I had the same thing happen to mine. Slight incline with the front a bit higher than the back. The source of the leak was the intake for the blower moter/fan. Instead of the water draining out the cowl in the front it was pooling up towards the back of the cowl and dripping through the seal where the heater/fan gets its air

 

How did you fix the leak?

 

Is this the intake for the blower mentioned by shiftyfive??

 

My wife and I returned to our 2004 XC90 T6 (with sunroof) that was left at an airport parking lot for 10 days..... To discover an inch of standing water in the passenger footwell.

The car was sitting on a slight incline with the front-end higher than the rear. All four doors had water resting on the door sills when we opened them. The other three footwells were dry, only the front passenger's was drenched.

I am aware of the sunroof drain problems and have had a dealer trim both elbow nipples. Nevertheless, today I removed the A-pillars and inspected both drains, both are clear and dry with no blockage or debris. The carpet is out of the passenger footwell and is drying with the aid of a fan (and sun tomorrow). I cannot find any evidence of where the water came from, but I suspect the air intake grill at the bottom of the windshield.

We have had three windshields replaced (one of which was improperly sealed and caused maddening water leaks until a dealer found that one) and I feel the cowl isn't in factory shape anymore. Can anyone me figure out how to properly inspect the cowl, gaskets, and drains so that I can check for blockage?

Hi, did you find out the cause for the water draining inside? With the heavy rains last night in Atlanta, our 2004 XC90 experienced the exact same issue with water coming through on the passenger side. The area under the glove box was wet and same with the carpet underneath. First thing I checked was the drain holes in the sunroof, but they were fine, water was draining through without any issues. So it has to be what you were describing. Let us know if you found the problem. Thanks!

 

I stopped parking with the front at a higher level & cleaned out dirt & debri from around the seal. So far so good but I haven't exactly pooled up water around it to verify

 

You better make sure your heater core is not blown. If your A/C and or defrost doesnt work, its a sure fire bet your heater core has blown. Usually when you have a bunch of fluid inside the car and there are no known window or sunroof leaks, it came from the heater core.

 

That is usually followed by a hot motor with low coolant, and a strong coolant smell. A/c has nothing to do with the heater core.

It is in the same general location though.

Other causes can be a plugged A/C condensation drain, but that usually isnt related to the parking angle.

Parking in a different angle is a good solution until you are able to locate the true issue.

 

How do you get to the intake for the blower? From the inside or outside? I have the same leak under the glovebox and the sunroof drains are fine and the AC, heater and defroster are working fine.

 

We had the same issue with our beloved 2004 XC90. Literally an inch of water in the floorboard. On one occasion the dealer insisted in pulling out all the insulation around the footwell, etc., "fixing" the sunroof issue, only to have the problem show up again. Now we think it was the air intake system at the heater vent, guys better look into this one, because it was one of the worst features of owning a car we ever had. We loved our XC90 well enough to buy another one, but man that poor 2004 just did not like to sit in the rain. So far the 2008 seems to have fixed the problem, so far anyway.

best,

P

 

Solved

When I change front windshield glass service guy didn't put back a black plastic cover a little bit in upper zone over the air conditioning blower and I have a water in the same place on the left side of the legs...

We put the cover total at the left end and I fix it with silicon forever. I'm so sorry I didn't made a picture but this big plastic you can easily found when you pull out cover of all windshield wipers mechanism.

This is the only protection from water coming from windshield and for example if raining to much this plastic is making the flow
of water over the air intake of air-conditioning filter. You can spot it on the left when you remove WIPER TRAY COWL COVER.Many times this cover is moved with vibrations and you can get a water inside at passenger floor on the right side.

Pull it all left, before added black car silicon and voila. Solved.

No more water.

p.s. can someone find photo at Volvo parts I will mark position. Thanks.