Water leak in footwells - my solution

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jak01
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Water leak in footwells - my solution

Postby jak01 » Sun Oct 07, 2012 7:52 pm

After suffering a massive leak into the drivers side footwell, I did battle with it - firstly dying the carpets/ sound proofing and then unblocking the drains for the scuttle (cause of the water entering the car). Hope this helps others out. I assume this is similar to the hatchbacks, so perhaps could be put on that section of the forum too?

Firstly, the "floor" behind the front seat consists of approximately 3 inches of soundproofing, which is excellent at soaking up the water that leaks in through the scuttle, when the drain tubes get blocked! I removed the rear seat base( held by three clips along the front lower edge, pull up the base as close as possible to each clip - 1 in the centre and 1 eat each end) and front seat, along with the sill kick strip and lower seat belt mounting. the carpet can be lifted as well as the soundproofing. I disconnected the battery before removing the front seat, as you have to disconnect the connnector to the seat for the airbag - did n't want to chance it going off accidently! I squeezed the soundproofing the remove as much water as possible and mopped the water from the floor of the car using rags. I then used an hair dryer to dry out the carpet and soundproofing -it took about an hour! :(

Then, I moved on to the front and discovered that the "floor" is just asquare of plywood! Beneath this was a cavity which was the real floor, and resembed a minature swimming pool, which in my case help about 1/2 inch of water. Again I squeezed out as much water as possible from the soundproofing on the front bulkhead under the dashboardand the mopped out the water from the floor of the car, and dryed the carpet and soundproofing using the hair dryer.

Reassemble the interior and reconnect the battery.

Next move on to the drains on the scuttle.

Remove the wiper arms and plastic grille. Then you will see the drains.

Image

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jak671230/8063862966/in/set-72157631714241412

Image

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jak671230/8063864844/in/set-72157631714241412

The outlets are here for the drivers side, behind a cover the goes across the bulkhead:

Image

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jak671230/8063861373/in/set-72157631714241412

And here, for the passenger side behind the wheelarch liner:

Image

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jak671230/8063865370/in/set-72157631714241412

I have included the links to my flickr album so you can see the photos full size.

I used a metal rod (old coat hanger) to poke into the top of the drain as far as possible to clear as much as I could. I found although water now drained from the scuttle it was very slow. If you get access to the bottom of the drains, you will find a flap across the bottom (why?) :banghead . If you pull the flap down you will find loads of dirt, clear out this & I bent the flap down so it didi n't close off the bottom of the drain. Also it is worth pointing out that the drain tube as at least two bends in it!! :banghead You will see in the photo of the nearside drain that it is also used as a grommet for the wiring from the wiper motor, another French design classic!

After this if you the pour water into the scuttle it should drain straight out, as in the video here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jak671230/8063938990/in/set-72157631714241412
Last edited by jak01 on Wed Oct 10, 2012 6:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Water leak in footwells - my solution

Postby Stranger » Wed Oct 10, 2012 1:59 pm

Round of applause for that man. Thankyou sir for a very useful how to guide there.

I've made it a sticky
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jak01
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Re: Water leak in footwells - my solution

Postby jak01 » Wed Oct 10, 2012 6:40 pm

Not a problem, it's what forums like this should be about!

John
Ford Mondeo, 1.6 vvt CC Privelege, 1973 MGB

freelanderuk
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Re: Water leak in footwells - my solution

Postby freelanderuk » Thu Oct 18, 2012 6:18 pm

Just registered to say thanks for the head up about the drain hole, just bought a
1.9dci 06 Megan convertible , both drains were blocked and found water on the carpet
Cheers
Chris
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Re: Water leak in footwells - my solution

Postby DWH » Thu Oct 25, 2012 5:10 am

Thanks for the advice. I can see lots of debris behind the scuttle grill but can't remove the small round plastic clips that hold the plastic grill. I've tried turning the screw head and levering the clip up but they don't want to come up. Can you tell me how to remove them please ?
Thanks. David
Last edited by DWH on Fri Oct 26, 2012 9:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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freelanderuk
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Re: Water leak in footwells - my solution

Postby freelanderuk » Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:04 am

i used a small screw driver just to pop the the inner center bit out , they just push fit in the outer case
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DWH
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Re: Water leak in footwells - my solution

Postby DWH » Fri Oct 26, 2012 9:14 pm

Thanks. I'll give it a go this weekend, assuming it's not snowing :( !

David

Monday:
Got it. Turn the inner part of the clip with a flat bladed screwdriver and it lifts up by about 1mm. Then when the inner part is at it's highest, prise it up and then pull the inner and outer out together.

I cleaned all the leaves out using a small flexible plastic pipe attached to a vacuum cleaner. I could even push this into the drain hole and suck the muck out of it before blowing it clear all the way through with a high pressure air line.

Hopefully that will prevent any water leaks from the bulkhead.

Thanks for the advice.

David
Get your top off !

taffyhl
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Re: Water leak in footwells - my solution

Postby taffyhl » Wed Apr 17, 2013 12:09 pm

I've taken to drilling a couple of extra drain holes in my front passenger door which is the worst offender for water ingress. Probably doesn't do the rust protection any good but neither does a door half full of water!!

As the electric window doesn't work that side I may just use clear silicone to enhance the window seal, as I don't think I'll bother repairing the window for the forseeable future.. a


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