So I've been fighting a battle with wet carpets. with all the rain we've had recently I've been finding the floor of the truck soaked with water when it's been sitting in the driveway. I've cleaned the channel under the wipers and made sure that wasn't clogged up. I found some loose upper door seals, the ones at the very top of the door on a 2000 with the water channel and re-glued them. The ones around the other windows look good. Are there any other places you can think of where water in enough quantity to completely soak the carpeting could be getting into a parked truck?

 

3rd brake light on the Cab is a very well known leak point, and it makes front of cab carpet wet, so doesn't always make sense that it would be the source of the leak

Next are the doors, usually you can hear water inside when you open and close them, they have drain holes in the underside and they get plugged up, you can add more holes as needed.

You don't mention the year of the Ranger?
But if its more than 15 years old the drain channel that runs around the windshield can rust thru at either lower corner, you need to pull out the windshield trim to look for this.
Or on a dry day with dry carpet run hose on windshield and check if carpet starts to get wet again.
Windshield needs to be lifted out to properly repair rusted area and repaint it so it won't rust out again

 

Third brake light.... Super common problem on rangers. Sounds nuts that the brake light would be getting water to the front of the floorboards but thats the way the water travels when it leaks in through the third brake light.

 

Thanks for the replies, it's a 2000 but it's not a rust bucket so I hope it's not the windshield trim. I'll run some silicone around the upper brake light just as a precaution. we have more rain predicted this week so I' sure I'll get a chance to test it

 

I had to use 2 tubes of windhield silicone to keep mine dry. 3rd brakelight , the 2 upper cab corners, and entirely around the windshield. I know my channel is rusted out as i can see the bubbled paint around it.

 

I would remove it(3rd brake light) and check if it is wet behind, literally 2 screws and its off with the gasket.

Hold an umbrella or put a tarp over your head, lol.

Do not just spread out silicone around it, first it won't stop the leak, and second its messy to clean up after.
After pulling it off and you find water behind it, then you can put silicone on gasket to cab surface and then gasket to light surface, before reinstalling, then order a new gasket, or if lights plastic is cracked(leaking) then order new light and gasket set

Video here on removal: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5kbqGc_Kbg

 

Had the same problem on mine (2001) and it would get the carpet wet as well as the headliner, near the back glass. I removed the 3rd brake light and the gasket was all but gone. I made a new gasket out of some 0.045" roof membrane, cut about 3/32" larger than the light housing and sealed it to the housing with silicone. We've had a few rains since then and my interior is still dry.

 

So I removed the third brake light and took a look. It was fairly well sealed to the truck. No obvious signs of leaking or water. Gasket was in good shape. I hope I didn't do more harm than good by taking it off. I'll probably throw some silicone on it just to make sure but while I thought I had a tube laying around do you think I could find it when I started looking for it?

 

well duh haha its like the whole watched pot never boils sorta deal haha. youll find it when your looking for something else thats "lost".

 

Ok, so I get in the truck to move it after a days rain. I can hear water sloshing in the blower and it spraying out of the floor heater vents. I've checked the channel under the windshield and even went so far as to shove a hose in there. The water is coming out of the fenders as it's supposed to. Where else could it be leaking that i get water all over the carpet and the blower is spewing it out on my feet?

 

3rd brake light reseal solved my wet headliner, but my driver's floorboard leak turned out to be a golf ball-sized hole in the floor. I need to make a patch. :(

 

Floors are good, I've sealed all around the windshield To see if that helps any, I'm hoping it's not the rust in the corners but i'm coming to believe it might be.