Passenger Footwell Leak

Hi folks, not long had both sunroofs resealed and new headliner cloth fitted, which has finally resolved the endless ingress of water from both - very chuffed.

Annoyingly, the water has fathomed a new route: passenger Footwell. Bit of heavy rain over the last 40 days and 40 nights and in my breaks from building an ark, I found the carpet to be absolutely saturated on that side.

Pulled the kick panel and side trim, but have not found any likely point of ingress; no sign of water from the grommet to the left, and the blower motor housing shows no signs of water either.

Is there another route this can take? Is there a method to establish whether the windscreen seal is the culprit?

Cheers!

Have a look at bulkhead via the footwell!! Or look at the bulkhead from the bonnet to see!!

I have just had to do some welding around that area on both sides!

Kev

I would definitely clear the cill and Aircon drains to eliminate them and move on from there.

Badger688 said:

Have a look at bulkhead via the footwell!! Or look at the bulkhead from the bonnet to see!!

I have just had to do some welding around that area on both sides!

Kev

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How is the foam on the engine side of the bulkhead attached, can it be peeled off in one piece and reused or is it glued on and has to be scraped off in pieces?

I used a sharp knife and cut away the bottom 3 or 4 inches behind the arches to allow access for inspection & welding, and to keep it away from the newly painted surfaces.

Interceptorxj said:

How is the foam on the engine side of the bulkhead attached, can it be peeled off in one piece and reused or is it glued on and has to be scraped off in pieces?

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How old is your car!! If the same as mine 25yrs!! 'TRY' and save as much as you can! I lost about 30-35%! And is like 'Rocking Horse ' to find!! There is industrial foam that may work! (Have not got that far yet) but it will need to be heat resistant!!?? Driver side - manifold?? Passenger side - Turbo?? Where I lost some of mine!
It's only there as a sound barrier from the engine!!

Kev

Badger688 said:

Have a look at bulkhead via the footwell!! Or look at the bulkhead from the bonnet to see!!

I have just had to do some welding around that area on both sides!

Kev

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A welder is currently "mending" rot in this exact place on both rear wheel arches on mine. Not as bad as your second pic.
But he did point out rot just like the other one on yours on the offside saying "It'll need doing for next year"
Whoopeedddooo!!!

Stanleysteamer said:

A welder is currently "mending" rot in this exact place on both rear wheel arches on mine. Not as bad as your second pic.
But he did point out rot just like the other one on yours on the offside saying "It'll need doing for next year"
Whoopeedddooo!!!

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Had both sides done! Wheel arches and footwells?!?
Also anything that need to be down whilst in the garage!! (Good that I was also there to help with mine and other cars )
I'm still learning welding!! But all the plates/patches were done by me! Some pics to follow

Kev

Badger688 said:

Had both sides done! Wheel arches and footwells?!?
Also anything that need to be down whilst in the garage!! (Good that I was also there to help with mine and other cars )
I'm still learning welding!! But all the plates/patches were done by me! Some pics to follow

Kev

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I meant "rear of front wheel arches", doooh!
But you seem to have got what I meant.
Normally I would do my own welding but we are in hurry, got no gas, welder is taken apart and in its box as we need space for the freaking DIY I always have to do.
I cannot say I like welding under cars. not at all. but I don't like paying another person to do it and I have no idea if the bloke doing it today will cut out all thr rot and weld in new, or just patch over it. For what he is charging I would hope the former, burt somehow I doubt it.
I only went for him as he was recommended by my MOT tester as a "mobile" welder. But ti turns out he is only mobile if you give him lots of notice, and I couldn't and still avoid paying the £50 for a retest!

So my hat is off to you for having a go yourself.
Keep it up mate!!

Stanleysteamer said:

A welder is currently "mending" rot in this exact place on both rear wheel arches on mine. Not as bad as your second pic.
But he did point out rot just like the other one on yours on the offside saying "It'll need doing for next year"
Whoopeedddooo!!!

