Water in the drivers footwell

[Thisisnotaspoon]

2.0 HDI Multispace Forte 2005.

There's no sign of a drip anywhere, but there's enough water in the footwell to get a good "squelch" when you depress the carpet.

Things I've checked:

Pollen Filter  - a few leaves and a bit of dirt but dry (and in the passenger footwell anyway).

Scuttle panel and drains - water drained slowly and would submerge some of the grommets in the bulkhead, pulled out a lot of rotten leaves and it certainly seems to drain quicker now (faster than I can pour it in with a watering can anyway).

Sunroof - it's got the fabric sunroof, but there are no signs of water getting past the seal

Door seal - I've had the trim off and there was a cut in the membrane where a smashed window had obviously been replaced (obvious because the smashed window was still there in a million pieces!) But no evidence of water inside the door or on either side of the seal. And the seal on the body is fine (given a smear with silicone grease to be sure).

The coolant level hasn't shifted, surely if it was the heater matrix and this much water I'd be having to top it up?

Things I need to figure out:

Where does the AC condenser drain? I think I saw it inside the pollen filter housing on the passenger side.

Where is the heater matrix? If it's not the thing I assumed was the AC evaporator in the pollen filter housing.

There's always the possibility it was the scuttle drain and it's just taking a long time to dry out. I did 250miles yesterday with the heating turned up and the AC on, and whilst it's not as bad as when I first noticed the problem a couple of weeks ago it's not as dry as perhaps I thought it should be after 5 hours of t-shirt temperatures. There was a brief rain shower, but not a substantial one.

[edit]

Does windscreen seal look a bit ropey? 

[Pedronicus]

Are there not some rubber bungs through the floor under the carpet? Perhaps one of those has come out and the water is coming in that way being thrown up by the wheels onto the u/s of the floor.

[Thisisnotaspoon]

How do you lift the carpet? I presume it varies by model but it looks to be one big molded piece so I can't get under it.

I did consider doing the opposite, get underneath it and drill a drain hole ?

[Sol]

There are bungs indeed P.

They are visible from underneath TINAS if you want to just check if one is dislodged, before pulling the carpet up. It is in one big piece with various cuts to avoid things on the floor. You can release one side and pull it up but I think you would need the seat out first.

And yeah that windscreen edge does look poorly.

[Thisisnotaspoon]

hmmm, best guess that dirty spot seems to be the high point of the moisture, and its not wicking up the foam allong the bottom of the door so implies thats where its coming from above rather than soaking up from below.

Bung underneath seems intact, its installed from inside so i can push up .and feel a trickle from the saturated foam but cant remove it.

Wondering if the best thing to do might be to cut a big area of the carpet and foam out to let it dry.

Could get the insurance to cover a new screen (it has a nasty chip at the bottom of the drivers side) but dont want to throw £££ at it if I dont have to as the excess is £100. I think in the short term I'll put some waterproof tape over the screen seal to make it weatherproof and see if I can get it dry.

[Gryffindor]

Others will know far better than me, but IMHO this often indicates a leaking heater matrix, and the weather has turned recently. Is your heating as efficient as ever?

When I bought my M59 last year I had it looked over at a garage - the mech took it for a 2-min test drive and came back with the news that the heater matrix was leaking, and this was probably why the car had been sold on. There was no water all all on the floor or smell that I was aware of, but he told me there was a whiff of coolant in the car.

To avoid a very large bill (dashboard removal) I tried some Radweld; it seems to have worked - 15 months on and no deterioration or worsening.

[Thisisnotaspoon]

No coolant smell or coolant loss that I can see though.

Heating is roasting hot too, if it was the matrix surely I would smell it with the heating on full blast?

And its more than a trickle, the foam under the carpet feels about an inch thick and sodden, must be a few litres in there at least.

[Sol]

it must be coming in via the windscreen. it may be worth looking online for an UV luminous water dye additive, and a strong UV torch (not dear) then pour water with the dye onto the windscreen slowly from a watering can like simulating heavy rain, and then look inside the car for UV luminous traces of the dye using the torch.

This dye is commonly used in plumbing and drainage, no doubt someone on ebay will sell a UV leak tracing kit or dye and a separate torch.

If you prove it is the windscreen, then it will be worth the excess to get it fixed. After that you can try the scuttles, and then the firewall (things like the steering column pass through grommets) by shielding the scuttle with plastic sheet to test the windscreen, then do the same on the firewall with tape and plastic sheet or a bin bag to test the scuttle drains, then finally douse the firewall panel - after each test, you should see luminous dye inside the car if you have soaked the source.

Since the carpet goes up the internal firewall under the pedals, the water will be running under it or through it.

[Thisisnotaspoon]

Waiting for tomorrow morning and daylight to have another go assuming I don't get called into work.

Plan of action, take the trim off the A-pillar and see if it's wet under there. Then seat out, carpet out, see if there are any other clues where it's coming from, wring out the foam and carpet as dry as possible. At least then I'll have a better idea of whether it's getting better or worse.

I've taped up the windscreen edges with gorilla tape, should be pretty durable, there's a hole on my boat that's been taped up with it for a couple of years! At least if it works temporarily (or doesn't) I've found the leak or ruled it out.

Given the state of the interior, I'm afraid to take a UV torch anywhere near it :vomit:

[Pedronicus]

Rather than wring out the carpet can I suggest a wet'n'dry vacuum cleaner from Wickes.  https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Wet+Dry-...W/p/215735

It will be the best £40 you ever spent as it can do lots of other things apart from sucking up water from carpets (say he as a htg engineer of 40+ years standing  )