Another water leak!

[Geoff Butcher]

I went out yesterday after the car had been standing in continuous rain for nearly two days, and to cut a long story short, when I went round a left hand bend a bit sharpish, my right ankle was suddenly dowsed in cold water! When I got home I found the driver's side carpet was sopping wet but how the water got in is a mystery. I took the dashboard skin off but there was no sign of a leak from the screen, which was re-sealed only a year ago, then removed the access panel under the bonnet, but the foam round the aperture was dry and I couldn't feel any wet on the wiper linkage. However, the foam in the bottom of the dashboard structure was saturated, so that was how my ankle got wet.
I'm assuming any water from the lower screen rubber can't find its way down the back of the dashboard, as it must be bonded to the scuttle? It must have been a major leak for that amount of water to get in - when I parked I saw water was trickling from underneath, having escaped through the seat mounting points. I've always had damp carpets in winter, but this is ridiculous...

[kelvink]

My Gold Coupe does the same but despite the screen rubber looking fairly new I know that it does let water in. There's also the fact that the weather seals around the doors don't actually seal against the weather. I am amazed at the ammount of water that gets into the car and really do think that if i were to leave the windows wide open it would not be any wetter after a good rainstorm.

All more items for the To Do list at some point. If you're at the Donington Show this weekend mine's the grubby maroon one that smells of mould. Should be easy to find. Though it's likely I'll only be there on Saturday.

[Hans Efde]

2 other possibilities are:
1) holes where the wiper spindles protrude. I cut a ring of sheet rubber for under the big washers.
2) water that runs into the engine bay and then onto the flat where the brake and clutch servo sits. Often there are holes of previous mods, removed wiring etc. I closed all holes with grommets and sikaflex.
I had exactly the same experience in my blue coupe and my problem was caused by 1).
Concerning the doors, take a look at the mods on my website. 2 items, the T-seal on top of the frame and plastic inside to guide the rain downwards to the drain holes will prevent leakage via the doors.

[Geoff Butcher]

It's not from the doors as the carpet along the sill and the kickplate is dry apart from where it's soaked up from the floor. I did wonder about the wiper spindle but it looks OK with a thick rubber washer round it, and I doubt whether such a large quantity of water could have got in that way. As it's wet inside the dash the screen is the odvious suspect but the sealant can be seen all the way round.

[kelvink]

You really need to be in the car when it's raining. You'll be surprised, I was....

Ideally get the dashboard loose so you can see behind it all and sit there like the boy with his finger in the dyke or like King Canute.

Like I say it's surprising where you find water is coming in from. Where it's gone to is a different matter but yes water tends to run downhill

[Rich]

Another trick is to dust talcum powder around the suspect areas and look for the tracks left by droplets after rain. The bulk of the water that was getting into mine was coming in through the non-existent seal at the top of the pedal box.