URGENT HELP PLEASE - pints of water in passenger well 211 E270 Estate

Mercedes270

New Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Your Mercedes
E270 CDI Estate 2003
Hi all
I am in urgent need of advice.

For some time our E270CDI Estate (2003 UK car RHD) has had some water leakage into the passenger footwell (nearside).

I have read earlier posts about drainage from windscreen and heater boxes, so removed the front nearside wheel and inner wheel liner, but could not see any drain hoses like the 460 in the attached microfiche pic.
Diagram_460_drain.png
Diagram_main_drain.png
The main drain hose from the centre of the windscreen (20 in the second microfiche pic) was not blocked and when I pulled it out of the seal into the inner wing it had just about 1cm poking through into the inner wing.

When I poured water down the windscreen it flowed out of this pipe and then into the inner wing coming out randomly around the windscreen water bottle fitted behind the inner arch which blocks any vision or access further into the inner wing.

Water was also draining down from the windscreen and pillar into the gap where the front wing meets the windscreen. This also seemed to be randomly coming out everywhere and not through a single drain hole.

However, very quickly water started appearing on the carpet on the side of the footwell immediately in front of the passenger door.

I removed the sill in an effort to find where the water should drain, but could not see anything obvious.

Today, after heavy rain, the whole footwell is sloshing with water - extremely worrying as all the wiring runs down the side there under the passenger door opening.

I managed to remove the carpeting where it was showing the leak and also the rest of the padded carpeting from the footwell.

Water was clearly coming in around a black foam rubber type seal on the side of the footwell and when i removed this it was clear water had built up from the inner sill up.

Photo 1 shows the hole left after removing the foam rubber, Photo2 the water inside, and Photo 3 after drying with towel the inside of E270_ Footwell1.jpg E270_Footwell2.jpg E270_Footwell3.jpg the hole facing forward where there is a gap into the inner sill.

All this was swimming in water.

I can only assume there must be a drain of some kind out of the inner sill which I am not seeing and which is blocked.

With more rain forecast for tonight I am desperate to sort this out - any help very gratefully received including info on where this should drain, and also the whereabouts of the 460 drain tubes if these are relevant (photos?).

Thank you for any help you can give!
 

Blobcat

Moderator
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Messages
38,787
Reaction score
27,425
Location
Grange Moor
Your Mercedes
R171 SLK280, Smart R451, Land Rover 110 County SW, 997 C2S, R1250 GSA TE 40th, CBR600FP
Hello and welcome

It’s normally the scuttle drains at the bottom of the windscreen that block with leaves and rubbish. The water then flows into the car through the heater.

I’d be opening the bonnet into service position then checking all around the base of the windscreen for blocked drains
 
OP
M

Mercedes270

New Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Your Mercedes
E270 CDI Estate 2003
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #3
Thanks, but the water seems to have got further than that, it is in the bottom of the inner wing and sills and flowing through the hole in the first photo into the passenger footwell.
There must be some sort of drain out of the inner sill that this water should be escaping from, but isn't.
 

badger_wazzala

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2020
Messages
209
Reaction score
163
Location
The United Kingdom
Your Mercedes
63 AMG
That's awful, I feel for you.
If the screen is a bonded one water ingress occurs when the resin breaks down. Would it be worth buying some Dow785 clear sanitary silicone sealant and running a light bead around the screen externally? If you do and this stops the water, you then know you need to organise a windscreen removal/refit.
 
OP
M

Mercedes270

New Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Your Mercedes
E270 CDI Estate 2003
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #5
Screen seems to be okay, but worth doing the sealant thing anyway once it is dry I'm sure.

Nightmare at the moment is baling out the passenger footwell with the rain hammering down - maybe I should just build an Ark....
 

Frontstep

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2007
Messages
9,201
Reaction score
3,436
Your Mercedes
T210 320cdi
Some fluorescing powder might be useful.
 
