Water leak around door frame

[notsofast]

I discovered quite a puddle in the passenger footwell a couple of weeks ago, so mopped it up and looked to see where it might be coming from.  Some of it was coolant from my heater matrix issue (not attended to yet), but there was also water on the rubber/plastic seal along the bottom of the doorframe, so I placed a rag here to absorb possible future ingress from this position, and left it for a few days.

Well, today the rag was dripping wet (see pic), and the seal was also wet again, so water is obviously coming in from outside, but I couldn't see any gaps or significant deterioration in the seals - neither along the bottom nor top (see other pics) of the frame.  You can see there is a small amount of moss inside the upper top seal, but this doesn't look to be compromising the seal.

I've had a similar problem on the driver's side, but there the cause is obvious, as the top seal is coming away from the frame (temporarily fixed with a bit of wooden plantstick and polythene inserted in and around it).

Anyone experienced anything like this? I've noticed the plastic trim insert of the passenger door is damp toward the bottom, but again can't see the source. Should I take the trim off? Can the inside of the door block up and not drain properly?

           

[Kieron G]

I had a leak in same area due to new windscreen not being fitted properly ( in damp weather ) and glue not bonding properly. The company had to come back out. Before and leading to that I also had a screen become unbonded after many years, that was an obvious fault though as screen became noisy when driving. Again not fitted properly many years earlier. Both faults on same M49

[notsofast]

Thanks.  When I get a bit of time to investigate using a can of water, I'll look around the windscreen seals.  Though my suspicion is that the seals along the top of the doorframe aren't watertight - even though they look OK to the eye - and water's then dripping down onto the bottom seal and splashing into the footwell (and also onto the plastic door trim). The vehicle is 21 years old so I guess it's inevitable seals might have degraded, though I'm wondering if this is happening now because for the last 18 months I've only driven it once a week or so, and as I'm opening the doors infrequently they tend to stick to the seals a little, which might be pulling the seals away from the frame.

[bobothegreat]

I had a similar problem in my mk1 multispace, not sure if yours is a van or mpv.
The rear passenger window (the middle one) was leaking between the inside and outside panels, hitting the (I would say passenger door card but mine is a 3door) panel in the back, running down the inside of the panel and into the passenger foot well and the carpet acted like a sponge which held the water and rotted the floor from the inside out! (See pictures) didn't notice until I was crawling under the berlingo and my finger went through the floor! Had to weld a new panel into the foot well after sorting the leak.
I had very similar signs as you are having

[notsofast]

Agh! That picture of the rotted floor!  That's what I'm concerned about.  I'll have to lift the carpet once I've sorted the leak, and see what damage might be occurring.  I'm surprised you had so much rust as the floor is painted - I guess if the damp had been there for a while, once it found a weak spot the corrosion would romp away.....

[bobothegreat]

I know I was almost crying when I found it, love my little berlingo!
Turns out the metal in the seal that goes around the rear window had oxidised and blown/expanded out so the window was sealed to the rubber but the rubber wasn't sealed to the metal of the window if you get me and the water found a way in, no idea how long it was leaking for as it was hidden behind panels.

Replaced the seals and at least once a month, out of paranoia, I give all the door and window seals a blast of silicone spray to deter the water and so far its dry as a bone

[notsofast]

What's the best way to lift the carpets out of the footwell areas?  I had a quick look this afternoon and the carpet all seems to be installed beneath other fixtures and fittings, with no obvious way of proceeding other than cutting the carpet.

[bobothegreat]

It's quite involved, you have to take the seat out,take the trims off below the door normally t25 bit, un pop the carpet from under the dash/fromt footwell and take off the handbrake cover and you should be able to peel it up from in front of the back seats and lift it up to check.
I found even when the carpet was dry the foam underlay was completely drenched.

[Sol]

Open your doors, and waft them back and forth, listening for water inside the door, the outer window seals can leak easily (my B9 had both doors full of water up to the handles!) and on the bottom of the doors I found and pulled off a long rubber seal which basically does nowt but serve to hold water in, as the plastic rivets holding it on, close up a row of holes on the bottom of the door where most cars would have a drain bung.

I pulled the strips off and water came out for around 5 minutes. Check yours, it could just be that. Mine was getting inside via the speaker holes etc.

Needless to say, I left the strips off. No noise and no more water getting stuck in the doors.

[notsofast]

Thanks, I'll have a look at that.  I won't be surprised if it's coming out of the door - the seal along the bottom of the window can't be that tight to start off with (otherwise the window wouldn't wind down), so quite a bit of water must get inside the door, and all it'd take would be for an exit hole to block up.