Water in storage box in drivers footwell

[MegScot]

Hi everyone,

During the summer I put my 06 Megane in for its first service and also told them that the floor storage box in the drivers footwell was wet. The sent it to a place that fixes windcreens to be resolved and came back and told me the drains were blocked with leaves.

Its just happened again and Ive checked the drains and they are clear.

Its under warranty but just wanted to know if anyone else is having the same problem ?

Thanks

[Stranger]

Well known problem, do a search for water ingress and you'll find plenty of info. Door seal / speaker surrounds ..............

[Mrs J]

WOW! Yes, I've had loads of problems with exactly the same thing. The storage box is often wet after rain. After a lot of rain, I can also hear water sloshing around somewhere in front of me when driving, which usually pours down the footwell onto the pedals and my feet!

I strongly suspect that the water has had an adverse affect on the unit responsible for the electronic functions of the car, as my boot pops open at randomn and my windscreen wipers don't work on the sensor mode anymore.

The car was ok before the bad weather last year, when I spent £250 at a Renault garage for them to fix a whole series of problems. The car wouldn't switch off, all the lights were on, and the windscreen wipers wouldn't stop working. The garage were convinced I must have driven through a very deep puddle - which I had to keep insisting I hadn't. They even asked my husband if I had driven through a deep puddle, and he had to stake my innocence for me. Why would I lie?

Anyway, I regret ever buying the car! I'd sell it, but wouldn't want to give anyone else these problems. Gonna do some research now, as the other post suggested.

[markren2004]

After a lot of rain, I can also hear water sloshing around somewhere in front of me when driving, which usually pours down the footwell onto the pedals and my feet!

If you can hear the water sloshing around then you'll have a big puddle in the bulkhead area where the wiper motor sits.
You 'll need to go under the bonnet, remove the bulkhead covering and check.
the drain will be blocked with dead leaves etc.

[onlydiesels]

i`ve just had exactly the same problems as mrs j, clocks lit up,all lights on wipers going etc,i had to stall it to stop the engine.got the car home,pulled back the carpet+sound proofing to reveal everything wet through. now i did check the drain holes under the screen and the n/s was blocked,but when i get my head under the dash inside (glovebox removed),the highest point of `wetness` is inside the `A` pillar, around the level where the door wiring comes through.also the foam pad around the wiring was wringing wet.

obviously this is a common problem,but what i would like to know is- has anyone successfully fixed this themselves + how? i know i said that it`s wet inside the a pillar but the fuse box adjacent to the glove box is bone dry as it`s above the a`A` pillar but i`d like to know roughly,in which area is the water making contact with the electrics?
any help appreciated.
03 plate 1.9 dci dynamique.

[Mrs J]

My sympathy, onlydiesels! That is precisely what happened to my car last "summer" when it rained and rained and.... I had to drive my car to the garage, with windscreen wipers on, and all the dials not working (not technically within the law to drive without a speedo!). The only way to stop it was to stall it.

The garage wanted to replace the CPU (UPC or whatever it's called) because they said the wires connected to it were badly corroded by water, hence causing most of the electronic features of the car to go mad, stop working etc. My warranty didn't cover the problem because it was caused by water (I blame the design of the car personally). In the end they dried some of the wires out, and managed to replace some of the others. It was sort of fixed after a week. Their advice for the future?? They told me to sell the car!

I forgot to mention that my Megane is a 1.9 DCI Dynamique 03. I wonder if this problem is peculiar to a specific model or manufacturing date?

[onlydiesels]

same thing happened again tonight,only this time it did`nt get me home . had to disconnect the battery until the aa came out (within the hour)then lo and behold it started and drove as normal
i spoke to a well known diag. bloke who i know and he (and somebody else as well) told me that i should remove the upc (or is it the uch) from next to the battery,take it indoors and remove the covers to check for water ingress. so that`s what i did,and..........BINGO. not a lot of the stuff,but any is obviously too much! one of these blokes told me that he had successfully dried out one of these previously and had had no further probs. now obviously this depends on the amount of ingress/damage,but it`s got to be worth a go has`nt it? so that`s what i`m doing at the moment,but you can`t dry it too fast with direct heat (can damage the chip/processors), and you can`t dry it too slow because that could cause oxidisation(if it`s not already there). it was really easy to remove+split apart,now i`ve got it drying out nicely (i hope),and will get a good quality electrical cleaner(servisol) tomorrow and give it a good clean using a toothbrush.
if it comes to having to buy a new unit,then that`s what i`ll have to do,but at least i`ll know i`ve tried to fix it,and it may work for someone else on here if theirs is`nt too far gone!
ps said bloke can even prog new one for me so at least i`ll save a bit on dealer price if i do have to buy a new one.
will let you all know how it goes in case anyone else wants to give it a go before they go giving ££££££s to dick turpin dealer. oops,sorry,at least mr turpin wore a mask when he robbed you

[onlydiesels]

well i`ve put it all back together and it seems (touch wood) to have been a success up to yet,so i would advise any one on here who has any concerns regarding this or any electrical/spooky goings on to either check this unit yourself or get it checked before it`s too far gone.mine looked absolutely dry until i removed and inspected it. it may or may not be a common problem,but it must be worth checking,especially for us that have no warranty!

now for the next bit, i`m still getting water ingress into the n/s/f footwell and on closer inspection it seems that the wetness is as high up as the dash/roof pillar area but unfortunately i can`t see any more now unlees i remove the dash ,but before i start that, i was thinking maybe the sunroof drain pipe may be at fault but i can only presume that they run down the inside of the roof pillars cos i can`t see anything pipelike when i open the sunroof,so can anyone tell me if they`ve had any experience of this,ie what i need to remove to locate the pipe (it may be worth checking these before i needlessly start pulling the dash out.

