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Wet drivers side floor

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Ok, So i'm here cause I have tried all the usual things to sort this out. My brother suggested I join up as this forum is very helpful and friendly.

I have a wet floor on the drivers side of a 2001 VT II executive wagon - its been wet for many months now , possible nearly 12, and I can't track down the source.

I have run the hose over the windscreen and been looking underneath the dash and nothing comes through. Windscreen was replaced approx 2 years ago.

I have run the hose over near the door seals to see if it comes through there - Nope.

I have pulled apart the dash to check the drain on the aircon condenser - that seems clear and draining.

I cant hear water sloshing around anywhere, so Aircon isn't blocked up somewhere.

Its not radiator fluid - i run green stuff, plus the water is always cold, not green, not slippery, or smells of hot radiator water.

I have looked for missing rubber grommets in the floor - they all seem to be there.

I have pulled up the carpet and wringed out at least 1-2 litres of water. That floor matting is like a massive sponge. I dried it out with an electric heater and not long after it was sodden again.

The carpet and underlay up the sides of the floor section is dry. I would imagine that if water was running down the floor pan/tunnel/firewall into the carpet that the sides would also be wet, but they are dry.

Im at a loss.
I'm getting to the point now where I will remove the grommets in the floor so that the water can drain out! Even driving in winter there would be more going out that in.

Anyone got anything else I can try to hunt down the issue?
 

krusing

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Heater Core has cracked and leaking, have you moved, or replaced the heater hoses under the bonnet,
the ones between the Heater Tap and the heater core, when it comes out from the firewall ?
If so, you may of moved them to far, as it may of cracked the welding,
If not, the welding has just deteriorated over the years.
You mentioned its doesnt small like radiator water, the actual Heater Core may even be blocked, so its only weeping, but enough to dampen the carpet.
 
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Hi krusing,

Thanks for the reply.
No i haven't removed or replaced the heater core, hoses or anything associated with the heater. Are these heater cores copper or alloy? I have never pulled one out.

The heater works a treat with A/C turned on. I would have thought that if the heater core was blocked then no hot water would come through and with the A/C on, it would then run cold. I Always run on fresh air, not recirc, so its getting cold air from outside, and passing over the core to heat the air, enough that I have to turn it down after a while.

If it is weeping as you mention, the water under the carpet should be greenish at least. Ill pull the carpet again and squeeze the water out into a cup to see if there is any green in there.

Ill also look for any wetness coming down from behind the stereo area.

Lets be honest there is only so many palaces water can come from right?

Its either got to be
a leaking heater core
condensate overflow from the aircon drain
water coming on from the floor (missing grommets)
or a leaking windscreen
 

losh1971

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Are you going through coolant? If not then rule out the core as you are squeezing out a lot of water. Plus a leaking core tends to smell like hot coolant when the heater is turned on. My guess is your windscreen drains are blocked or your drain tube is blocked.
 

krusing

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After your explanation, I tend to agree with losh1971 as I had a windscreen leak in my VT, I had before the VY, and took ages to find,
I had to pull the rubber external seal off around the windscreen, and get a piece of packaging strap, and try and slide it under the edge of the screen, to see were is wasn't sealed. Then got a tube of black silicon and sealed the unsealed area.
 
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I do go through a little coolant, but I put that down to the age of the motor - its done 300k, and I'm pretty sure it was driven hard by a previous owner, and i'm pretty sure its the original heads, so the gaskets are prob leaking by now.

Regardless, I'm not going through enough coolant to think its going into the cabin constantly, and in the absence of green stuff, the hot coolant smell or slippery water, i'm reasonably certain its not the heater core.

I have just spent the last hour or so, flushing the windscreen drains in the fenders. They were draining, but possibly a little slow.
Pulled out some gunk, and now I can run the garden hose flat out into the catchment area and it runs straight out. Both sides are running well.

When I pulled apart my glovebox interior to view the aircon drain boot the other day, it all seemed ok at that point. I have also poked up the cable tie from underneath and no water, gunk or otherwise came out.

As its winter now, i don't think my aircon should be producing much condensation to drain anyways.
When I do my run into town this arvo to pick up the kids from school, ill run it on cold all the way and see if i get any water dripping from the drain when I get home.
 

krusing

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Hi krusing,

Thanks for the reply.
No i haven't removed or replaced the heater core, hoses or anything associated with the heater. Are these heater cores copper or alloy? I have never pulled one out.

The heater works a treat with A/C turned on. I would have thought that if the heater core was blocked then no hot water would come through and with the A/C on, it would then run cold. I Always run on fresh air, not recirc, so its getting cold air from outside, and passing over the core to heat the air, enough that I have to turn it down after a while.

If it is weeping as you mention, the water under the carpet should be greenish at least. Ill pull the carpet again and squeeze the water out into a cup to see if there is any green in there.

Ill also look for any wetness coming down from behind the stereo area.

Lets be honest there is only so many palaces water can come from right?

Its either got to be
a leaking heater core
condensate overflow from the aircon drain
water coming on from the floor (missing grommets)
or a leaking windscreen

Do you have a sunroof ?
If so, could be the drain tubes have perished.
 
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Do you have a sunroof ?
If so, could be the drain tubes have perished.

Nope no sunroof - the old executive ain't that flash.:)

Ill try the packing tape under the windscreen trick next - I know that I had the windscreen replaced about 2 years ago, but its been leaking for so long now, I cant recall exactly when it started

We are about to get some rain over the next few days, so I wont be able to dry out the carpets yet to see if anything has yet worked, but hopefully the weekend is fine for carpet drying.
 
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ok, so an update of sorts.

I have been drying out the drivers foot well carpet for the last few days and was about to put the trims back, when I took the chance to push the vacuum cleaner round into the hard to reach spots.

And... I find that the drivers rear foot well is just as wet as the front was! Dang nam it@#@%@%

So, I have squeezed out a fair bit of water, same as the front.
So looking at the floor pan I find that the pan has taken a fair whack and the pan is raised up - Ill belt it back down with a mallet later, but it has cracked the rubber/plastic/goo sound proof stuff that is coated over the pan and there was a small crack where the rubber bung should be. A gentle poke and it fell though making a 20mm sized hole (ill bung that up later as well).

Would that small crack (~1mm wide x 5mm long) be enough to let in the vast amounts of water i have seen?
Would the water start in the back (though that small hole), and track up the foam into the front? or might it start in the front and track backwards?

I haven't yet pulled out the front seat to get all the carpet up on that side - that's tomorrows job if i don't need my car.
 

accentstencil

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I could be wrong but I don't think much water at all would get in through a small crack in the floor, not the amounts you were talking about anyway. Unless you were driving through floods.
 
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