My turn for a wet carpet

[Cloggy Saint]

After any persistent rain the front left footwell gets seriously wet. I know it comes from above, yet the transmission tunnel, under dash panel and above the pedals stays dry. I don't have time to take the carpet up and do the talcum test at the moment, so where should I look to stem the flow?

[BenHar]

Sill drains?

Ben

[Captain_Birdseye]

Out of interest, what model is it?

[brutus]

i got 318 & a 325 carpets - coupe, which is what baurs derivative from

[Brianmoooore]

Examine the area around the right hand stud that the glovebox hinge bolts to. Any sign of bubbling or rusting here is not good news.

[BenHar]

It's LHD, Brian.

Ben

[Bonymaenjack]

Corrosion behind the fuse box, defective windscreen rubber, blocked elephant trunk in the engine bay,

[Carmo13]

Sill drains?

Ben

Check these are clear. Mine were filled up with gunk and the sills filled with water and eventually drained into the interior.
If this is the case though you should be able to hear sloshing from the sills if you rock back and forward, thats what gave the game away for me anyway.

[Cloggy Saint]

Out of interest, what model is it?

Lhd M20 touring.

No rust under the fusebox/bulkhead/floor, it's all clean. If the windscreen seal was leaking then there would probably be water behind the pedals and on the under dash panel.
The mystical elephant trunk, where is it, and if blocked would it only drain to the left side of the interior? I assume the sill drains are .......... underneath the sills?

[DanThe]

How do you park, level, leaning to left or right? Front or back? If the scuttle drain is blocked the water will come through the heater box, worse still, if the scuttle drain area is rotten the water will run down the bulkhead, metal side of the carpet and pool in the floor

[Cloggy Saint]

Never park in the same place twice but more often than not it's level-ish I guess. No rot in the scuttle area or anywhere else. The water is definitely coming from above somewhere as the floor mat is soaked as well as the carpet and I'm not sure water would soak through the underside of an oem mat so easily.

[Captain_Birdseye]

Never park in the same place twice but more often than not it's level-ish I guess. No rot in the scuttle area or anywhere else. The water is definitely coming from above somewhere as the floor mat is soaked as well as the carpet and I'm not sure water would soak through the underside of an oem mat so easily.

It does soak through to the mats on mine, eventually, or if the water level on the floor rises enough that it engulfs the mat.

[Carmo13]

I assume the sill drains are .......... underneath the sills?

Yep, you dont need to take anything apart. You just need to get on your back with a small flat screwdriver in your hand and poke it through each of the holes to make sure water can flow out of them without problems.
You can test this by pouring water down the sunroof drain holes and watching if the water exits through the sill holes.

Just thinking, would an e30 without a sunroof have any need for the sill drains?

[andysheep]

Answer to above questona˜•Get rid of condension maybe?

[biffer]

cat-litter ftw!

[DHFiS]

When it happened to me it was caused by the inner plastic sheet glued to the door behind the door card which had pulled away. I refitted it with a bit of gutter sealant I had and the problem was cured.

Drying the carpet out took ages. Seat out, door trim removed, center console removed, towels to soak up most of it then a fan heater for hours to finish.

[Cloggy Saint]

Been of the zone for a while but thanks for the replies. Water-logged sills are now my prime suspect as I noticed a steady trickle of water spilling out over the top of the side skirt after a heavy frost. As mentioned above though, I don't have a sunroof so would the sills still get water in them?

[biffer]

don't the hood-compartment on these drain into the sills?

[paultv]

But the cars a Touring, no? Sure my Cabby sills filled up from blocked drains and water in from the roof compartment, but on a touring??

Paul

[Brianmoooore]

There are no water drains into the sills of a touring or saloon without a sunroof, but water will still find it's way in there to some degree, so the drain slots need to be clear regardless.
There are two slots close together near the front, and one near the back on each side. Takes a couple of minutes to check their condition.

[biffer]

reading through the thread again,iv'e no idea why i thought it was a conv.

[Cloggy Saint]

I've had a quick poke around underneath and can't see any sign of the sill drains, I've got a feeling they may have been under sealed over after some welding last summer. Does someone have a picture of the underneath of an E30 that shows where they should be? I need this sorted asap

[DHFiS]

Bottom of the front wing behind the wheel

[Cloggy Saint]

Perfect, thanks!

[Brianmoooore]

Bottom of the front wing behind the wheel

Plus another one at the back.
Nearly all cases of blocked drains are as a result of over ethusiastic undersealing.