Wet Carpet!

[vr6paul 0]

Got back to the car today after only leaving it a short while to find the windows mist up. started the car and put blowers on to sort it and while it was clearing i had a feel around the footwells. The passenger one is sodden. any ideas on what might be causing this? anything i can be looking for? any solutions?

please

cheers

Paul

[MikeVR6 0]

1/Check the little drain on the passenger side of the scuttle panel.

Sometimes it gets blocked with leaves and debris.

 

2/Rubber seal around the windscreen can perish. If the screen's been replaced at some point it may not have been fitted correctly.

 

3/There should be a plastic membrane between the inside of the doorcard and the door itself. If this is damaged or missing, water will gather in the footwell.

 

4/Last but not least, a leaking heater matrix. If your heater's suddenly stopped blowing hot air, this is the culprit.

[beavis 0]

If it is sodden with water my 1st port of call would be the heater matrix. Don't mean to add burden to your problems, but if it does appear to be the culprit, have a good look for signs of head gasket failure or the the begining of it. The added pressure of a failing gasket into the cooling system is just enough to finish off tired matrix's.

[akacheesy 0]

I've got the same problem m8, seems to be coming from the matrix as there's certainly no holes. Just put some radweld into the system in the hope that it cures it but I'm not that hopeful :(

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Typical they have to break this time of year :(

 

Check to see if the fluid on the carpet is coolant by dabbing a peice of kitchen towel on it. If it's blue or pink and sticky.... :evil:

 

Kev

[akacheesy 0]

tried that, neither pink, blue or sticky??!! Any other tips m8?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

tried that, neither pink, blue or sticky??!! Any other tips m8?

 

In that case, it can only be rain water or you have no anti-freeze in your coolant! I doubt the latter very much, but it is a possibility.

 

I take it you've cleared all the leaves and things away from the blower intake in the scuttle area?

 

Your sunroof drain hose might have come off the sunroof subrame, they're only a push fit. Bit of a long shot but tracing water ingress is rarely easy!

 

Look for tell tale water marks around the door, dashboard, headlining etc.

 

Kev

[akacheesy 0]

Definatley got coolant in there I put it in myself although, with losing water, it has been fairly diluted. I shall check the sunroof drainer. Can ya tell me where it is roughly please? Yes, I've cleared all the leaves out from the intake, there was rather a lot there. Obviously hadn't been cleared in years as it was almost compost!!

 

I guess if nothing else works I will have to wait for it to dry out then keep my eyes peeled and check regularly for dampness

[akacheesy 0]

Mike 16V you said

 

1/Check the little drain on the passenger side of the scuttle panel.

Sometimes it gets blocked with leaves and debris.

 

Where is it situated? Is it the bit under the bonnet? Can ya give me any more clues?

[MikeVR6 0]

Same place Kev was talking about.

 

Lift the bonnet and look at the scuttle panel between the windscreen and engine bay.

On the passenger side there's a plastic cover.

If you lift this you should have a plastic grille covering the blower intake.

This gets bunged up with leaves and crap and can cause water to leak into the cabin.

[akacheesy 0]

Ahh, right. Already cleared that....back to the drawing board..

 

thanks for the help, I'm really stumped on this one though. I have no idea where the water is coming from

[TexasCorradoVR6 0]

same thing happened to mine. my C had a custom sunroof installed (apparently its bigger than the passats!) but the stripping on the outer edges (where the glass and the roof meets) had been worn down, and had made a gap. Water was just flooding down there! It runs down through a small duct and there's a hole where (im guessing yours) just runs down to the foot well. Mine soaked up the headliner on the drivers side, dumped that in turn on the drivers seat, and trickled onto the floor :mad: (i live in houston(if you saw the rain on the news!!!)) But try checking the weather stripping on your sunroof and gaps and all that. Also try your A/C

 

Will

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Cheesy mate, the sunroof drain channels are at each corner of the subframe. Unfortunately you need to drop the headliner :(

 

Haven't you got sunroof issues too? Might be a good time to drop the liner (it's easy, but akward) and see what gives.

 

When the liner is down, you will see the white plastic drain tubes. Also, the sunroof panel liner has water drain channels in it, so that must be in place, but I'll assume it is. It must also be fitted tightly.

