Ford Focus has Rain Leak. Help?

So late last summer I took my car to a Jiffy Lube for an oil change and of course they have to rip out everything and try to get you to buy a 20 dollar air filter and such. This particular time they decide to ask me if I want them to change my cabin filter because it has acorns in it and they invite me to come look. I go and say yes because I was thinking, WTF is a cabin filter? Turns out under the plastic at the bottom of my windshield where the wipers connect is another air filter that does... something? The next time it rained heavily I noticed the carpet in my passenger side floorboard was wet underneath the mat. Wondering how that happened I start exploring. First question, where's the leak?



Leak Detail:

The passenger side floorboard is wet. It began only getting damp so I never did anything about it because I frankly do not have $10 to spare, much less enough for a repairman to look at it. Now it has progressed to literally puddling on top of the carpet because the carpet gets so saturated. The leak started with the carpet being wet, not the rubber floor mat that was on top, so I know the water doesn't drip onto the mat. There is no wetness going up the side of the carpeting to the door, there is no dampness in the back or driver side. It is limited to the front passenger side which makes me think its coming out of the foot level air vents but I can't ever catch it dripping during heavy rain or with a hose but without fail it is pooled up after storms.



I went looking for where it was coming in and noticed that when they checked that cabin filter they broke one of those nifty plastic snaps that holds down that piece flush with the windshield. To me that means that was never meant to be popped open, but at any rate the snap is broken and I don't know how to get another snap there or what that part is called to try and find a new one. I'm not positive that's the source of the leak, but like food poisoning you always just look to the most recent change as the source of your sickness.



Help? Any other ideas for the source of the leak? Whats the name of that part so I can try and buy a new one to replace it?



(sorry for being so long winded)Ford Focus has Rain Leak. Help?
as for the plastice snap you should be able to get them from your ford dealer but as for the leaking im thinking that its your heater core and from statice electroises that is cased from a hi flow rate of your coolant and a brake down of sead im thinking that you should check into haveing it checked and also perhapes have a flow deflectoure instaled to help prevent this from happineg once more for some newer cars have a hi flow rate caseing eletarlisec and this cases heater cores to fail premeature and make for a rather wet flore might like to check the coolant level on your car and make shure that your coolant isnt low and if it is low might like to check it more freculey untale you can have the proper repaires to your car doneand its quite alright to be long winded for i to suffer frome the same allement and pore spellingFord Focus has Rain Leak. Help?
That windshield piece is called the cowl panel.



I've seen on focuses, that boot between the door jambs in which the wires run through, fall out on the car side of the door jamb, and water runs right into there. Check that %26quot;accordian boot%26quot; in the door jamb, and make sure its in place and hasn't come looseFord Focus has Rain Leak. Help?
We don't know what kind of car it is. Is that where the leak is coming from. We don't have any way of knowing. But I will say, if the plastic thingy was held to the windshield by a %26quot;snap%26quot; I doubt that's where the leak is coming from. %26quot;Snaps%26quot; aren't made to keep water out.

There is a good possibility that the %26quot;leak%26quot; is in the heater core(matrix) because that's about where it would be, directly above the passenger side flooring, behind the dash.