water ingress

[scimi1]

Hi,
I have a 2008 x type estate which has given great service but I have recently had water collecting in the off side rear footwell? I have never had this before and it is only this footwell that is affected. Has anyone any ideas what might have caused it to start leaking? The door seals all look good but the carpet was sodden.
Thanks

[steve_m]

Sit in the car and get someone to hose it down from the outside to see if it is getting in somewhere.
I have noticed on mine that water seems to collect under the door and run out when it is opened.
The other possibility is rot under the carpets and it is getting in through the floor.

[Astromorg]

It would also be worth checking the pollen filter and the drain from the plenum chamber in which the pollen filter box sits. When those drains block water goes through the pollen filter and into that footwell.

You will have to remove the four or five plastic rivets along the front of the Plenum chamber cover, in front of the windscreen - lever up the square pins and then lift out the round rivet body. Some cheat at this point and just lever up the cover to get at the filter below, but to do the job properly, the wipers should be removed (not always easy without a splitter tool!), allowing the whole cover to lifted away - it has a clip-in arrangement extending the whole width of its back face.

Clean up the plenum chamber, check the drain clear and renew the filter.

Reassemble!

[andypryce]

Rear footwell? Unusual, check door drain holes, often get blocked over time.

[BrianG]

Water in the rear footwell can reasonably rule out water ingress through the air conditioning/pollen filter. Check that the door has not partially filled up with rain water because the drain holes are blocked with silt (ask me how I know!)

Barring holes in the floor, the most likely reason is a failure of the door's internal drip deflector, allowing water to creep over the bottom inside edge of the door and then out under the cabin trim and onto the floor. I don't know if the X type has a simple plastic sheet like a lot of ordinary cars (been there, done that several times) or whether it has an internal moulded plastic deflector. Either way you will need to have the door trim off to have a look. Look along the bottom edge where the door pressing turns upwards: if it's a simple plastic sheet the usual failure mode is the double sided adhesive tape along the lower edge gives up and allows the sheet to wrinkle up; if it's a plastic moulding check for hairline cracks along the bottom edge.

[Astromorg]

Rear Footwell! Mmm! Missed that! Much better ideas from everyone else!!

[andypryce]

Still good advice though for those with passenger footwell water. That is nearly always either blocked rainwater drain / aircon outlet / poor cable seal in bulkhead...