I cant figure out why, in my 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder, it is always wet on the driver side after it rains. I don't just mean a little damp, really soaking wet. No other part of the car gets wet like this. I have applied silicone so the door will have a tighter seal, and when it rains I notice no water coming in the car. Everything appears to be fine after a storm until I check the carpet on the driver side and it is wet. Does anyone have any idea what is going on?

One more thing. After doing some searching I think the water might be coming from the door. I read on another site that water can be retained in the door and leak in that way. That's why I can't see any water coming in. The leak is happening with the door closed and out of site. I'm not sure if that's it but I thought I would mention it.

lol.....I am wondering whether you have a sunroof on your car? If you do, check the drain to see if it is clogged. Cleaning it may solve your problem.

He has a spyder, a.k.a. convertible, no hardtop for a sunroof man. My guess would be your door somewhere like you already stated, take the paneling off and check it out, any cracks any places that need to be sealed, etc.....

hey greg,
have you figured anything out on this problem yet? I've got an '03 that does the same thing and like you said, not just a little damp but close to an inch of water depending on how heavy the rain. I plan on trying to pull the driver's side apart today as much as possible. Not so much the door but I kinda think it might be some sort of drainage for the top getting caught up in the driver's rear quater panel to the side of the rear seat then overflowing immediately in front of the seat at the back of the door frame. I'll post again with what i find later on.

I have the same problem, it just rain about 4-5 days in a row and my drivers side floor is soaking wet, I have a 01 Eclipse Spider GT.. Any explanations for this?

ok, so after pulling up the door sill and pulling the rear carpet to reveal the bare floor pans (where I found a leaf and some other outside debris), I saw that the driver side has a hole going toward the rear of the car into the drivers quarter panel down from the rear window. I tried recreating the rain but couldn't "make" enough rain with my water hose to flood into the floor pans. However; this showed me where the drain holes are, which I cleared from underneath the car. So I can only make assumptions at this point. I think something covered these drain holes during the rain or it was just too much rain for these small drains to handle, so I made mine larger by prying them open a bit more. Anyway, I hope all of you the best, I plan to keep a very close eye on this problem...now on to the paint problem...cya

The paint problem is a whole nother issue that Mitsu will never do anything about man.

yeh, I'm hip. I meant for me to take care of it one way or another...DIY or get it painted, as much as I ove my car I don't think I'll be getting myself into another Mitsu.

Yea unless they step up the quality on the paint jobs which will probably never happen. I wouldn't mind having another eclipse. I'd take a 4g GS once they drop in price a bit They're not bad.

Do you see water right next to your speaker on the door, the small one of the bigger speaker on the bottom? If you do, then its from the seal that SUCKS on the window in the front. If not, then the water is going thru the seal in the window, inside the door panel, then leaking from the plastic inside towards the carpet... if thats the case, you have the open the door panel and somehow seal it, if you see water on the speakers, then you can just seal it harder by moving the seal forwards, theres a metal bar inside that can be bent with some pliers, i had the same problem, got it fixed.

He already ripped apart the door panels and found nothing wrong.

I have a 2000 Eclipse GT - same water problem for months and I have to admit I should have figured this out sooner. I kept putting it off as a "heater core" problem and haven't had the money to fix. It rained a little last week and got wet on the driver floorboard. So I got out there and totally cleaned my car, vacuumed everything and pulled back the carpet. I ran the air for a half hour or so and ran the water hose over the windshield - really aiming at the front fresh air intake.

I did find the water "chutes" on each side of the car in the door hing were really clocked with decomposed leaves/dirt and small sticks and pine needles. I cleared all that out and kind of thought I might have found the problem - even though I never saw water spilling onto the floorboard....

Well I was wrong. I went for 3 days with no air running (its been cool) and then it rained pretty good. The floorboard was soaked again.

So tonight when I got in from work I did something a little different. With the driver door open I poured a pitcher of water over the sunroof enough that it spilled over onto the roof and then rolled down the windsheild...all down the side of the windshield - not toward the fresh air intakes like I did last weekend. Low and behold I saw water dripping from underneath the fuse housing cover. I pulled it off and sure enough there was water spilling from the plastic "post" cover of the windsheild. I was pouring hard enough it was actually splashing the fuses a little bit now that the cover was off. I could even see some rust dusting the metal in there. I'd probably seen it before but not considered it anything more than "wear and tear" on an 8 year old vehicle.

Needless to say I could duplicate the water in the floor plan every time I went for another pitcher of water. The black plastic band that rounds over the roof from the top of the back window to the base of the windsheild actually shifts from back to front about 2 inches total - the passenger side doesn't move at all. I think some of the clips may be broke or something.

Just for grins I went and go some duct tape and taped up the side of my windshield and made sure to cover the small hole at the top were that strip overlaps the windshield strip. Poured water and wow NO PUDDLE!.

So now I'm either looking for more clips to hold it better or some adhesive/silicone to lock it into place tomorrow. Then I'll test with water again.

Now if I could just fix the dim passenger headlight problem . . . .

Make sure your grounds are all good, (Behind headlight on the right side on the fender)

Personally I think my lights are too dim but all the grounds are good, amps are good, and voltage is good. Time for HID housings and kit.

Got to the dealer, they know how to fix it. My dad worked as a mechanic for Mitsu and he says that was common. Its like a flaw in the design of the seals. They will replace your seals and it shouldnt leak

Now why would he go to the dealer. That is just asking to get raped hard on labor charges.