[jonton]

I own a megane 1.6 16v vvt 03 reg, i call it the boomerang as itd regularly in and out of the garage!!
recently i noticed my foot wells are wet, drivers, front passengers and occassionaly rear passangers. strangely its not wetting the car mats just the carpet underneath... i did have the sloshing problem but solved that easily by unblocking holes by windscreen. Can someone offer any ideas as to what this colud be and a solution. cheers...

[Toodeep]

Can someone offer any ideas as to what this colud be and a solution. cheers...

I didn't have the massive problem some of you have but the floor cubbies were often damp. Unrelated to this I had to replace the wiper motor and discovered the pool of water in the bulkhead that has been mentioned. I cleared the drain holes of leaves etc but it was obvious to me that the problem would re-occur because the plastic shield over the wiper motor is nowhere near watertight where it meets the windscreen. I decided to use some clear silicone windscreen sealant all along this shield (it can be lifted slightly in situ) and even at the two clip on retainers either side of the base of the windscreen. Water running down the screen is now not channelled into the bulkhead well.

There is currently no water collecting or any longer damp in the floor cubbies. Having only cleared the drains 2 months ago this is perhaps to be expected but I would expect that sealing the base of the windscreen with what was a cheap tube of silicone from Halfords would divert away the vast majority of the water that inevitably accumulates when the drains get blocked. No doubt the doors are another source but my own water ingress problem was via the bulkhead area.

[jonton]

Toodeep,

cheers for that i'll try it out over the weekend. However someone else mentioned to me as it is not a regular occurance and has only recently happened since i began using air con this may be the problem. I got told that the air con can collect a hell oof a lot of condensation and this continues to collect, now all of a sudden i'm using it the water is collecting in the foot wells, any truth to this??
Cheers...

[Toodeep]

To be honest there seems to be so many possibilities. In my case I have only recently felt the need to use the aircon while the dampness was there before. However the condensation it generates has to go somewhere which is why cars with aircon tend to have small but initially alarming pools of water form on the ground underneath them. I presume there is a drain hole or tube dangling that allows this to happen. I haven't looked specifically but have never noticed water dripping from the Megane but even Renault could not be so careless as to omit this feature allowing the condensation to enter the car, surely!

The idea that water gets into the bulkhead so easily and that the drains that should allow it to escape get blocked so readily is pretty disappointing from a volume manufacturer. As for water getting in via the door speakers or the UCH, essentially the car's brain, being so vulnerable to water entering through a frankly unecessary access hole in a wheel arch . . . . 1970s kit cars produced in Midlands hangers come to mind.

When getting back from a journey where you've used your aircon, have a look under the engine for small drips of water which, unless someone chips in to say Renault operate some different system, would be perfectly normal. No water after checking a few times would make me suspicious. However, since my problem was fixed by sealing the windscreen base and others fixed theirs by sealing around the front speakers, this is where I'd start.

[Mrs J]

I was successful in solving all problems with my Megane! I sold it! Yay!

Sounds drastic I know, but I just couldn't afford all the problems that I was having with it (see my post above). Shame though, because I loved the car and wished I could have kept it...if only it wasn't a complete rolling disaster!

The problem with water ingress is that once the car has suffered with it, even if you replace all obviously effected parts, you never know where else the water may have filtered to...there may be additional surprises later....

Hopefully you may be able to rescue the car if you are quick at sorting out the problems.... Good luck!

[jonton]

Good Solution!!
However i'm stuck in a catch 22, can't reallt afford to keep sending the car to the garage, but can't afford to swap it at the minute either (getting Married!!).
If anyone can help with a list of all possibilties it would be a great help. Going to take in to a renault garage (not a dealer) and see what they say. If it's up on the list great.
So if anyone has any ideas, footwells now seem dry but its the storage box in the footwells that are wet, i don't mean damp either, run your finger over the carpet in the box and it's like spalshing in a puddle!!
Any ideas guys??


Problem is i like the car, its features and the shape, however, think my next car will be anything but renault and french!!

[VROOM]

Hi,
I've had the same problem for about a year. The drain holes behind the plastic under the windscreen are clear so that's not the problem. I pulled the carpet up and the thick foam insulation is soaked. It seems to be coming form behind the centre of the dash and running down into the floor pocket. The trouble is to find out exactly where it comes in would mean ripping all of the foam underlay out (which is glued down and possbily also removing the centre console. Maybe the water gets in from around the windscreen (perished glue?) and runs down? Very frustrating!