Seal around the door - water leak!

[Jim 1]

Hi Guys..

 

So in the great tradition of Corrado's that let water in, my most recent Corrado is trying it on as well.

 

I thought my car smelled a bit swampy today when I got in so I checked under the passenger carpet, and despite the fact that the water hadn't darkened the carpet, I could feel it was a bit wet under there. Bollocks.

 

I think I already have the suspect though - I think its something to do with the rubber seal that goes around the door frame and its joined to the plastic sill covers and all that kinda stuff.. it looks like its bonded onto the car though! I've noticed little drips of water have come in from there when its really been hammering it down, but I could never feel any damp under the carpets before. Maybe its just gotten worse now.. :(

 

Any idea how that rubber seal is attached, and how i'd go about getting it sorted out? Not heard of this bit of the car being a problem before!! :(

[Mike Edwards 0]

If the door seal (fitted to the body of the car rather than the door) is wet, it's time to check the condition of the waterproof plastic film behind the doorcard...

[Jim 1]

I had a feeling it might be something to do with that.

 

The dreaded door skin. Cheers Mike!

[Mike Edwards 0]

It shouldn't be too much of a problem.

 

They were stuck down with a bituminous mastic that stays sticky - so a little cleaning with lighter fluid and thumb-pressure will stick it back in place.

 

If it's shredded, then go buy yourself some damp-proof membrane from B&Q. Otherwise waterproof duck-tape is the answer.

[Jim 1]

Thats great info.

 

Top stuff.. thanks! :)

[kvwloon 0]

Also, I found that if you park with the nose of the car facing downhill, so that the fwd. lower corner of the doors was the lowest corner of the door, water would track across the seal at that corner and pool in the footwells in heavy rain. I just put a small cut across the seal at that point and all is well again.

[Jim 1]

Hm.. interestingly I do park on a hill, usually with the nose facing downhill, with the camber of the road such that the driver side should be sitting slightly lower.. I guess thats the exact same kind of scenario that would case the water to pool in, only in heavy rain!

 

Corrado design flaw?

 

Maybe its time to start parking facing the nose UP the road :)

[CazzaVR 0]

Jim, had the same thing happen in my old G60. Used to park on a hill, nose pointing upwards and ended up with several cm's of water in the footwells :mad:

 

As Mike has suggested, it's prob the door seal. Really easy to sort- just make sure you take your time and do it properly. Removing the doorcards is a pain in the arse, so you don't want to do it more than you have to! I did a hasty fix and it just happened again in the next downpoor :cry: I used that really strong waterproof gutter tape- brilliant stuff! :D

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Corrado design flaw?

 

Nah it's something simple mate.

 

Next time it rains, if there is any water on the interior side of the sill cover, it's the membrane.

 

That's the one good thing I can say about mine, it's totally water tight.....

[Henny 0]

Don't forget Jim, you were thrashing the nuts off your motor at Brunters in the rain/wet and there were some pretty big stretches of water on that straight which you were going through at 120MPH+ ! Even if you had just a tiny rip in one of the engine bay gromets, you'd get quite a bit of water coming in during that! ;)

[Jim 1]

True that I suppose. Though I wasn't totally ragging it.. I still have some of that 'mechanical sympathy' that makes me not want to annhilate my car! Oil temp never got above 112C and water temp barely ever got near 110... so it was a casual Sunday afternoon type thrashing :)

 

I'll deffo check that door card out but that certainly sounds as plausible as anything else Henny.

 

Hows J-DUB btw - read your post about a new noise on DubForce just now..? :(

[Jim 1]

Hm - well it seems that the door membranes on both sides must be loose or broken cause I have water that sits on BOTH sills, right up and even ON the rubber door seal around the inside of the door frame.

 

And as its been raining pretty solidly for the past two weeks i'm really noticing it now. I think Saturday is going to be door cards off time :(

[Ice White Socks 0]

I had just the same problem a few days ago- about a cm of water in the drivers footwell :(

 

However I know exactly where its coming in from :) , in the 'tray' (where the wiper motor, fan housing etc sit), there is a large grommit on the back of the bulkhead going in to the drivers compartment. Even when the car is level the water just sits under the level of the grommit before being drained off near the wing. If the car is on a slope facing upwards the water pools about half a cm up on the grommit and leaks through (ie drips in at mid- pedal level inside the car). Have been packing grease around it so far to stop it coming in- but once one drop of water gets through then capillary action means the whole bloody lot goes through :mad:

 

Just though I would mention this a possible option :)

[Jim 1]

Well i'm pretty sure mine is because of this mebrane malarky - if its absolutely hammering it down, and you look at the carpet in the passenger seat you occasionally see a drip of water stream down from the plastic trim that connects to the sill / holds the carpet in place.

 

What is it with Corrado's and leaking!

[matt_corradovr6 0]

having the same prob myself and sorted out my membrane. and the next day i was greeted to another water feature in the passenger footwell. i'm now reckoning on the seal of the door or the windscreen being leaky as the bonding looks a bit suss. :(

[Jim 1]

Well owning a Corrado certainly is a learning experience.

 

Door card removal is straightforward I guess after you've done it once, but I gotta say my first time at doing it was a nightmare both for removal and refitting.. need to get a replacement trim for around the inside door handle pull as I broke some of the clips getting it out, not realising it was an easy 'slide left to remove' type piece of trim.. no wonder it was so awkward to remove :|

 

But anyway. Its a bit ghetto but I got the card off and found various areas where the membrane had come away or where there was no glue to bond it at all - judging by a darker area around the membrane which seems to be a lot more accurate for the areas its meant to cover, it clear that the door has had a new membrane put in at some point and they didn't do a triffic job. Applied some careful bits of Duck tape (seemed an easy way effect a shortish term repair considering its very sticky and weatherproof, and out of sight!) to the areas that had come away (about 7 or 8 instances of this) and wrestled the card back on - highlight HAS to be trying to get the little metal door pin thing back into the hole in the top of the door card (ARRGH!) and getting those three little clips at the bottom of the door onto the card (thumb ended up bleeding but found a way to do it at least).

 

I washed the car and found that the inner part of the sill was basically bone dry (which it never has been before) but the driver side was totally soaking still so looks like i'll be having a go at this next weekend. Now to see what happens when it rains!

[Guest]

hi, i have line of water from the passenger door seal area (bottom, near the hinge side).....it collects upto a lot of water over time..........it looks like the water comes down the door card and then drips down and comes in to the car from through the rubber seal (soft fluffy bit ..) can that bit be replaced??