Water ingress. Help..!?

[SL63 Mark]

So frustrating this. Car has been parked for 2 weeks unused.
Footwell full of water again. Mat was floating.
Got most of it out and sat inside with hosepipe on car and no water ingress. Really can't get my head around it at all.
Bought a replacement car now and the Merc is going. Such a shame. Lovely car and with the remap it's seriously potent. Very few around with the spec this has got. Didn't think a pond was on the options list though.

We have had quite a few cars with water features on here, some add fish and make an aquarium. My R230 had a pond in the boot. The main thing is keep your sense of humour, you will find the cause.

 

[star]

Get under the car, under the outer sill covers, just visable will be a couple of grommets, poke them out. The sills fill with water. Don't know where it gets in but if they are full of water, removing grommets should stop the ingress.

 

[Trev1964]

Thanks. I'll take a look.

 

[ajlsl600]

Cars in this price range filling with water . Reminds me of British Leyland. An unmodified (non accident) benz letting water in in 1st 10 Yr should be an automatic. Rtn to maker story.

 

[harrye500]

I'm a bit late to this post. I've got the A207 but fundamentally they will be the same drain wise aside from the obvious differences.. Check behind battery tray under the bonnet. You will need to remove the battery. It is a pain! However there's a large drain that runs from the scuttle in front of driver, along the firewall to behind the battery tray and then, down and out to underside. It is likely full of crud and silt. Why that would affect the rear I know not, nonetheless it is 100% worth checking. Mine was 99% blocked. Run water down it to unblock and prod with a long thin stick or similar (more professional) device to dislodge the crud!

 

[Trev1964]

I eventually gave up.
Moved the car on and will never buy another Mercedes product.
Brilliant car, ruined by shocking build quality. I justified the other things I had to deal with during ownership and just put them right.
Water ingress finished me off.
Bought a Mini Clubman Cooper S to replace it. Hopefully that proves reliable, only 27k miles, so hope so.

 

[harrye500]

Thats a shame but hope the mini giving good service, they're a nice car. Must say my 207 has been a great car aside from a few minor things both expected and unexpected. Best of luck and maybe you'll come back to the MB fold one day.

 

[00slk]

Oh, probably not the best choice of replacment makes. Chocolate engines and water leaks

 

[Trev1964]

Oh, probably not the best choice of replacment makes. Chocolate engines and water leaks

The Prince engines in the earlier models were garbage. Later models, especially the 2.0 litre 4 cylinder petrol is a much better bet. No issues with clean air zones either.
Had first hand experience of the Prince engine.
The B48 engine is a BMW engine and has been in use since about 2014 I think, with no issues as yet. Fingers crossed.

It's a cracking car so far.

2.0 turbos with about 190 bhp, so goes well enough and has surprisingly good torque for what it is, pulls really well low down.
Never gonna match the Merc, but not much would to be fair.

 

[00slk]

The Prince engines in the earlier models were garbage. Later models, especially the 2.0 litre 4 cylinder petrol is a much better bet. No issues with clean air zones either.
Had first hand experience of the Prince engine.
The B48 engine is a BMW engine and has been in use since about 2014 I think, with no issues as yet. Fingers crossed.

It's a cracking car so far.

2.0 turbos with about 190 bhp, so goes well enough and has surprisingly good torque for what it is, pulls really well low down.
Never gonna match the Merc, but not much would to be fair.

I believe the later cars were far better, we had a 2009 1.6 turbo that was (for the price) quite a high optioned car, Cooper S. I was poisoned against it because of many disgruntled owners of these on the 01 to 07 models where most of the issues were.
I didn't think it was a bad car, the one we had, but only had it to make a Bob or 2.
A mate of mines wife has a 2017 3 cylinder model. Seems to be reasonable.
Good luck with yours.
Like any car, the manufacturers build them to break, so they can make more money on parts sales

 

[Trev1964]

If I'm truly honest, I was keeping the Merc for a long time. Lovely example of a cracking car.
I was prepared to put up with the normal issues.
Having water ingress I couldn't resolve did me in.
I won't slag off Mercedes, just that one car.

 

[bembo449]

When my CL was leaking it turned out to be rear light unit , i repaired a GL earlier this year where the rear quater glass seal had failed too

 

[harrye500]

If I'm truly honest, I was keeping the Merc for a long time. Lovely example of a cracking car.
I was prepared to put up with the normal issues.
Having water ingress I couldn't resolve did me in.
I won't slag off Mercedes, just that one car.

Thats a fair and honest opinion. Such an odd issue not to be able to resolve, normally down to blocked pipes, tubes etc that the diy-er can usually resolve. Silly things like that can put you off a marque that otherwise makes a good (particular) model which it's done in your case.