Technical Door Leak!

[steve_212]

Hi. I'm new to this Forum.

I've has a 1996 Fiat Punto 75SX for about 6 months now (my first car). Had no problems until now. After a few days of not using the car I found a puddle of water within the passenger foot well. I see no evidence of any leakage through the windows or sunroof.

Is this a common problem on a MK1 Punto? Also I park on a slight gradient sideways. Would this make any difference?

Is there a way that I can prevent the door from leaking in the future?

 

[wolfracepunto]

Doesn't the heater matrix leak into the footwell when its knackered?

 

[steve_212]

There is no sign of the heater matrix leaking and the heater is working fine.

 

[dave]

does the heater smell a bit when its on hot?

 

[steve_212]

There's no smell when the heater is on hot.

 

[lincoln]

Scatter a bit of talcum powder along door opening to see if water is getting in, it will make car smell nice as well. I have had cars, not Punto's, where water was running down seal into car at the bottom, cured by cutting a very small V in bottom corners to allow water to run outwards. Lincoln

 

[steve_212]

Thanks for the infomation. I'll give that a go and tell you if there is any futher development. Steve.

 

[steve_212]

I found out that my door seal was to blame for the leak in my Punto. Going to get the seal replaced by my local fiat dealer. Also another factor that didn't help was parking on a slope sideways.

 

[Jimbo_Jet1977]

Hi, I've just joined this forum cos I've been looking for a solution to this very problem. I have a 2000 MK2 Punto Sporting which I bought a couple of months ago and just recently I've noticed that after a heavy down pour the drivers foot well, and back towards the passenger foot well behind the driver, is p1ss wet through This morning there was standing water in the driver's foor well!!

I've dry it out as best I can every time when I get home, but when there's a heavy down pour during the night I find the problem returns when I get in to it in the morning. Well, at least I know it's not coming up through the floor pan. And it's def not the heater matix either as I don't have any of the symptoms descibed above and elsewhere.

steve_212, can you tell me (or anyone else) what the problem was with the door seal and where the problem was located? I'm a bit skint at the mo and would like to try and fix it myself if at all poss. Cheers!

 

[T14086]

Probably coming in from drivers door,most effective method I have found if it is coming in from the door which is very 'punto' likely is to remove door panel & the protective membrane.Get a bin bag (any colour ) & put membrane over it & cut it out so you have effectively 2 membranes.Using good waterproof sealent (sealastic?) put the bin bag one on first with plenty of sealer on the bottom especially around the speaker then over this after 2 hours when sealer is 'cured' put the original membrane on again using sealer all round but concentrate on the bottom more.Hopefully this should do the trick,hasn't failed so far.....yet!

On the topic of water leaks,this might sound silly but I have been trying to find a water leak when flushing my toilet for weeks,the wife put one of those 'blu loo' things in & volia I found the leak immediately just by following the blue trickle! Wonder if its worth putting one of these in the door panel to trace the leak

 

[Jimbo_Jet1977]

Cheers for that! Will have a look behind the door panel this weekend and let you know how I get on

 

[Jimbo_Jet1977]

Well I finally got round to trying something like the above fix a few weeks ago. I removed the driver's side door panel and put LOADS sealing tape all around to edges of the existing membrane in the door panel. I thought that had fixed it as the driver's foot well is pretty much dry now. But last week I notice that the rear passenger foot well (behind the driver) is soaking wet through! :bang:

Bugger! I didn't fancy trying ripping off all the membrane inside the door panel like Steve 212 suggested but I think I'm going to have to. But why is it just the rear passenger foot well that is soaked through now? Are there anyother possible places it could be leaking in from?

Cheers for any help!

 

[aja]

i had a simalr problem at the back drivers side door...on the door seal with the door open there are two "flaps" the cause of mine seems to have been these had gotten gunked up with dirt

 

[Jimbo_Jet1977]

I’m sad to say that I still haven’t managed to solve my damp footwell problem so any more advice you can give me would be much appreciated

I’ve tried taking the inner panel on the driver’s side door off and sealing all round the inner membrane, but this morning the drivers foot well was again slightly damp and the rear passenger foot well behind the driver’s seat was soaking. I checked round the tape I’d used on the driver’s door and it was all dry and showed no signs of lifting or damp at all. So I’m being to wonder if it’s coming from the door at all.

I’ve read elsewhere on this forum that water leaks in puntos have been known around the bulkhead of the car (the metal wall behind the dashboard which separates the driving compartment from the engine bay if I'm correct?) Apparently if you remove the bonnet you can access the bulkhead seal at the top easily and re-seal it. But I'm not sure if I fancy trying this myself as the bonnet hinges appear to be welded in place. Is this the last place it could be coming from?

Also, I’ve noticed on my car that on the outside of the car at the top of the windscreen there is a long thin rubber-jointing strip where the top of the windscreen meets the roofline. I’ve noticed on my car that this rubber strip does not stretch all the way across the windscreen and stops about 1 inch from the side seals of the windscreen at one side. I’m wondering if rain could be getting in here and some how tracking down to inside my car and forming a puddle at the lowest point – i.e. my foot well. Does anyone else have this and a soaking foot well problem?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Jimbo_Jet1977]

Also, I've checked all round my door seals and they all seem in good nick with no gunking up so it's proably not a door seal problem. Wish it was, would be a lot easier to fix!

 

[thefishdude]

teh gap could be possible, try getting a hose or watering can and running water over teh gap for a while and then check to se iof any has appeared inside your car.

 

[T14086]

If it is coming in from the top of the bulkhead only way to fix correctly is to remove dash & seal everywhere,especially along welds.Can you see any signs of water behind soundproofing behind the pedals to suggest its coming in from the bulkhead.

 

[Jimbo_Jet1977]

Oh that's a good point T14086! While I've been trying to find the cause of this problem I did get the carpet up in the drivers foot well to see what I could see. And what did I see? A layer of damp sound insulation? Oh no! I found a huge, soaking wet, 1inch thick chunk of blue Tufted Wilton! I didn't know there was supposed to be sound insulation below the carpet until I saw a post on here from someone with a similar problem. I their case they said the insulation stank to high heaven. Could quite easily be the same car

Now I know why my car has had 3 previous owners and its only just over 4 years old :bang: There are numerous signs around the car of previous attempts to fix the problem, and the blue carpet just made my jaw drop

So I either flog it or try and fix it, but can I fix it if the three previous owners couldn't?

Annnnyway, T14086, you've made a good point there - I'll dry out under the carpet in the drivers foot well and stuff paper towels under the carpet around the area of the peddles quite high up and see if they get wet after the next down pour. Cheers, I'll let you know

Any other advice greatly appreciated!

 

[ARMac]

Scatter a bit of talcum powder along door opening to see if water is getting in, it will make car smell nice as well. I have had cars, not Punto's, where water was running down seal into car at the bottom, cured by cutting a very small V in bottom corners to allow water to run outwards. Lincoln

sherlock holmes relative? j/k nice idea. My friend punto is leaking on the driver side window as he has eletronic windows something got wrong and the window is not shutting to the end (you can't notice it by bare eye but when it rains you can see the drops entering from there)