I've noticed persistent wetness in the driver's footwell carpet and can hear some suspension knocking, so I'm going to start by pulling the LF wheel and inner fender off to investigate. Wondering if they're related?

Anyone else found water in the footwells and can suggest where to look?

There is no sunroof on this VUE so will look for other drains that might be blocked.

 

Is it ever wet on the floor on non-rainy days (after the carpet should have dried)?

Also, when do you hear the suspension knock? Is it a thumping or a metal on metal sound?

My guess is they are unrelated.

 

If it is like the Ion, the drain tube either leaked or clogged and flowing onto the floor board. Is it more towards the center, meaning near the gas pedal?


As for suspension, I can help more when the previous questions are answered.

 

Now that I have the left front fender liner out, I was able to look at the upper shock mount and there might be some corrosion there, or it could be a link to the front sway bar.

Any suggestions on how to test these links to see if they're causing the knocking sound? BTW the sound is heard over bumps at lower speed and definitely in the area of the LF suspension.

 

Well -- jumping up and down with your arms on the body or around the top strut mount should help you determine if the upper mount is loose and thumping on the underside of the strut tower. Plus you should be able to tell if the mounting nuts are grossly loose.

For the sway bar, try jacking up and supporting both fronts to relieve all downward tension on the sway bar, then inspect the bushings and check for play. Use jackstands -- work safe

 

You may have a lot of trash in the cowl under the windshield wipers. That'll cause it to overflow into the floorboard.

 

is that because it runs down the outside firewall and finds the nearest grommet to sneak through (serious question)?

 

If there is corrosion and the possibility the thing sat under a tree a lot while parked some where in it's life almost anything is possible. I had a small station wagon once that caught be by surprise after a series of hard rains when I stopped and heard surf running and looked over as a large wave splashed on to the foot well of the passenger side front seat. Corrosion and poor assembly had caused the water running down off of the roof to leak through a piece of chrome trim and fill up the rear door frame just the top 6 inches until it reached an interior trim piece held in place by a screw. The water than ran down behind the interior trim to the foot well filling it up un-noticed. Until a quick stop made it run forward.
The fix? Couldn't stop the leak so drilled a drain hole in the door frame where a blind spot apparently existed in the structure of the car and let all water that drained in drain out through the hole and down behind the door rather into the interior.
I owned the car a long time and considering the area (up state NY with plenty of road salt) it was at a Chrysler dealer back when going to a dealer was viable option for repairs when a Chrysler representative was there and commented on the rust. His statement was,; "I never saw one of the with rust hole in the roof." I guess they never looked. I needed to keep that car for reasons related to budgets, so I fixed all the rust and painted it with a light brown rustoleum paint so it looked nice and eventually sold it to a friend who needed transportation badly. He had if for a while and it got totaled but the engine ended up in a pick up and ran for years. That old slant six was a tough motor to kill. I built one up to use in a Plymouth Hard top and found out years later it was legendary in the area. As for me, it was fast and I had fun with it.

 

Thought I'd turn this in for posterity.

Found the source of the water leak, it was a round plug on the front driver side unibody member, just below the A pillar.

Some corrosion had found its way around the plug and eventually the leak began. I also found some corrosion in the same area on the stamped upper engine frame pieces.

Getting to the source took some effort:

First I ruled out any blockage in the normal drain channels in the cowl (below the covers at the base of the windshield.) Removing the wiper arms gave full access to removing the plastic covers. There actually wasn't much debris in there, but that's OK. I like detailing during disassembly. Windscreen polished and coated, cowl cleaned out, new interior air filter, painted wiper arms, etc. All like new now.

Washing the area out I did notice the water leak pooling on the drivers floor, so I pulled the interior seats and trim then later the carpets out. The driver's side interior firewall sound insulation foam was soaked so I unclipped it where I could, then cut the remainder of the section out behind the center console. It was squeezably sopping wet, so it had to come out to allow it to dry, address any corrosion in the metal behind it, and most of all find where the water was coming in.

The driver's side of the carpet was fairly wet and stained from the water leaks so needed to come out for a deep and proper cleaning. Was glad not to see much floorpan rust but after taking off the center console trim panel was shocked how the center console support had completely dissolved on the driver's side 4 inches up from the two bolts attaching it to the floor. WOW!



Here's the passenger side for comparison:


This early pic has the carpet out, shopvac'd out the disolved metal (had the consistency of wet newsprint pulp mixed with hardened calcium deposits!)
On the left you can see the foam insulation I cut out. Don't have any pics yet but the area is now all wirebrushed to metal and I'm going to POR-15 everything then fab a brace for the console.



I removed the driver's fender to inspect more closely and used a garden hose in areas until I could finally see the water come in, trickling in from the round plug in the steel unibody. I guess some corrosion there had been setting in.

I'm in the process of wirebrushing the underbody and suspension to coat with POR-15 now, so I'll post a few more pics post-cleanup.

Oh - and the suspension knock. Seems the front spring on the driver's side had broken about 4" from the end and was rattling in the bottom of the perch. There's still plenty of contact but strange to see the end of a spring broken off that way.

 

oh my.

I've never seen such destruction from a leak in a Saturn. I'm sure it happens, but I've never seen the pics posted. Glad you found the leak; not glad it caused that much damage.

Thank you VERY much for the follow up post; and the great pictures. They will be of help to others.

There are so many that ask questions, get some information, and then never return, so we never know what the problem was and if/how it was resolved.

Would be quite appreciative if you could post a few pics after you've created and installed the brace for this.

Thanks again-- and glad you're on your way to a dryer ride.