OP
M

Mercedes270

New Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Your Mercedes
E270 CDI Estate 2003
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #8
E270_wheelarch2A.jpg Spent last night going out to the car every couple of hours and syphoning off water from the hole in the passenger side wall to stop it building up in the footwell and wiring.

Stripped out inner wing again today and it is clear the drain nozzle which blocks (normally where the hole and two mounting points marked in photo) has been removed in the past so that's not the problem.
E270_wheelarch2A.jpg

Still cannot find any sign of the two drainage pipes marked as 460 in first microfiche picture in my original post!

If anyone has photos of these insitu in a 211 I would be very glad to see them!


You can also see from this photo and the following how the windscreen washer bottle prevent access to any other drainage behind it (ie where the drain hole from the top of the wing meets the windscreen pillar).
E270_wheelarch1.jpg

The windscreen washer bottle and pump are impossible to move without cutting the braided tubing (seen just above the white water pump) as this is so stiff it won't slide off.

Water draining from the windscreen through the top of the wing just seems to cascade out around all this with no proper sense of it going to a drain hole.

Any thoughts or help welcome - thanks!
 
Last edited:

onefortheroad

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
3,411
Reaction score
2,028
Location
uk.
Your Mercedes
Me -2019 GLC 350 coupe AMG line. Mrs- ford kuga 65 plate awd powershift .
The exit point of water can be a long way from the entry point. Have you looked under the scuttle where the fan is.
 
OP
M

Mercedes270

New Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Your Mercedes
E270 CDI Estate 2003
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #10
AFAIAA the only drain from the scuttle on the 211 is the central one (20 in second microfiche pic in my first post).

This is clear and running ok on mine, and I have shortened it so water goes into the compartment where the front battery is and drains through the hole ringed in red in the photo in my last post, so shouldn't be getting into the footwell (not to say that it isn't!).

Frustrating thing is trying to understand how water running behind the front wing is making its way to the inside through the inspection hole in the side of the passenger footwell (as shown in the photos in my first post). How can this be???

Thanks.
 

onefortheroad

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
3,411
Reaction score
2,028
Location
uk.
Your Mercedes
Me -2019 GLC 350 coupe AMG line. Mrs- ford kuga 65 plate awd powershift .
AFAIAA the only drain from the scuttle on the 211 is the central one (20 in second microfiche pic in my first post).

This is clear and running ok on mine, and I have shortened it so water goes into the compartment where the front battery is and drains through the hole ringed in red in the photo in my last post, so shouldn't be getting into the footwell (not to say that it isn't!).

Frustrating thing is trying to understand how water running behind the front wing is making its way to the inside through the inspection hole in the side of the passenger footwell (as shown in the photos in my first post). How can this be???

Thanks.


My thinking is because its built up over time. And found a way out . Which has you fooled.
 

brandwooddixon

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2006
Messages
3,848
Reaction score
673
Location
Wolverhampton
Your Mercedes
S63 Coupe 2014
Have you tried checking/clearing the water drain itself to see if its blocked? Two metres of net curtain wire is usually sufficient.
 

EmilysDad

Senior Member
Joined
May 8, 2012
Messages
12,120
Reaction score
5,664
Location
Bury Lancs
Your Mercedes
ML350
....

The windscreen washer bottle and pump are impossible to move without cutting the braided tubing (seen just above the white water pump) as this is so stiff it won't slide off.

.....

Boiling water usually helps :)
 

drmw

Moderator
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
3,793
Reaction score
198
Location
Yorkshire
Website
www.autonomed.co.uk
Your Mercedes
M6 Cab - prior to that, SL63 AMG, A-M V8 Vantage, SL55, SL500 and many more
I don't know the car, but " impossible to move without cutting the braided tubing" - I may well be wrong, but I didn't think MB use braided tube - it's possibly a hiding to nothing, but it seems to be close to where you have the problem.
 


Chris Knott Insurance, see oursticky posts here!
www.ckinsurance.co.uk
Top Bottom