124 Estate Water in Passenger Footwell

ricw

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Hi, I'm getting small amounts of water in the footwell whenever it rains, even when the car is just standing (it's usually parked facing slightly downhill). Have removed the plastic panel on the left hand side of the footwell and discovered the insulation behind it is wet and there are drops of water on the cables in the pillar. When I pour water into the left hand front sunroof drain it comes out under the passenger glove compartment close to the bonnet pull.

This strongly suggests to me that there's a problem with the sun roof drain hose. Does anyone have any other thoughts and/or any information on how to fix it? Thanks in advance.
 
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ricw

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Thanks Malcolm, you kindly sent me the list of all the drains last week. The problem seems to be that the water is entering the sunroof drain but is coming out somewhere before it gets to the bottom and is running under the passenger side dashboard somehow.
 

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That water will I think be coming in via the air intake in the heater box, unless the sun roof water collector panel has rusted through. the rust on the corner where the drain is fitted
 
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ricw

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I've checked around where the drain is located in the corner of the sunroof and can find no sign of rust - all appears very solid. I'm pouring water from a small bottle directly into the drain hole (or as near as I can) and when I get down into the footwell with a torch I can see water dripping down the inside of the pillar (I've got the side panel off). I should add that most of the water I'm pouring is coming out at the rear of the wheel arch, where it should.
 

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Then is the rubber pipe perished or broken
 
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ricw

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A good question. I can't see how to get to it in order to check it.
 

television

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You may have to lower the head lining in that region,,I will have the info on doing that, not an easy job though
 
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ricw

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I've heard that is best avoided. I've just had an idea - if I can source some plastic tubing that will fit inside the rubber, I'm wondering if I could feed it through to the bottom, seal it around the top and solve the problem that way. Has anyone tried that?
 

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I've heard that is best avoided. I've just had an idea - if I can source some plastic tubing that will fit inside the rubber, I'm wondering if I could feed it through to the bottom, seal it around the top and solve the problem that way. Has anyone tried that?

That must be worth a try,,the cheapest and easiest place to buy from is an indoor fish shop. The top could be sealed with Loctite "Super flex"
 
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ricw

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Thanks Malcolm, I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes.
 

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Thanks Malcolm, I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes.

And if that brilliant idea does not work you can always pull it out again
 
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ricw

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Progress of a sort. I found some flexible plastic tube in "Pets at Home" (good tip that Malcolm) and inserted it into the drain pipe at the top end. Unfortunately I was unable to persuade it to go beyond roughly in line with the bottom of the windscreen. I wonder if the drain hose goes around some kind of corner there in order to drop down to the sill.

Having got that far, I poured water down the inserted pipe. Some water came out of the correct drain but some flowed into the footwell via the area behind the side panel. So, progress of a sort, I now know that the leak is in the lower half of the drain hose. The problem now is: how to cure it? I guess one way would be to remove the dreaded headlining and try and fit a whole new hose. Anyone got any other ideas/past experience? Here's hoping.

Ric
 

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You must be able to remove the trim on A pillar, as it must pass down there,,the headlining should not be in the way , it will pass by the end of the dash and past the kick panel passenger side down to the floor and out
 
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ricw

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Thanks Malcolm - I'll explore tomorrow and keep you posted.
 
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ricw

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I've had the pillar trim off and the hose runs down the inside of the metal pillar. There's just a wiring loom behind the trim.

Peering through the holes in the metal behind the passenger kick panel I can't find the hose - there's plenty of wiring (going through into the door etc.) and quite a bit of water so it's definitely up there somewhere. My question now is: where exactly does the drain hose run and is it possible to get at it?

As an aside, poking around in all these nooks and crannies does bring home what people say about the build quality of these cars - it's a solid piece of engineering - marvelous. Gotta find the leak though.
 

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Just a thought, is there more than one drain for the sunroof i.e. one each side?
If so, and depending on your future plans for the car, could you block the leaking one off altogether?
 
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ricw

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Hi Roadhog and thanks for the suggestion. There are four drains, one in each corner of the sunroof cassette. The only problem I can foresee would be if the car was parked with the nearside front lower than the rest then the cassette would fill up and possibly overflow into the headlining. The resulting shower would not be well received by Mrs R. That would make it a high risk solution but thanks again for the idea.
 

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I see what you're saying, sort of sunroof roulette. Still, it's good to live life on the edge sometimes. :D
 

television

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How about pushing a piece of garden strimmer cord up from the bottom, you would hear where it goes,, you can also push this down from the top
 


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