Leaky door

[Silverbullet]

I thought we had a body work section of the forum, am I just imagining things again?

Anyway some of you might know my drivers door got totalled a few weeks ago and the replacement is now showing it's problems. Mainly, it leaks...bad. One night parked on the driveway on a wet night yielded a massive puddle in the drivers foot well Even on nights when it's just enough to make the ground wet there is a huge puddle in the foot well.
Looking around all the seals there is nothing damaged and any water that would get under the seal is on the wrong side of the step anyway, it would drain to the outisde of the car. Just now we did a test with the watering can while I was inside and there was no obvious leaks, puring water on the roof and draining down the gutters/front of door. Pouring down the windscreen revealed nothing either. There was no obvious leaks until about 20 minutes later, when there was a small puddle in the foot well!

Now, any water that comes down the gutter is on the wrong side of the step, it would all drain to outside of the car right? capillary action couldn't draw that much water up under the plastic trim surely. One thing I have noticed though when you open the door water dribbles out of the drain hole in the bottom of the door, again, wrong side of step.

Only other thing I can think of is the door being slightly mis-aligned an letting water in somehow, but I couldn't see it from inside And why would the water appear 20 minutes later? Where is it coming from? Needless to say the felt under the floor vinyl is totally saturated, will probably grow mould and rust soon.

Just another gift that keeps giving from the guy who smashed my door and thought it would be ok to drive off and leave me to deal with it

[alang]

if you wan't to see how the water is entering add a colour to the water then you will be able to trace the colouring to the entry point.

[Silverbullet]

Will do, and I'll take all the trim pieces off from inside the car around the door and maybe the bottom door trim as well to see where it seeps in. Might have to sit in the car for 20 minutes for it to appear though

[steptoe]

increase air pressure inside , once fixed an Escort panel van that had much worse problem - it was water tight the other way and had a swimming pool in the floor - tidal wave when braking and the solution was a screwdriver stabbed through floor
Wonder if it is coincidental and is windscreen which may require a head down in footwell looking up with torch for a length of time while assistant hoses - and park in same spot you get water in on driveway

[Silverbullet]

Little update on this, haven't had time to take the interior apart and do the colored water trick, had a busy few weeks. But the other morning when there was the usual massive puddle (Note: it only ever rains at night when I'm parked on the steep part of the driveway since I discovered this problem ) when I was driving I felt a drop of water hit my hand and when I felt up around the top of the window I thought it was damp. But where my hand was isn't really in the right line to be dripped on from the window and the glass appears to be perfectly seated from the outside All around windscreen is dry as a bone.

Anyway since my floor felt was in a permanent state of saturation (every time I got it nearly dry it would rain...at night...) I decided to cut out the vinyl and felt completely. The old vinyl had big holes worn in it anyway under the clutch and brake pedals, and the felt was starting to smell plus I didn't want any rust to start. The floor mat covers up the big gap so it doesn't look any different but I still want to get this leak sorted.

[Silverbullet]

I just got around to taking all the trim bits off from inside and tried the watering can trick again. Would you believe the water is coming from under the drivers seat? Just in front of where the seatbelt bolts to the floor there is a cross member welded to the floor pan. The water seeps from just behind that X-member out from under the seat, and makes its way down to the foot well. I am truly confused now, I was going to take the seat out but then it started pouring with rain.

More updates later...

[Silverbullet]

Found it!

It was the seal around the window on the rear door, not drivers. I guess swapping the drivers was the perfect time for the rubber to pop out of it's channel and cause a leak making me think it was the new door.

So I ended up taking the seat out, lifted up the floor mat and it was completely saturated under the rear passenger foot well, Had to cut it out and throw it away. Then I could dry everything and pour water on the roof again and bingo, water seeping in under the door after leaking through the window, and dribbling down to the drivers foot well. Took all of 10 seconds with a flat screw driver and a few bumps with the palm of my hand and the rubber was seated properly again. Testing for leaks again and it wasn't obviously flowing down like before, but everything was still damp anyway so I'll have to wait until the next rain shower to see if it's fixed or not.

[El_Freddo]

Good stuff mate, I hope the fix really is as easy as this!

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

It rained over night so I had a look inside, dry as a bone! Although I wasn't parked on the steep part, that will be the real test.

[Silverbullet]

It's not fixed

Had it parked on the steep part last night and it rained, and I found a big puddle in the drivers foot well still! :mad:Even though the rear window rubber is correctly seated the water still gets around the gutter and into the cabin somehow. I noticed the glass sits in the rubber exactly the same way as the opposite side, but if you push the glass from the inside a big gap opens up...shouldn't the glass be rigid and not able to be pushed out like that?