A woman received a bit of a shock after discovering that the door in her Lexus luxury car was full of water. A video was posted on TikTok by the content creator and her dad, John (@batroc_the_leaper), after she had heard a strange noise from inside the car.
John posted the video, which has been viewed over 160,000 times at the time of writing. The car in question is a 2020 Lexus RX 350, and in it we can see the father rocking the door back and forth to create the slooshing sound.
The situation led to plenty of confusion for both John and his daughter, as he had no idea how the water could have gotten into the door. As with nearly every TikTok video, there were plenty of commentators who added to the story, with some offering advice on how to drain a car door.
The video also gives us an ideal chance to look at how on earth water can get inside the door of a vehicle. It is actually more common than you would think, meaning there are likely more people like John’s daughter experiencing a similar situation.
What John Found in His Daughter’s Lexus
@batroc_the_leaper She hasn’t been off-roading in years. #lexusrx350 #carissues #carguysoftiktok #cargirlsoftikok ♬ original sound – John Z.❌️
In the TikTok video, John can be seen opening the door to his daughter’s Lexus and giving it a shake. “My daughter claims there is water inside the door of her 2020 Lexus RX 350. Let’s check it out,” he said as he began the video. The door is rocked back and forth, and a clear sloshing sound can be heard from inside.
“I’m not a car guy by any means. I did some quick Google research,” he said. John went further and said, “I can’t find anything. I know I’ve seen videos of like Jeeps having those plugs under the doors. I looked; I couldn’t find anything. So if you guys can give me any help, that’d be great.” His daughter, who has done some off-roading, hasn’t done so in years, so that didn’t explain why there was water in the Lexus’s door.
However, a deeper dive can explain why this has happened. The doors on a car have a wet and dry side, separated by a plastic vapor barrier. The wet side channels water down to a series of drain holes along the bottom edge of the door. It turns out that water can get into the wet side of the door more easily than you’d expect, and there are plenty of ways that water can get through into the wet side of a door.
How Water Can Get Inside a Car Door
As noted by Cars.com, water can enter through window seals during rain. It can also do so if you take your vehicle through a car wash, and even condensation can cause water to enter the door. However, the drain holes should remedy the situation and ensure that it doesn’t stay inside the car. The problem is that these holes can get blocked.
Dirt, gravel, and debris can block them up over time, as can aftermarket rustproofing treatments if they are applied in too large a quantity. Detoriating door and window seals can also just let in more water than the drains were ever designed to handle. If the holes are clogged, the water simply has nowhere to go, and that is when you will run into major problems. The big question is: how do you fix and drain a car door?
How To Drain the Door of a Car
Fortunately, getting water out of a car door isn’t a major problem. Clearing the drain holes by poking through them will let the doors drain as they normally would. If you park on an incline so the water moves towards a drain plug, that can make it easier to empty a door. Given that water can rust the steel frame of a door, cause mildew and mold, and possibly electrical damage, draining it is the right thing to do.