Technical Leak in rear passenger footwell behind driver Right hand drive car

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Technical Leak in rear passenger footwell behind driver Right hand drive car

Marc Swansea

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Hello all. Hope you can help me. My daughter bought a Fiat 500 Lounge a few weeks ago. After a few weeks she noticed a lot of water in the rear passenger footwell behind the drivers seat. The carpet is absolutely sailing. I have looked underneath, in the boot, roof etc and everywhere else is dry. I put a hosepipe in the drivers door seals and panoramic roof with no obvious leak. The rear washer pipe runs down the nearside of the car I believe, where this is on the offside. It doesn't happen after heavy rain or driving in wet weather. Any ideas please???
 
Solution
If as you say the floor is sailing wet I can't imagine it's a spray pipe leaking. I had similar problem with a Honda Jazz , the floor was soaked at rear drivers side door . It turned out to be a slight break in the plastic seal under the inside door panel. Can only find this by removing the inside panel and usually will see some water drops there. Water leaks between the glass and weather strip , runs along the plastic sheet in the door cavity and exits small holes at the base of the door to the outside. If the plastic is torn or the sealing is damaged or the holes are blocked then water gets into the car. I just re sealed the plastic with silicon and all well and dry after that.
Unlikely to be from the door as only the rear of the cars is wet and it's a 3 door fiat 500
Hi all. When it was absolutely pouring down this morning, I could see any water ingress at the bottom of the door. I assume it would run over the plastic kick plate and onto the carpet that way?
 
Hi Ralf. It has the panoramic roof, but not an opening sunroof. Haven't looked at the scuttle drain. Is that hard to check please?
If it was the scuttle drain, and the car is parked pointing slightly uphill, could the water find it's way under the drivers seat and into the back please? As I mentioned there is a forming running left to right under the drivers seat which the carpet goes up and over. If that is solid I can't see how the water could get over this and into the back? The front seems dry? Maybe it's running under the thick carpet and pooling in the back?
 
If it was the scuttle drain, and the car is parked pointing slightly uphill, could the water find it's way under the drivers seat and into the back please? As I mentioned there is a forming running left to right under the drivers seat which the carpet goes up and over. If that is solid I can't see how the water could get over this and into the back? The front seems dry? Maybe it's running under the thick carpet and pooling in the back?
Also think this is very unlikely it would soak into the foam backing under the carpet and soak the front carpet long before it does the rear
 
Quite simple for you to rule out the scuttle drains... if the duckbills are clear.. it shouldnt be your issue


A while back somebody had an awkward issue like yours.. the roof panel itself was leaky at the joining seam..
They removed the squishy seal and cleaned the area before resealing

1 question... is the boot bone dry??

Carpet AND wheelwell :)

Swansea is a great place to check for water ingress (I wont say Leeks..)

Charlie - Abertillery
 
Quite simple for you to rule out the scuttle drains... if the duckbills are clear.. it shouldnt be your issue


A while back somebody had an awkward issue like yours.. the roof panel itself was leaky at the joining seam..
They removed the squishy seal and cleaned the area before resealing

1 question... is the boot bone dry??

Carpet AND wheelwell :)

Swansea is a great place to check for water ingress (I wont say Leeks..)

Charlie - Abertillery
Yes, boot is bone dry. What are the duckbills? (I feel a joke coming on here....).
 
Yes, boot is bone dry. What are the duckbills? (I feel a joke coming on here....).
Just had a look again. The black panel by the windscreen wipers has a large gap on the drivers side, it's right on the passengers side. I looked through the grill and it looks dry, but I'm not sure where the water would go, in between the screen and this plastic cowling (scuttle panel?).
I've attached a few pics
 
Just had a look again. The black panel by the windscreen wipers has a large gap on the drivers side, it's right on the passengers side. I looked through the grill and it looks dry, but I'm not sure where the water would go, in between the screen and this plastic cowling (scuttle panel?).
I've attached a few pics
 
Can't attach files for some reason?
Wouldn't worry even with the gap the water would still drain into the area below then drain through the duck bills that stick out the bottom into the engine bay, it does suggest that the black panel has been off at some point and not put back correctly( its tricky to get the locking tabs under the glass correctly but not hard to sort) maybe its had a new screen?
 
The scuttle is the shelf under the windscreen where the wiper motor lives. If you open the bonnet, it's visible under the black plastic wipers trim.

You can peer into it from the side, where the bonnet hinges are (left hand side as you look at it, is easier as it's more open.. the right hand side is closed but the plastic cover has small holes in it so you can look through. Yours may be full of leaves, pine needles, sludge etc. but you shouldn't see any standing water.

The drains are simple (and free) to clean out though, if you want to make sure.. but you need skinny arms and you'll get wet/dirty.. so get your missus to do it. 😅 Ask her to feed her left arm round the back of the airbox, and on the underside of the same scuttle panel shelf you were just peering into, she will feel a rubber "udder" type thing. If she squeezes it, like she is milking a cow, then that will free up any mud/dirt/leaves etc. and any water in the scuttle panel will then drain through. There's another one on the right hand side (they're symmetrically placed, about 30-40cm apart.

If she's feeling adventurous, she can pull out the rubber teat so you can clean it properly/thoroughly. It has a groove around the top that secures it in a hole in the scuttle panel so to refit it you just have to squeeze it, stuff it into the hole and then release it... just give it a little tug to make sure it's seated back in the groove. It's only awkward because you can't see what you're doing.


Ralf S.
 
Hi all. Just wanted to give you an update on the leak. After stripping out the rear seats, drivers seat, rear console, most of the carpet, and kick plate trim I could find no trace of water leak path at all. I phoned about 15 garages, all of which said they wouldn't get involved due to the possible complexity and man hours it could take.
However, a master technician in Kwik fit said he would take a look for £60. He too could not see anything, but another guy working there said to check the drivers door inner seal. This was split in numerous places, but we could not see the leak path. However, after duct taping it up it was indeed the cause of the leak. I was going to strip the door myself the following weekend but I was happy to pay the £60 for another point of view.
So there you go, no idea how it was leaking into the car, no evidence of leak path, could see any leak with hosepipe or when in torrential rain, but sometimes you just have to go with the fix and not find the actual root cause.
Many thanks to all who replied!
PS fixed the heater control lamp (easy with plastic lever tools just got to be quite forceful), and now the passenger external door handle has snapped at the hinge. Got new for £20 on Amazon (had good reviews so hopefully it will last). Daughter still loves the car so I am back to fiddling with cars again!
 
thanks for the update. It's hard to see the leak as the water runs of the painted metal so quickly. Try paper towels at various places. Re the handle - it's a common fault and you can buy just the hinge
 
Good to read that you fixed the problem Mark Swansea. The most simple causes usually are the cause of most problems . just as I stated originally with exactly the same problem I had in a totally different car, and it is often impossible to actually see things happening, Just the end result. Anyway keep up the amateur car repairs, that's what I'm always doing and learning in the process.
 
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