Water in my Zed - Solved.

[Sharpen]

Have a quick look at the drain holes for the passenger door are clear. If the door fills with water then it will likely run out inside the car.

[choptop]

My money is on the windscreen and bulkhead areas.

 

Sit in the car when it is hissing it down with rain, lift the carpet and watch. It may take some time to come through, hours in fact, but this will show you where it is coming in. If nothing happens, leak is coming through lower down ie. Lower door seal or from wheel arch area. Leaks are a pain in the ar*se. Had one in my mini. Rover forgot to seal the engine bay when it was built

[davedutch]

Ian, wish I could offer some advice! For what its worth I think you are on the right lines with a blocked drain hole

I hope you get this sorted.

[glrnet]

Hope you get to the bottom of this soon mate, it must be driving you nuts!! Sorry

[AliveBoy]

My god that's bad! Really feel for you buddy, hope you get it sorted

[14N]

Annoyingly I’m not here this weekend, so can’t look then. Gonna have to try find the cause tonight and tomorrow evening, but fortunately there isn’t any more rain forecast in the immediate future.

 

Comes to something when you can fully submerge a 500ml bottle a number of times in the footwell to get rid of the water that’s settled there, the rest I soaked up with a sponge Currently got the carpet pulled back as far as I can with loads of newspaper soaking up what’s left. Car is generally parked in sunshine most of the day (when we get it) so should hopefully help dry it out. Will also plug a fan heater in and leave it running while I investigate.

 

I got my 5 metre swimming badge when I was a kid, learnt to retrieve a rubber brick from the bottom of a pool and can inflate my pyjama bottoms into a buoyancy aid, so I should be OK.

[14N]

OK, update time.

 

So last night I took off the battery covers and scuttle panel at the foot of the windscreen to check the grommets and see if anything looked like it was letting water in. There’s a large circular rubber seal/grommet that sits horizontally directly below the scuttle panel, which I think a couple have referred to. This looked favourite for the source of the leak and has been mentioned on a few different threads when searching for solutions. This looked fine though – still intact and seated correctly. None-the-less I gave everywhere a closer look and a clean (although it wasn’t particularly dirty) and replaced the scuttle panel and covers.

 

Then moved to the door seals, concentrating mainly around the area near the mirror and door hinges, but also looking all around, making sure it was sitting correctly. I pulled all the necessary trim off and the seals and refitted them, just to be sure.

 

So, everything removed, cleaned, examined and refitted, I shut the door, grabbed the hose and gave the door and front quarter a good soak. Gave the water time to drain and opened the door. Nothing. Not a drop

 

Shut the door again and gave the same area another good soak. Opened the door, still dry Looks like by removing and refitting everything, somewhere along the line has sorted the flood. Chuffed.

 

Before putting everything away (but still leaving the carpet pulled up to dry and the seat out), I thought, just to be 100% certain I’d solved the issue, I’d give the whole car a good soak all over, so grabbed the hose again.

 

Let the water drain off and opened the door. This is what I found. [insert same expletive used in the first post].

 

 

The water is running from the rear of the car, under the main central bulk head, through the gap you can see, under to second cross member below the seat and then collecting in the footwell. The water is running this way as my car is parked on the drive, with the back higher than the front.

 

So, positives: The water isn’t coming from the windscreen or door areas.

 

Now looks like I’ll be pulling the rear end of my car apart though to check seals etc and I won’t get chance now until next week.

 

Oh another positive, the floorpan below my passenger seat and the passenger footwell is now very clean due to the amount of mopping up taking place.

Edited June 12, 2014 by 14N

[glrnet]

Do the same with the rear hatch seal, check it for cracks etc, take it off and put it back on

[Brummiestormer]

Feel for u buddy i'm glad ur ok with pulling your car to bits i would hate that----on a happier note i fitted my bonnet struts today in the sunshine Hope you sort it soon

[4RE Leather]

Not sure if any one mentioned but is you rear wiper water wash working ok?

There was a guy on here who took his wiper off and forgot about the pipe after disconnecting it.

The rest is history.

[Roscoe]

Check the rear pressure/ventilation inserts which are located below the rear lights!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JetSet]

Just a thought Ian, could this have started around the time you fitted your rear LED's? Might be worth checking them out you know .

 

 

Pete

[RDON]

Ian im thinking around the B pillar mate or small rear window! the clip inserts sit into the body work so water could easily get down through them and or the rubber seal part?

[KC350Z]

About time you washed it more Ian

[glrnet]

Ian, I note that you have taken to calling your car "The Boat" in other threads and thought you maybe interested in this, just in case, it's the right colour too!!

 

[14N]

^^ ^^ Cheers Papa Smurf! It looks like it's got a similar number of holes in it too

 

Leak update: I think I've found where it's coming from, but typically, we've not had any rain since I started investigating The carpet is still pulled back and the seat out as the car has been drying in the sunshine and all the sponge etc under the carpet is now dry again. I'll be giving 'The Boat' a good soaking the weekend and hopefully the inside will stay dry this time.

 

Watch this space. (Cross your fingers for me too).

[glrnet]

Fingers crossed mate.

[RDON]

so where was it then Ian?

[gsexr]

Update ?

[GMballistic]

Really hope you've got it sorted Ian.

 

If not then the only other thing you could do is fit one of these; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JOHNSON-PUMP-F4B-11-SKI-BOAT-ULTRA-BALLAST-PUMP-/141313078640?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

[14N]

OK, further update time…

 

So, last night and today, we’ve FINALLY had some long awaited rain! Typically, it’s been dry for the past couple of weeks and I’ve needed it to rain so I can test the car.

 

Well, I’m pleased to report it’s still dry on the inside – Halleluiah! :yahoo:

 

So, what caused the water feature? Well, if you recall, it (the water) appeared to be coming from the rear of the car, so out came the boot carpets and trim and off came the seals. Examined and refitted the seals like I had done with the door seals and gave the car a hose down.

 

Open the boot, no water, it’s still dry. Good times. Open the passenger door. Bad times. Water is still coming from underneath the central bulk head/cross section. FFS.

 

Now, stand back, look at the car and think. Where can it be coming from? (Warning, this next bit might get a bit ‘wordy’)….

 

I figured I’d take the rear lights off, give the car another soak and see if I could see anything. My car is parked on my drive on an incline (the rear is higher than the front). When I hosed the car (without lights), I noticed water was collecting in the ‘tub’ that the rear light sits in. This ‘tub’ would normally be flat bottomed/parallel to the floor, but as my car is on an incline, it holds about 25ml of water. i It (the water) was then disappearing down a hole/bung that is located in the middle of the ‘tub’ and I can only assume that it was dripping onto an internal part of the body shell/chassis and then making its way into the cabin along the floor.

 

So, I removed the bung and have now sealed the hole. Gave the car another hose, concentrating on this area and the cabin stayed dry. We had rain last night and also this morning and the car is still dry. Thank God.

[M13KYF]

[AliveBoy]

Congrats dude, hard work has paid off!

[gareth29]

Well done sorting it - I hate leaky cars

[neo]

Nice one