General water in footwell

[bluesplayer]

Getting water in my drivers footwell ? , they dont appear to be any obvious sources of intrusion . Rubbers seem fine , could it be coming from underneath somewhere , its a 95 model 1.ie , also how do i operate the front wash wipe ? ok you guessed its my first uno and i love it

 

[Peterg]

Welcome to the forum.
Washer wipe operates by pulling the right hand stalk towards you.
As to the water in the footwell there are water pipes that provide heat to the exchanger that may be leaking.
Have u had a look under the car to check for any holes/
Pete

 

[bluesplayer]

Thanks , im not sure if this water has come in from a recent visit to a Carwash , what i have done so far is checked all seals , they seem ok , and had a feel around under carpets , everything is nice and smooth , tomorrow i will get under and take a peak at the floor pan , i must say the heater is working fine , nice and hot , and the water seems to build up after heavy rain .

 

[alexGS]

I've seen this problem (water in the footwell) a few times. Once it was the windscreen leaking (wait till it rains (not long?) and then check under dashboard with a torch). You can squirt in some windscreen sealer if you gently tease the grommet away from the windscreen frame - maybe wipe the dirt out first with some meths.

The other couple of cases were where the door frame had 'relaxed' a little, allowing water to run down the doorframe and somehow wash into the car. I know it sounds unlikely, but the fix was remarkably sophisticated - wind down the window, place knee against interior door trim, and tug on the upper-front corner of the door frame. Close door and re-check fit against plastic/rubber seal strip.

Also consider whether the rubber seal part has shrunk - try moving the seal forwards?

If your cooling system has 'green stuff' in it, a heater leak would give rise to a distinctive sweet smell. You would notice the coolant level dropping, and also the windscreen would tend to mist up with the lever set to 'screen'. So, hopefully this is not the case?

-Alex

 

[Morty Mort]

Hei.

You drive on the right side, right? Is the water there and not in the passenger's footwell? If it is only on the right side, then remove the mat and rub the cloth in the footwell with your fingertips. Does it foam up a bit? Then it might be coolant running into (out) the heater matrix. Usually on the right side footwell.

If not - suggest another leak...

Morten.

 

[Morty Mort]

Oooh... post number 700.

 

[Hellcat]

The other couple of cases were where the door frame had 'relaxed' a little, allowing water to run down the doorframe and somehow wash into the car. I know it sounds unlikely, but the fix was remarkably sophisticated - wind down the window, place knee against interior door trim, and tug on the upper-front corner of the door frame. Close door and re-check fit against plastic/rubber seal strip.

Does that really work? I'm not sure if my Tipo's door has relaxed as you say at the top leading corner allowing wind noise to increase. I was just going to replace the door seals but was wondering if the door might have 'relaxed'

Anyway back on with the Uno...

 

[Jai]

i did notice my drivers door had "relaxed" (i love that expression!) made evident by the slight scrapings in the frame sill

 

[bluesplayer]

I did dryout under the mat , and the water was just plain water , no foam , i dried it off and it has remained dry , also it has not rained since the flood ! , so it is either coming from a door seal , windscreen or from the floor somewhere ,my guess is its the door seal , i might just pay another visit to the same car wash and observe !

 

[Peterg]

Car wash!!!!!
That is sacrilege
P

 

[bluesplayer]

Well i could save £2.00 and use the hose as im not living in the South East ,

 

[Dunc Uno Turbo]

im gonna say 99% front windscreen rubber.

Dunc

 

[alexGS]

turboned,
If the door is rubbing on things, it is probably not the frame having 'relaxed' but more a case of ovalising in the hinge pin holes...

I recently swapped all my Uno T's door hinges for the set off the back doors of a 1992 Uno 60S - naturally, they were mint, and even the right colour. You *can* get the hinge bolts out of the door pillar, with an 8mm hex bit and an 8mm ring spanner (an Allen key won't fit with the front wing in place). It only took a couple of hours and it makes such a difference having the doors close without crashing onto the striker.

