Freelander 1 Wet carpet

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dog-man

Active Member
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952
I put my hand under the drivers seat today only to find that the floor is soaking.

Apart from the door rubbers, are there any usual suspects for rain entering an 06 TD4?
I don't have a sunroof.

I have noticed that my door rubbers are very soft. I have never felt such soft rubbers before on a car.
They are intact though.
 
funny you should mention this I have a puddle in the passengers side back I suspect the drain holes in the door are clogged up try yours .
 
one thing to remember is we have had a lot more rain and high winds just lately, and its possible its been driven in where as under normal conditions it probably wouldnt .
 
The heater matrix can leak resulting in wet front foot wells. It's very odd for it to only be wet under the driver's seat alone. Are the rear foot wells wet too?
If so then the boot door is the likely culprit. Never seen door seals leak unless a door isn't fitted correctly.
 
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I put my hand under the drivers seat today only to find that the floor is soaking.

Apart from the door rubbers, are there any usual suspects for rain entering an 06 TD4?
I don't have a sunroof.

I have noticed that my door rubbers are very soft. I have never felt such soft rubbers before on a car.
They are intact though.

If the liquid is coloured like your coolant, it may well be a heater matrix leak ...
other suspects will be door seals or AC leakage ...
 
I will investigate further during daylight tomorrow.
I don't believe that I am losing coolant according to the thermostat reading.
 
I have now investigated the soaking carpet under the drivers seat.

I am unsure where the source of water is coming from but I did also discover dampness and some water in the rear cubby hole where the jack and toolkit goes, so I am assuming at the moment that it is coming through the back door. I have not lost any coolant and there is no smell of coolant.
I will use a fan heater inside the cab aimed at the wet floor tomorrow to try and dry it up.

So, assuming it is the rear door, what are the fixes for this?
 
To get the water out the front you need to:
Remove the plastic around the front door aperture at the bottom.
Remove the plastic next to the door aperture plastic on the side of the seat.
Unplug the electrical connections to the seat under the seat.
Remove 4x Torx bolts holding the seat.
Remove seat.
Pull up carpet around the edge (remove plastic cap holding in place under the pedals) and squeeze to get most of the water out of it. Then mop up the water with a cloth.
You may need to disconnect your cruise control computers under the driver seat (if fitted) and remove the metal work they mount on to allow you to lift the carpet more.
Now do the same to the passenger side/seat if you have water there too.

If you have water in the boot, the boot storage box or under the boot carpet then:
Fold the rear seats forward and up.
Disconnect all the plastic cap things holding the carpet down.
Undo the Torx bolts holding the carpet down along the tailgate opening.
Open the boot storage box and undo Torx bolts and remove lid.
Pull up and out the carpet covering the boot floor and squeeze as much water out as you can. You may want to remove the plastics around the boot area to do this. The carpet will pull out without this, but you'll need to remove them to refit the boot carpet.
Mop water up in boot space.
Remove plastic around the rear passenger doors (if 5 door model) lower aperture.
Pull the rear passenger seat carpet forwards as some of it tucks under the rear seats into the boot area.
Squeeze and mop rear seat carpet as before.

Putting a fan in is a good idea too ... or as Hippo says a dehumidifier ...

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/water-under-carped-driver-site.239080/
 
Thank you, a very good explanation of what to do.

I think I have found the source of the water coming in to the rear.
A small area of the rubber seal that goes around the rear opening doesn't quite sit right. It has come away slightly from the frame.
Pushing it back into place only works for a few seconds as it moves away again.
I am going to try some clear sealant under the seal in that area to hold it in place or at least pad it out and assist with fixing the leak.
It is quite possible that I have two leaks. One at the front and one at the rear, but only time will tell. If I can sort out the rear one, I will know for sure.

I just hope that the weather is good tomorrow as I don't have anywhere under cover to do the job.
 
The rear door seal is best removed then refitted. They are not a good design made worse by incorrect fitting. Sometimes they seal right, others not even close. I gave up on my first Freelander's boot seal and bought a new one. This fitted much better and didn't leak again while I had the car.
Another vote for using a dehumidifier too. It's more effective, cheaper to run and less likely to please the tratterers by setting fire to the Freelander ;)
 
I think my roof lining is damp also, near the column to the right of the drivers door. Looking straight at the door from outside it would be the column on the left side of the door opening. The one between the front seat and rear seat.

I assume therefore that it is possible that rain is entering via the roof rail fixing.
 
All stripped down now and ready to mop out the lake that I found there (between rear seat foot area and front pedals only on drivers side)
I do think at the moment I have two leaks, one front one rear.
Never seen so much water inside a car except for one being retrieved from a river. :D

Still not 100% sure of how it got in.

I put some sealant under the roof bar fittings just in case.

A cup of tea and then some serious mopping out then if I can get the extension cable I lent to my son who then unknown to me lent it to a friend back today, I can attempt to dry it out with a powerful fan heater.
Over my Christmas break I shall have to get the wife to run a hose over various parts of the car whilst I am inside watching for a leak.
 
I now have a fan heater and a dehumidifier running in the car. I had to move the car into a better position and replaced the seat temporally and noticed that the SRS warning is lit up.
It wasn't before I removed the seat and the only connector I touched was the one under the seat for the seat belt warning (I assume it is).

Why would the SRS warning be lit up?

I know it's airbags, but what could I have done inadvertently?
 
Water in the box in the boot is nearly always from the rear door.
Above the door on the outside is a plastic trim that goes right across the back.
Prize off the two side trims as these hold the top trim in place, unclip the top trim and if the screws are not to rotten to remove, take them out.
Cover around the screw holes with sealer and put the screws back, just cover the screws if you cant get them out.
The factory fit stupid foam seals behind them screws, the foam rots away and in comes the water,
Its a simple fix thats far easier than stripping things down and taking carpets out to find bung holes etc.
Remember the side trims just pull off and the top trim unclips top and bottom
 
I will look at that when I can. The rear area is nowhere as bad as the main cab area. That is drenched.

I think tomorrow if the weather is ok, I will completely remove the carpet in the cab area.
It is so wet that squeezing and sponging will take forever.

I can then replace the seats and use it if need be whilst the carpet dries out.
I should also be able to spot where the source of the leak much easier.

I am amazed that I didn't spot this sooner, but I mostly use it for getting to work and back and for a while now, it's been dark every time I have driven it.
 
If the roof lining is wet - make sure the water isn't coming in through the ariel - there's another thread running about that at the moment.

Your SRS light will (probably) be the wiring to the seatbelt pretensioners.
 
If the SRS light is on because I disconnected the seat belt plug, why does it not go out when I re-connect the plug?
Do I need to reset it in any way?
 
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