E30 Zone

Hi guys,

Okay water in the drivers footwell, noticed when attempting to dry the car out after a valet. There's a lot! If I press the carpet down it squishes out of a circular hole (capped but it comes through around the cap) below the footwell beneath the car. STILL getting water after rain, after trying the following:

-Taste test on the water. Disgusting though this is to do, I don't think it's coolant, so I'm not suspecting the matrix.

-Cleaned the sunroof drains, from the top with a long length of plumber's solder and some water. The drivers side was hacky, now spotless. Got about 4ft of solder down the hole, but it didn't appear out the other side.

-Took off the elephants trunk thing in the engine bay and cleaned that out. That was hacky too. Is it critical that this gets put back on properly? Cos it's a tough thing to get back on.


Anyone got any ideas? I have been through all the threads I could find about this problem. Someone mentioned the sill drains- where are they, what do they look like and how do I inspect/clean them? Is it much work to pull the carpet away from the footwell? Anyone got any other ideas that haven't been mentioned? I appreciate your help. It's annoying cos the (beige) interior has come up really well with the valet, and I've got leather coming this week! Want to get it sorted before it starts stinking the car up...

Best,
Adam

check the battery tray under the bonnet and also around the square plate under the car just behind the wing, both areas can rust leading to water leaks.

the sill drains are gaps in the rear of the sill flange underneath the car but i doubt that these would be the cause.

Peel the carpets back in the footwells and pour some water down thru the grills on the scuttle panel.
Have a look around the fuse box area aswell

I found a cause to a long standing leak on my touring. Removed some of the sound insulation from the drivers side bulkhead, and there's a blank where the battery cable (or maybe A/C pipes) travel through the bulkhead, a part of this had rusted, and water was getting in through here.

Some silicon soon sorted it, as it can't be seen anyway behind the insulation.

adam81 wrote:hacky

Now that's a proper Geordie word you don't hear much these days Adam!

Dirty
Scruffy
Hackey
Mankey
Geordie.

Hi Adam,

I've had a similar problem with my drivers footwell. I peeled back the carpets to find the circular hole that you mentioned, and the plug had come out of it. It's some kind of drain hole. I replaced the plug and hey presto, no more water getting in. It could be a little corroded too, so worth checking what state it is.

Re the elephants trunk, a good tip to get it back on is to stick it in some boiling water so the rubber is easier to stretch and with a bit of effort and a burnt finger or two you should manage to get it back on.

HTH

Si

Gentlemen,

As usual, thanks for your absolutely belter advice. I traced the hacky water ingress to the hole in the firewall that had been drilled for the AC pipes (factory fitted, ha). Damn daylight coming through there once the carpets were peeled back. The car spent the afternoon idling with the heaters blasting to try and dry the foma rubber under the carpet. It's like they put that stuff there especially to soak up water- feels like it's made out of Vileda mop.

Anyways, the dirty hacky geordie may well be at least a dry dirty hacky geordie from now on. Thanks.

Adam