General Sei Sporting driver footwell flooded

[LeeHamo]

Hi all,

Cleaned my car today and noticed that driver floor mat was soaking wet so I felt carpet and it was soaking too, lifted up seat and felt in the back and it was dry but if I pressed on the carpet i could feel water squelching around in the chassis rails, so theyre full of water.

The passenger side is dry as a bone.

What is the most common place it comes from, I have a sunroof and have sprayed water on it and it never leaked in, but if it was the sunroof wouldnt the seats be wet too?, im not convinced its that anyway.

I do notice that after washing my car the driver door seal squelches when i close the door, like a wet sucking noise, also the rear lights get condensation in them.

wheres the best place to start?

Cheers,

Lee.

 

[blu73]

I'd guess your heater matrix has gone, hows the water level in the expansion tank - do you need to top it up.

Or yes it could be sunroof, doesn't normally get seats wet. Remove sunroof and pour water down the 4 drain holes and see if it drains out the drain holes at bottom of car, if not its going somewhere else.

 

[LeeHamo]

Thanks for the reply,

Expansion tank is fine, ill try the sunroof thing tomorrow, bit late now,

thanks again.

 

[Eklipze3k]

Some say rear light seals are prone to leakage. Take your boot carpet out, if it appears dry just now sprinkle some talc in there and then dowse the back of the car with a hose, you'll soon be able to tell where the water is getting in by the trails in the talc

Edit: With the bootlid shut, of course

 

[AppleSei]

Check the window seals also

 

[blu73]

Does it smell? If it from the heater matrix it will smell of engine coolant, hard smell to describe but quite individual, slightly sweet to taste also if you dab your finger on your tongue.

 

[LeeHamo]

Cheers Eklipse3k Ill definately try the boot trick to test back lights arent leaking as my instinct tells me its coming from there, ill shut boot when I hose it ha ha ha..

AppleSei i dont think its window seals, do you mean the windable windows or just all windows?

blu73 it doesnt smell and the coolant level hasnt changed so I doubt its the heater matrix, cheers anyway.

One Question, im gonna be sponging the water out from under carpet today, as the leak is all in driver side only is it possible to take carpet out halfway? whats the best way to remove it, is it by taking off that plastic trim below driver door? is it all one peice so will I have to remove driver seat?

Cheers,

Lee.

 

[blu73]

You'd have to remove the rear seat as well as the carpet is one big piece and the rear bench needs to come off to get it out. I'd just soak up what you can with a sponge and whack a fan heater in there (clearly make sure its not blowing directly onto anything close to it). Leave the sunroof open and windows ajar (or completely open if you can leave it in a garage overnight, would be perfect) and leave it. It'll dry.

If you do want to move the carpet then you need to take off the rear bench, remove the seats, centrol console, unbolt the seat belts etc etc, pretty much everything really.

 

[LeeHamo]

Cheers blu73,

Is it possible to lift it slightly so I can get under it with a sponge and get out the excess, its just that it did yesterday seem that there was a lot of water floating around under the carpet and if I just leave it to dry will it not rust the car away?, I definately do not want to take out all those things you just mentioned and plus I had no idea a bench could fit in a sei?

Cheers,

Lee.

 

[Eklipze3k]

Lol, by bench he means the rear seats - 3-in-a-row = bench

 

[blu73]

yes the lower part of the rear seat = bench

Yeah you should be able to pull the carpet up slightly, but not really convinced it'll help really. Can you not get access to a hoover that can suck up water??

 

[LeeHamo]

Ok so far ive taken out the driver seat and removed the bottom seat belt bolt and its allowed me to get under the carpet, I have managed to sponge up all the water and now im just gonna air it for a while, then do the tests to see where the water was coming from, ill post back what I find.

One thing, there was a substance under the passenger section of carpet that was a soaking clump of stinking cloth (possibly soundproofing?), which really wasnt serving any purpose whatsoever, so ive took it out, do I really need it?

I mean how soundproofed can a seicento really be?

There was no soundproofing at all under driver footwell carpet.

Cheers,

Lee.

P.S. And i didnt even have to remove the 'bench'!

 

[LeeHamo]

Ok so its 100% not coming from rear lights, they are not leaking into car at all.

Next test is sunroof, then windscreen.

Old man reckons its the windscreen because it has been replaced before.

Where does the water come through to leak in windscreen?

Cheers,

Lee.

 

[LeeHamo]

Ok removed sunroof and poured water down the 4 holes seperately and they all seemed to drain normally out of holes under car.

Im not sure how to test the windscreen, where will the water come through in the car?

And would the windscreen leaking cause it to run into behind drivers footwell.

Car is fully dry now btw and mat is on the line.

Cheers,

Lee.

 

[Eklipze3k]

Difficult to say for sure as all of the sealed edges of the windscreen are hidden. Before you go pouring water everywhere, have you checked around the full length of the external edges of the window seal to make sure there are no obvious gaps?

 

[LeeHamo]

Eklipze3k there is an obvious looking gap at the top of the windscreen on drivers side but tbh I just thought it was normal, you cant see in car thru it or out but it could be that I suppose, any idea how to test it and where does the water travel, any ideas?

the windscreen has been changed while my ma owned it and dad reckons he has noticed damp mat before but nowt major, which explains the totally destroyed soundproofing i guess..

Cheers,

Lee.

 

[andy3030]

when mine did this there was a drainage hole on the cill that was blocked get a lil flat head screw driver in them make sure there clean

thx andy

 

[LeeHamo]

Cheers andy,

Where abouts is this sill exactly?

Sorry if that sounds daft.

Cheers,

Lee.

 

[andy3030]

the bottom of the car below the door theres like a lip all the way down there just holes on that youll have to lay down to get to them its not really nessasery to jack the car up

thx andy

 

[LeeHamo]

Cheers andy3030,

Is there 4 holes? if there is then I think the sunroof drained perfectly through them so does that mean theyre not blocked or is there a couple of routes to them that could be blocked further up the line?

Cheers,

Lee.