to fix than others. I remember I bought a new Ford Mondeo once which had a faulty fuel guage. First they replaced the sender unit in the fuel tank. That made no difference. Then they replaced the auxiliary sender unit (I did not know some tanks had more than one sender unit until then!). That made no difference. Then they replaced the instrument panel. That made no difference. Then they replaced the sender unit a second time. That made no difference. Finally the service manager phoned me and told me their best mechanic would look at the problem for a whole day. They fixed the problem then - it turned out one of the sender units had been cross wired in the factory!

The garage said that the fix for this damp patch problem that they had employed was not in the central Toyota database of fixes and they were going to submit this fix for inclusion therein. Hopefully the solution will then be quicker for future IQ owners with the same problem!

Tomorrow I am going back to the garage to show them the puckered front carpet - it has not settled down.

[sparrow2]

I went to the garage this morning to tell them the good news about the damp patch not coming back and to show them the puckered carpet.

They refitted the carpet and now it is a lot better. However I still noticed a slight lip about one third the way back from the front of the flat bit of driver's carpet. It was explained to me that was where a very solid piece of underlay joined a less solid bit and that the less solid bit had shrunk when they dried it out. I think I will leave it at this but it seems to me that they really should have replaced the carpet and underlay. On a previous car which was out of guarantee when the carpet got wet because of a disconnected sun roof drain pipe the dealership insisted on replacing everything and charging me £1700! It seems to me that either the standard is to dry out the old carpet or it is to replace it and this should not depend on whether or not the guarantee is kept up! On the other hand the previous car was an Audi and this is a Toyota and so I suppose it is possible different makes have different policies.

[FROSTYBALLS]

On a previous car which was out of guarantee when the carpet got wet because of a disconnected sun roof drain pipe the dealership insisted on replacing everything and charging me £1700!

I hope at that price it was at least Persian or Oriental carpet that was used.