Hello!

Well its been raining quite heavily for the first time since we bought the Brava, and we went out in it today to find a pool of water in the drivers side rear footwell.

I mopped it up and had a look to see where it might have come from:

I read here that theres often sunroof related issues but looking at the positioning, I dont see how this is possible in our case; my wife is pretty tall and has the seat almost all the way back, and thats not wet at all.

There was a small amount of water on the sill when we opened that door but looking at the sill area I dont see how it could have got over there and into the footwell. Unless it can go through a gap under the plastic trim? I checked the side of the carepting and it was dry, but in all honesty its not exactly flush to the side so water could have run down the side and missed the carpet there.

On my car, when this happens the advice is to puncture the seal on the outside so that if water does get there it will just run out the bottom of the door, but the seal isnt the same on the brava so I dont really know if this is viable

Anyone had this happen and know how to get round it? As its not a mechanical fault, its not covered in our insurance we took out

Check the putside area under the windscreen (where the pollen filter is located and on both sides by the boot hinges).

If the drainpipes are clogged (e.g by leaves) water may accumulate there and get into the car through the fan.

Tomasso said:

Check the putside area under the windscreen (where the pollen filter is located and on both sides by the boot hinges).

If the drainpipes are clogged (e.g by leaves) water may accumulate there and get into the car through the fan.

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his water is in the rear.


realistically the only way water can get there is down the b piller. for that to happen you'd need to have a sunroof leak and also park your car on a sloping surface, with the driver's side say lower down. then a sunroof leak could go down the b pillar to the rear footwell. i guess another possibility is the rear door not closing correctly, you could try adjusting the door lock so the back door sits closer to the car.

Darn, did not catch that!

A friend of mine had a leak from a rear screen washer - the pipe broke on the way and each press of a handle fed an ample amount of fluid to right side interior of the car.

You might be onto something there - the rear screen washer doesnt work; my brother said its probably leaking in the boot somewhere. Does it run under the carpet or through the trim by the door?

water pipe goes through the roof, so it could be the problem, but have you been using the rear wash a lot lately, and if you have, why have you done that when it doesnt even work?

the rear wash fault is VERY common and usually due to either the pipe popping off in the hatch (glue it in place) or the non-return valve in the engine bay blocking (replace/remove it).

To be honest no we havent used the rear sprayer much after realising it was buggered. Maybe there was too much water for it to be from the washer. I admit I havent done anything about it - My bro's brava is apparently doing the same and he said it was a pig to sort so I was waiting until he knew how to do it

I suppose im going to get the hose out and watch for leaks...

Actually thinking again - we noticed it after the car was parked in a different place to normal. Usually its on the kerb with the drivers side up but this time it was over the road which has a slight slope down towards the drivers side...

this happened to my bravo over the week end too.
i took mine 2 my mechanic and he said the sealing was fine and he opened the door and started yanking on it, seemed like he was bending the door back.
if you close the door and try and put your finger between the door and the sealant you may see the gap quite easily and that should be where the water is coming through, well it was on mine.
he said something about the wind doing something to the door thats why it formed the gap between the seal and the door.

ill try and explain how he did it.

1. open the car door, no all the way just as much as if u were getting out of it.
2. put the window down to avoid any breakage of the glass from the pressure.
3. stand between the car and the door and place 1 foot on the bottom of the door and both hands at the top on the door and yank it towards you five times. be carefully with your foot cause i don't want you to the door storage space.
4. close the door and check if the gaps still there, if it is try yanking again.
5. check that the electric windows work fine
6. get a a bucket of water to test it and pour it over the sealant between the roof and the door.

let me know if it worked for you

Good luck

if you want to adjust a door gap, you should use the adjustment on the lock mechanism. bending the door will create tiny fractures in the paint and galvanised coating on the metal, which leads to rust. plus i'd be willing to bet money it hasnt fixed your leak.

also, bending the door will make more wind noise because the door is made to sit perfectly flush with the door way, bending it will make it tight at the top and looser in the middle. adjusting the door gap using the lock mechanism will make it tight all the way round, making it waterproof and windproof.

the mechanic you used is a complete idiot. common sense tells you that bending a door is not a good idea. i suggest you find out where he lives and slit his throat.

jug said:

i suggest you find out where he lives and slit his throat.

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:yeahthat:

:devil:

lol, didn't realise. im not arsed anyways got it for 200 and im going to have my stilo in a few months.

thanks for letting me know

my door fits perfect all round ,except at the top corner, been bent out at some time. Bent it back, fixed leak and window goes up better I must be an idiot. sometimes things get caught in doors and the door gets bent so bosshogs fix should be considered

stevefog said:

sometimes things get caught in doors and the door gets bent

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what an odd thing to say, what have you ever caught in a door?

OK thought I had gotten to the bottom of this; theres been some pretty mad rain here lately and the car has remained dry. We had stopped messing about with the rear washer so we assumed that was causing us issues

Then today I drove the car to work while mine was off for an MOT... and the drivers side FRONT footwell was saturated this time

Im thinking sunroof now. Off I go to search how easy that job is :S