Water in drivers footwell !!??!!??!!??

Ok, done some searches and came up wiv nowt so here goes...after a couple of hours of HEAVY rain drivers footwell resembles a swimming pool! Its parked nose down a slight incline so I've emptied the pool and turned it round to see if that makes a difference but beofre i start ripping out the bulkhead to find out where its getting in any ideas? sunroof draintubes blocked or summat etc?

Try taping some plastic over the sunroof and check again.

To be honest if the tubes are slightly blocked and car on an incline then the tray underneath the sunroof will overflow.

Possibly heater matrix leaking if you don't get anywhere with the sunroof.

Does the sunroof have a drain point? Maybe its blocked

Or if on slight incline nose pointing down, may be running in from the back. Tailgate common, look for signs of water, may mean pulling carpets out.


I had a similar fault on a 98 renault laguna, the rear wiper had corroded on the boot lid and was letting in water, it was amazing how much actually got in throught this slight corrosion. Any way it collected in the boot and on braking must have been thrown forward, into the front foot wells.

Has the heater intake 4 inch diameter pipe got water in it? Located under dash where passengers feet go. I got water in mine once due to washing out the vents at the front of the windscreen.

thanks for all the replies but having turned the car round and parked it nose up i now find that i've got the mediterranean sea in my passenger footwell so am now not too worried by the paddling pool in the drivers side could see a dribble from the very edge of the lower dash where it meets the lower a post trim...got a feeling it might be leaking in from the roofbar joint so will checkt the rubber seal and tightness of the bolts first then off with the windscreen plenum to see if its filling up under there and lappiing over the firewall into the cabin but any other ideas gratefully received!!

are all the grommets in place, one near the clutch pedal gives grief i believe

only done a bit of investigation on this so far....as said earlier nose down and passenger side is ok, opened the sunroof and squirted water down the sunroof draintubes, passenger side ok, no sign of leak, drivers side however there was a leak coming in but somehow was dripping of the steering column boot just above the brake pedal!! i've got no idea how the water is getting anywhere near there!!! haven't had the plenum off yet, hopefully this will throw a bit more light onto it.....

Is the roof lining wet ?
I had a leak from the front roof rail locating bolts that ran down the front window pillar
this may be the problem.
I took them out and sealed with a touch of silicone .
As Tommy Walsh says"job done"

The front drain tube goes down the A post and should exit somewhere at wheelarch, not sure where. Perhaps the tube has been moved and accidentally left inside.

I had this very same problem when my doors fell off. Got bloody soaked!

Chaser said:

The front drain tube goes down the A post and should exit somewhere at wheelarch, not sure where. Perhaps the tube has been moved and accidentally left inside.

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Thanks chaser, got the lower a post covers off and the tubes are fines and sitting correctly into the wheelarch, and water dripping from the rear of the front liner so they're not blocked, I'm hoping that once I've got the plenum off it'll be obvious where it might be seeping in....!

RichM said:

I had this very same problem when my doors fell off. Got bloody soaked!

Click to expand...

Yep, that'd force a bit of a leak...easy to see where the problem might be tho

FOUND IT!!!!!

Re tested the drain tubes, all fine so after an hour of ripping the plenum cover off and clearing all the debris that was stuck in there I put it all back together and confidently hosed it all over and washed it!! Opened the doors and hey presto, swimming pool still there, so i ripped off the a post covers, grab handles and sun visors, did my best contortionist impression and looked all round the windscreen seal as water trickled over the roof and bang, there it was!! The sealant along the top of the screen is beng breached by water, this is trickling along to the passenger a post and running down to the dash rail where it is filling up and lapping over into the cab on both sides!!

So...is it worth trying to seal from the inside (no chance on the outside cos of the windscreen trim) or is it a windscreen out and refit job??

just to conclude this thread... i tried to seal it from the inside but it didn't take so it was a new windscreen needed one really as there were 3 big chips and quite a few lines on the heater wires were duff so nice new windscreen and no more leaks

well sorted and thanks for posting your findings and cure.