Wet Passenger Well

[danrogers 0]

my car has started 2 smell a bit funny, upon inspection i discovered that the passenger footwell is soaking wet is there any tell tell signs of where/how its getting there to check out? cheers in advance

[KRISKARRERA 2 1 Cars]

How does it smell and or taste? First thing would be to see if it's coolant. If it is then you've got a major pain of a task to do.

[Feeble 0]

Hmm... When my dad had his 405 years ago the footwells were actually full of water, so he got it cheap. If I recall correctly the drainage channels were blocked with leaves and other crap!

 

Actually, thinking about it... I think the water was tracking in from somewhere near the pedals...

 

Take the carpets up and get someone to spray a hose on the car while you sit inside looking for the leak...

Edited December 7, 2007 by Feeble

[KRISKARRERA 2 1 Cars]

Hopefully it is something like that but as it's the passenger footwell it could well be the matrix.

[JamesLeMans831345402285 0]

Hopefully it is something like that but as it's the passenger footwell it could well be the matrix.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Had the same stink (till i start smoking in it ) and damp problem when I got it. Dont know if you use underseal or commerical car wash that waxyoils the bottom, but mine was due to the drainange plug being gunked up with sealant.. the former owner must have been an absolute crack-pot! One of the many bizare 'alterations' that where made. Anyways cleared that out an no problems since.

[danrogers 0]

yeah i was thinking maybe the drains because i saw a few leaves that i need to clean out when i had the bonnet up doing the cap. the thing is its definiately just in the passenger well. it started smelling like i had some food in the car or something and its started going slightly moldy where i still had the mat in place.

 

fingers crossed its just water and not coolant!!

[Herbsman 0]

Could it be a leak in the door or window seals?

[stuart.m 0]

i had this a while ago.... basically, as said, if it stinks like coolant its a bit of a task. in my case was just a drain channel thing for the passenger door was clogged, cleaned all out and its stopped. best way to find it is the hose trick as suggested then you can watch exactly where its coming from!

[Guest badboyracer3500]

when my passenger foot well got wet it was the heater matrix that was leakin. took me ages before i could find leak.

[petert1345402284 0]

My first Mi16 leaked like a sieve into the passenger's foot well every time it rained. I had to put the hose on the car to find it. It turned out the mastic joint joining the panels near the ECU was damaged. It looked like someone had rested the bonnet on the joint whilst waiting to fit to the hinges. Sealed it back up and all was fine.

 

The other problem could be a blocked drain from the A/C. Check the rubber hose that dangles into the engine bay.

[89dream 0]

Loads of good tips, couple of other possibilities to consider once you are sure it's not coolant in the footwell.

 

1) Drain holes in the scuttle area get clogged with dead leaves and eventually leaf mould, some years ago I took a ZX through the car wash; whilst rain had managed to trickle away, the water from the car wash was too much and the front passenger footwell flooded through the heater vent. Easy fix, clean them and check them periodically. (forget them on a 924S and water will eventually find its way onto the fuse/relay box underneath). Well worth the effort and don't forget the ones in the bottom of the doors. (forget them on an MGB and the doors rust to bits)

 

2) Even further back, tried everything to solve the same problem on a Fiat Uno, even changed the door seal. No joy. Had to have the windscreen replaced some time later and that solved it, it was water ingress through the bottom corner of the windscreen seal. Worth just carefully lifting the edge of the rubber seals with thin softish plastic or even a lollipop stick (something which wont scratch - screw driver wrapped in tape if you really must) to make sure there is no rusting since they can rust through (the BX 16v suffered from this)

 

3) Same problem on the Mi16 with a damp boot carpet, there it was the top left hand corner of the rear window seal. Again, easy fix with clear silicone in a domestic silicone gun which forces silicone in under pressure.

 

Never assume the leak is near where you can see water dripping, the logical place for a leak on the back window would have been the bottom corner, it wasn't.

 

As suggested above, run a hosepipe over the car to confirm you've fixed the problem