Wet footwells... Ideas?

[doogs82]

Hi, I noticed a week ago the rear left footwell was wet when I left a newspaper on the floor overnight, grabbed it out in the morning and it was damp right through.

My car is a VT series 2 SS, with the 5.7 ltr, (it also has a sunroof which I have recently cleared its blocked drain holes, no wet roof lining, so I have ruled this out)....

Pawing through the forums, I checked decided to remove the carpets to give them a chance to dry out and would give me a good place to start traking down the source of leaks. Once the carpet was removed, I checked the aircond drain tube from the inside of the car, I think its ok, the rubber hose is clear, but does it get blocked there, or further up in the air cond plastic box?
Next, I gave the car a hose down, paying particular attention to the doors, windows and windscreens, and not a drop of water on the floor pans. Left it overnight, and figured with all the torrential rain we had overnight it would have been pooled in the car, but nothing to speak of.

This leaves me with a couple of thoughts. Maybe it is getting in from under the car, or through a wheel arch when driving, the wind is forcing it in somewhere whilst driving in the wet, the air cond is blocked further up the system, or I'm missing something.

I'll leave the carpet out for the week, and see if driving in the wet yields any leakages, but I thought in the mean time, someone may have another suggestion to trry. Oh, and I tried the door bungs at the rear of the doors down by the sills, they are the ones with the x cutout for drainage.

Thanks guys

[bigneilsen]

ive got the same problem i think.
when it rains i get a slow leak in the passenger side footwell. ive had a small puddle in there once (after massive rain).

dunno EXACTLY where its coming from but a couple times ive noticed a drop or two on the A pillar's plastic covering. havent pulled it off yet to have a good look but ive got a feeling it could be leaking through the windsheild sillicone maybe

[D3CID3R]

could the water be from overflow from sunroof hoses prior to cleaning, and the water has been sitting there?

[wortus]

My VY had a leak through the door card, on my rear left door. Water was coming out of the screw holes in the bottom and it was the plastic dust/water seal behind the door card damaged from being torn off to fix something before. I replaced it with a new one and no leaks from there however in the rain sometimes it will get water in the rear left footwell and last time there was no leaks from the actual door and the wet spot was right below the top of the door so I am guessing that in some circumstances water is getting in through the top of the door. If I wash it there is usually no water in the car so I am a bit confused.
The door seal can deform if the power window winds up too far and there is a kit to fit stoppers to the rear channel. I have them but have not fitted them yet.

[alpine-wolf]

Had the same problem with my Vy. Mine gets parked on a very slight incline and after a bit of rain the rear carpets would be wet, what appeared to have caused it was the front door skins plastic seals on both sides silicone sealant around the edges drying up.

How I fixed it was to remove the door cards and using silicone, seal around the edges of the plastic seal, also pulled out the screw plugs for the door cards and put silicone in around them and replaced the plugs, then I used duct tape around the edge of the seal to seal it completely to the door and stop the silicone from squeezing out when the door card went back on.

I ended up doing it to all four doors just for "peace of mind", pretty quick and easy to do and haven't had any problems since.

[doogs82]

D3CID3R, I think you may be onto something there, I the headlining got wet about 6 weeks ago, so I cleaned out the drains for the sunroof, and let the headlining dry of its own accord, I wonder if over the 6 weeks, the water that the foam absorbed has slowly started to smell and the act of putting something absorbant like the newspaper has drawn some of the water to ther surface.
I just went out and gave the car a good pressure wash, paying particular attention to the seals, windows, windscreens and infront of the front windscreen. Also gave the wheel arches a good going over. I thought I had the source when I noticed water stains on the interior c pillar plastics, but remembered I had the windows retinted a fortnight ago. Rrremoved it all and blasted it to be suree, but nothing...I would assume that if the sunroof drains were blocked, that the excess water would run down the pillars and into the footwells. Makes sense. I'll give it a week with no carpet and drive through the biggest puddles I can find, then refit the carpet if I can get the smell out. If not I guess I'll get some trufit carpet replacements. Does anyone know if these come with the foam backing like the originals, or do I have to sort something else out?

Thanks again

[graham7773]

I read thru the replies to op and did not see this, so, is there any possibility your heater core is leaking? For your sake I hope not as I believe it is a mongrel of a job to replace.

[doogs82]

Don't think it's the heater core, otherwise the coolant level would change, and it hasn't moved sinceI bought the car 3 months ago.

Cheers

[mummbles]

+1 to the dust seals inside the doors.
I had this in my VT. TOok the trims off, re-glued the plastic skins down and no more problems.

[Dayvo]

Try taking out the bottom part of your rear seat ( just pull the black tabs on either side to remove it ) and have a look at the lower seatbelt mount . Also from memory there is 2 rubber plugs in the floor under the seat , maybe one of them has come adrift .