 

Here's what I'd do mate.

 

Drop the liner.

Get in the car and get someone to blast the car with a hose and see if you can see water coming in from somewhere. Don't spray the roof when the headliner is down otherwise you'll get soaked, unless you put the panel trim back on first.

 

Is your windscreen seal tight agains the metalwork? Have a look under the plastic trims under the wipers too.

 

If absolutely nothing comes in under these conditions, it must be the matrix.

 

Kev

[akacheesy 0]

cheers for the info m8, I know that my sunroof has been changed at some point. I believe that its another C common fault. It works fine no complaints there.

 

Already thought about doing the hose thing but I'll have to wait until it dries out. Its not easy to take the carpets out is it? Still don't think its the matrix cos the water isn't coolant-like, if you know what I mean?

 

Thanks for the help m8, this is really doing my head in!!!

[akacheesy 0]

TexasCorradoVR6

 

Don't really ever see the weather for your part of the world m8

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The carpets come out easily from a Corrado. Make sure you remove the large plastic carpet retainer nuts from under the dash area first. They're basically the ones that hold the bottom of the shelfs in place. Obviously the seats will need to come out too, but again, they're easy to take out.

 

What a PIA, good luck.

 

K

[akacheesy 0]

Cheers dude, I'll let ya know how I get on. nice to see the C lives on in the US as well as over here :D

[Scott 0]

Typical they have to break this time of year :(

 

Check to see if the fluid on the carpet is coolant by dabbing a peice of kitchen towel on it. If it's blue or pink and sticky.... :evil:

 

Kev

 

It doesnt necessarily have to be colourful - my matrix is definately leaking and yet is no specific colour but the water does feel greasy which gives the game away.... smells like anti freeze too

[G60JAY 0]

I had a similar problem on mine and traced it to the blower cover not sitting properly in the scuttle tray and the retaining clip not in properly.

Jay

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Typical they have to break this time of year :(

 

Check to see if the fluid on the carpet is coolant by dabbing a peice of kitchen towel on it. If it's blue or pink and sticky.... :evil:

 

Kev

 

It doesnt necessarily have to be colourful - my matrix is definately leaking and yet is no specific colour but the water does feel greasy which gives the game away.... smells like anti freeze too

 

That's what I was trying to explain....plain water is easily distinguishable from coolant tainted water.

 

Kev

[jedi-knight83 0]

should there be anywater underneath that plastic cover??

 

mine was saoked and there were leaves. i cleared the leaves and tried to dry up the water but my passenger carpet was so wet it'll be a while before i know if it has fixed it.

[jedi-knight83 0]

oh and if my heater is still blowing nice hot air i presume my heater matrix is ok?? so its rain water getting in somewhere. it has been raining all night and all morning so this seems logical

[g60_Russ 0]

Havent driven my carrado in two days, in that time it has been raining non stop. It had been parked facing upwards on a slope. Went out to it this afternoon and there is a puddle about an inch deep on the passenger side footwell. The carpet is wet on the driver site and even the shelf under the dash is wet. The water is a dark yellow colour, it doesn't smell of coolant and is not greasy. Also my heaters were working fine blowing hot air. The other thing I noticed was that there was water along the passenger door seal inside (the door hadn't been opened), but if it was comming in down the side of the door how does this explain the water on the shelf under the dash? (which is also this dark yellow colour)

Could this be water from the heater matrix or would you say its rain water comming in from somewhere else? :cry:

[jedi-knight83 0]

the fact that all this happens as soon as it starts raining sugest rain water to me????? i hope!

[stevemac 0]

Could this be water from the heater matrix or would you say its rain water comming in from somewhere else? :cry:

 

Check your expansion tank (just behind the battery) - if the water is from your heater matrix then this tank will be empty.

 

Sounds to me like your passenger door seal may be leaking - 2 possibilities

 

1st would be a damaged seal.

 

2nd would be that your door is slightly misaligned in which case your hinges will need adjusting - fairly common problem although doesn't always result in water leaks.

 

Water on shelf problem could be a leaking/badly fitted windscreen - may need a bit more investigation