Are front/rear floorboards "connected"?

[DennisG01]

Are the front and rear floorboards connected to each other, or are they separate "wells"? Meaning, if there was water in the front floorboard well, and I raised the front of the car, would it drain to the rear floorboard well? It seems like, unless I'm missing something, it's a whole lot easier to check the rear floorboard well for water than the front given the back seat pops out in 30 seconds.

[JimLev]

Some of it would drain to the rear, however the foam under the carpet is like a sponge and will suck up a lot of water.
If it's in the front you really need to check the floor mounted fuse box to make sure it's not corroded.
You can pull the pass front kick panel and the door sill, that will allow you to peel the carpet and foam back enough to look at the floor boards for water.

[DennisG01]

Shoot, I was hoping it would all drain very easily to the rear. Yes, it is the front I want to check. It's the door sill that has me worried - I pulled the rear, passenger side off when I was tracking down a noise behind the pillar trim (the vertical piece between the front and rear doors). Getting that door sill piece off was a pain - it was very tight and didn't "pop" off as nicely as I would expect. It felt as though I was forcing it much harder than I should have been.

This is the first time I've noticed the front driver's side floor wet (have addressed other floors a couple time) so I'm not "expecting" to see a lot of water... but you never know unless you check, right?

[DennisG01]

Turns out the last time I removed a door sill trim piece, I did it wrong. I missed the part in the Bentley about "sliding" it. Much easier to get off this time. Found water in the rear footwell... jacked the front end up, but haven't seen more water show up (in case it would drain from the front). BUT... it could have already drained there from when I jacked the front end up the other day for a different reason. Since that foam absorbs water, it coudl be absorbing water that is draining from the front, as well. But I gotsta know... so I'll take the front seat out and take a real good look. Either way, I feel better about doing that to make sure everything dries out real well.

Sunroof drains are good - flow well and didn't notice any other water seeping into the front floor area when pouring water into the sunroof drain. The drain under the cabin filter had soe leaves and gunk, but not enough to stop water. I did notice water coming in because of, I assume, a loose vapor barrier in the door - so I'll fix that.

[JimLev]

You don't need to remove the front pass seat, just unbolt it and tip it back. That will give you full access. If you do remove it make sure you disconnect the battery first so you don't trip the airbag light.

[DennisG01]

Thanks. Will do on the battery - I did read about that. Will remove negative lead.

I think I'm still going to take the seat out - it will just make things easier, and it's not really any harder. That way I can lift (I think I can, anyways) the entire carpet from front to back on the driver's side and let dry real well.

[DennisG01]

So, it appears that while some water might make it's way back as you mentioned, Jim, most will probably stay forward due to the crossmembers (one can be seen under the rear floor vent). And, yeah, you're not kidding about the foam - heavy with water! So for now, things are draining and I have a small heater (on low), blowing under the forward carpet as I don't have that peeled back as far as the rear carpet.

I'm at a loss to find the floor mounted fuse box? Am I looking in the wrong area? Unless it's those odd looking black plastic things with the 6 brown wires?

[JimLev]

The fuse block is on the front pass side.

[DennisG01]

The fuse block is on the front pass side.

Thanks, Jim. I feel better knowing it is somewhere else, and it wasn't that I just "missed" it!

Those small, black rectangles with all the brown wires in them... are they just ground blocks? I was googling the number that is printed on them, and I found either pictures (with no descriptions) or some kind of Russian or Czechoslovakian websites.

[JimLev]

Yes, thos are ground "shoes" which are the ground points for all of the brown wires.
Make sure the wire connection points are not rusted. The nuts on the top in your pic look OK.

[DennisG01]

Thanks, Jim. The wire connections points looked pretty good - no real corrosion or rust at all. I work on boats so am well versed in corrosion! I'll take a wire brush to those couple of rusty spots, then a rust converter spray, then hit everything with a good anti-corrosion spray (Boeshield, CorrosionX, etc)

[adm750]

Dennis -

sucks about all the water...hope you get her dried out and sealed up soon...!

Now...I apologize for taking a detour on your thread here but I'm glad you posted up that first picture. Can you (or anyone...) tell me what the small cable is that attaches to the bottom of the seat and (when the seat is installed...) disappears into the carpet...? I noticed this when I did the seat backrest twist repair on mine and treated it like it was some kind of trip wire for an explosive device !! (which you may wind up telling me that's exactly what it's for....). I have been meaning to get under there, snap a photo, and post an inquiry to the forum but you've covered 90% of that here

I have drawn an arrow pointing to it....

wire.PNG

[JimLev]

That cable goes up to the B pillar for moving the upper seatbelt anchor point (up and down) when you move the seat forward and backwards.
Move your seat and watch it move.

[adm750]

That cable goes up to the B pillar for moving the upper seatbelt anchor point (up and down) when you move the seat forward and backwards.
Move your seat and watch it move.

Thanks Jim !! I'll check that out. I was in too big a hurry to go full Magnum PI and trace down what it did, so....like I said...I treated it like a trigger wire to a land mine....lol...