Water leaking in from behind dash

Hi, I have a leak problem. When it rains water drips into the footwell from behind the dash. I think it is coming in through the perished seal from the folding windscreen part. It only leaks on the drivers side. Has anyone tried repairing this with a mastic or is it a replacement seal job. It looks a bit involved if its a replacement seal as I would have to drop the windscreen down by the look of it.
Why do these things only seem to go in the winter time.

I have this same problem. i am not sure where it is leaking from though, so i will check what u mentioned

Hi, trinbagoMan, mine leaks from the edge of the guttering just above that seal. It drips onto the seal at the edge just beside the the windscreen frame hinge.

you may find, that if you look inside the engine bay, look at the bulkhead, where the pedal box joins, just behind the brake and clutch pedal box, the joint between the footwell and the bulk head has rusted through. mine has and it leaks through the same. but i will have to take the wing off to repair it.. one day i will get round to it.

Mine is exactly the same. In fact, I was recently surprised at just how much water comes through and drains back out again.

I mean, you see a damp patch and assume its just a small amount of water. Well, I've been doing a bit of work on mine the past couple of weeks. One night, I left a few tools and a tub of random bolts in the drivers footwell until the following day. The following day there was the usual damp patch. Though nothing of it until I picked up the tub of bolts. It was full and overflowed with water.

The tub has got to be over a litre.

Now I have a tub of slightly rusty bolts.

I had a good look under the bonnet and can't see any signs of leaks from there.
I'm off to buy some mastic to tackle the suggestions on the water ingress chart which burrito sent. Its a nice sunny day here so hopefully it should have time to dry.

mikescuba said:

I had a good look under the bonnet and can't see any signs of leaks from there.
I'm off to buy some mastic to tackle the suggestions on the water ingress chart which burrito sent. Its a nice sunny day here so hopefully it should have time to dry.

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It's a slow and painful process of elimination, there are lots of places that water can get in, it isn't always evident where.

An example.

It can enter at the rear, run along the inside roof channel, down the side of the front windscreen and into the footwell.

The only thing we have in our favour is that water doesn't often run uphill.

i had a leak on mine just above the pedal area from a hole which the blanking sticker had come off in the enging bay, maybe worth checking for that.

mine leaks from the passenger side footwell under the speaker... every landy leaks lol

mikescuba said:

Hi, I have a leak problem. When it rains water drips into the footwell from behind the dash. I think it is coming in through the perished seal from the folding windscreen part. It only leaks on the drivers side. Has anyone tried repairing this with a mastic or is it a replacement seal job. It looks a bit involved if its a replacement seal as I would have to drop the windscreen down by the look of it.
Why do these things only seem to go in the winter time.

Click to expand...

My Defender leaks water into the footwells, have tried everything to stop, twenty years of wet boots, however I think I might just have the answer, theres is a channel on the front bulkhead with a rubber seal that is visual if you lift bonnet, each end of that channel directs rainwater from the windscreen to the engine compartment, hence water into cab, fill the gap between channel and wing and direct water over the wing, seems to work for me, hope this helps!

I replaced the bulkhead to windscreen seal in mine. That has stopped a big leak behind the dash. Also sealed the plastic onto the doors properly.



Now it's leaking through the roof at the front, so next job is seal the cracks in the roof gutters up.

the leak at the front ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,needs filling with a windscreen mate ,,,thatl cure it for sure ,lol ,,,,,,

Pmsl! Ahhhh that's what the problem is!

telsy said:

My Defender leaks water into the footwells, have tried everything to stop, twenty years of wet boots, however I think I might just have the answer, theres is a channel on the front bulkhead with a rubber seal that is visual if you lift bonnet, each end of that channel directs rainwater from the windscreen to the engine compartment, hence water into cab, fill the gap between channel and wing and direct water over the wing, seems to work for me, hope this helps!

Click to expand...

For a first post this is not recommended....

Introduce yourself first, it is polite...

Have a search, your problem is not the first occurrence of this ...

oh yeah ...

I would also check windscreen hinges...!

Alm.