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Some of the pics did not come through!! Not jpg files

Kev

Badger688 said:

Had both sides done! Wheel arches and footwells?!?
Also anything that need to be down whilst in the garage!! (Good that I was also there to help with mine and other cars )
I'm still learning welding!! But all the plates/patches were done by me! Some pics to follow

Kev

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Jeezo!
Yours is FAR worse than mine!!!
When was your last MOT?!

Stanleysteamer said:

Jeezo!
Yours is FAR worse than mine!!!
When was your last MOT?!

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Last year!!

Obviously was not seen for 2023 MoT!! But was for last one!!

Like must of us! We say 'I will do it later?!?!?!'
So! I did not get round to it! Until MoT! And got all of it done in one and other bits!!
Advisory for just 2 points!! One was done when handed the car after MoT (rear door brake light! (Bulb)) and OS Rear brake flexy cable (had a twist)??

Kev

Badger688 said:

Last year!!

Obviously was not seen for 2023 MoT!! But was for last one!!

Like must of us! We say 'I will do it later?!?!?!'
So! I did not get round to it! Until MoT! And got all of it done in one and other bits!!
Advisory for just 2 points!! One was done when handed the car after MoT (rear door brake light! (Bulb)) and OS Rear brake flexy cable (had a twist)??

Kev

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You did well, well sort of. If it had been picked up earlier it might have been less to do.
i have to admit not having noticed the rust up there on mine. I don't often go looking for it TBH. So I was quite shocked.
If mine had looked like yours I'd have had a heart attack.
Just got it back, done, £200. Reasonably happy.

Cheers team. I'll check behind that foam then - the fella that did my head lining advised I remove it and check for rot in that very place!

Shogun243 said:

Cheers team. I'll check behind that foam then - the fella that did my head lining advised I remove it and check for rot in that very place!

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Always a good idea! Should not take long! Just back sure its done under cover or a good weekend of no rain? And a second person with torch!!

Kev

NB: torch also good for footwell!!

After going thru all of the above, and replacing the windscreen, taking off the wing and welding the seam up in front of the A pillar, and replacing the door aperture seals, I found it was tracking round the inside of the aperture seals and then pooling at the bottom of the door aperture and spilling over into the passenger footwell. Firstly I thought the door frame was slightly distorted so the door was not making contact with the seal, advised to wind window down and correct distortion. This of course led to the window regulator found to be defective with subsequent replacement.
With window down it appeared that the water may be transiting the seal where the mirror fits, there is a plastic trim and rubber seal that on the drivers side allowed a gap on the outside of the seal contact so the water could drain properly, this was not present on the passenger side, so adjustment and sealant applied 'may' have worked!
Not sure where else to look now, no other evidence of leakage from anywhere else. I just don't bother with carpets anymore, and in the words of the late great Douglas Adams, know where my towel is!

Right team - after some time, I braved the elements and sat in the motor during rain this morning.

The water is dripping off the side of the blower motor housing, and after some googling, it appears the rubber finishing strip along the top of the plenum where it touches the windscreen is short on the passenger side by two inches - I'd assumed this was nothing to worry about when I first got the car but it appears this is supposed to deflect water from going into the plenum tray itself (and thus into the intake).

I believe the part number is JAE100120, but I resent paying £155 for a strip of fecking rubber, any alternatives? Is it usual for the strip to "shrink" in this way, or is it missing some sort of finisher on each end?

The are some cheaper ones in ebay? I think I sore £60ish??

Kev

Bloody corrective text

'There'
'Saw'

Kev

Shogun243 said:

Right team - after some time, I braved the elements and sat in the motor during rain this morning.

The water is dripping off the side of the blower motor housing, and after some googling, it appears the rubber finishing strip along the top of the plenum where it touches the windscreen is short on the passenger side by two inches - I'd assumed this was nothing to worry about when I first got the car but it appears this is supposed to deflect water from going into the plenum tray itself (and thus into the intake).

I believe the part number is JAE100120, but I resent paying £155 for a strip of fecking rubber, any alternatives? Is it usual for the strip to "shrink" in this way, or is it missing some sort of finisher on each end?

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Island 4×4 have genuine LR part for about £72, but it's still a lot of lolly for a bit of rubber. Can you match the profile with a seal supplier like Woolies Trim?