When I bought my 97 the driver's mat was soaked with coolant. Fortunately, the problem was solved by tightening up the heater hoses. Coolant was jetting into the passenger compartment with no evidence of a leak in the engine compartment.

A couple of months ago I had a heater hose burst on a Friday night on the way home from work. The garage was full of projects and I barely had room to get around and replace the very expensive molded hoses. I have had a little coolant dripping out of the duct above the gas pedal ever since. Failing health of a family member made it impossible to devote any time to this.

First task is to remove the hoses and make sure the connection is not the issue. Telltale deposits at the firewall, indicate that this could be my problem..... again. Wish me luck.