Fine tuning of the refitted door can be carried out with the help of a trolley jack and a block of wood under the door bottom...

Hellcat - yes, I think your Tipo's door fit problem can probably be resolved with some careful heaving. I have, though, seen a number of Tipo doors that didn't fit very well (I think the build quality was up to the usual standards...) but the hinges don't seem to wear as often as on the Uno.

Using a carwash: having been to England a couple of times, I can confirm that in some parts of the country (no space, no hose, and metered water) it ends up being that a carwash is the only option (and still better than not washing the car at all... I have seen moss growing in cars that live outdoors!)

-Alex

 

[4paws]

I've had the leaking passenger footwell pantomime for the last 3 years. Each time I think I've sorted it, but I still find water... just a bit less of it. I guess the same will apply for the driver's side too.

Here's what I've had to do..

- removed leaves blocking the drainage hole for the bonnet heater air intake. You need to remove the windscreen wiper and plastic intake grill. Then clear the leaves by pushing them down through the drainage pipe with a unravelled wire coat hanger. If it's this, then the water will be running in by the heater matrix and you'll probably have some water in both footwells.
I reckon it's this!

The following cured the water trickling down from the top of the bulkhead behind the soundproofing:
- Sealed windscreen rubber with holts windscreen sealant.
- Replaced missing 1p sized grommet near bonnet hinge.
- Sealed all the other grommets on the bulkhead with the holts stuff.
- Sealed the square screw hole just below the bottom corner of the windscreen, where the plastic air intake/ wiper grill thing attaches onto the body.

Finally, I was getting water weeping in from a 3" vertical seam below and forward of the bottom hinged corner of the door:
- cleaned door rubber and mounting and checked the rubber's grip on the mount.
- Filled in the square bolt hole between the two door hinges where the front wing bolts onto the body. I had to remove the wing first. The wing had been replaced sometime before I got the car and who ever did the job left off the bolt.

After all that I still get some water appearing in the footwell after a rainfall. Although, I've still got to seal the two grommets between the door hinges. One grommet's the door closed sensor for the internal light and the other's for the door speaker cable.

You've got to get a friend with a hose pipe, lift up your carpet, get a torch and watch and wait. Don't expect a flood, just a slow weep can leave a puddle over time. I've permenanetly got a wadge of newspapers stuffed behind the bulkhead sound proofing and in the footwell to soak it up.

 

[bluesplayer]

I have looked underneath and everything looks sound , i cannot see where water could go ,only maybe up around the Drivers side wheel arch and then into the car . I poured loads of water down the windscreen and all the water gushed away nice , no blockages and no water ingress . Im just waiting for rain now , if i get wet carpets after rain will remove the plastic around the wheel arch and look it over , basically do what you have done . cheers

 

[CyberMunky]

Sam thing happened to me when it pissed rain. I found that to door seals had leaked on both sides (right by the visor). Check them as the previous owner did a shoddy job of trying to repair it. Took me an hour and a half to dry my baby!

 

[RobinS]

I know somebody who solved this problem easily on his old Volvo.......




.....he drilled some neat holes on the floor to let the water drin out

 

[jjhepburn]

I have found that windscreen sealant applied to a leaking windscreen never really works (just makes mess).

The best solution (and a rather ambitious one at that) is to remove the windscreen, clean the seal really good (soak it in soapy water for about 24hrs then scrub with a tooth brush). Then when refitting the windscreen use silicone spray (the stuff you use to make black trim look nice) it makes fitting easier and provides just enough sticky sealant.

But be very careful removing the windscreen as age can make them brittle.

Over time the dirt and water slowly creep further and further into the seal until it finally get all the way to the other side, the only solution is to completely clean the seal (or replace it).

This works for all seals.

I recently rebuilt an uno and all seals were treated in this way and I hardly have any condensation on the windows in the morning, let alone water in the footwells.

 

[4paws]

After 3 years of finding water in the passenger footwell and several attempts to fix - filing in holes, sealing bulhead grommets, sealing windscreen I've finally fixed it.

I had to replace the windscreen after a large crack, so I cleaned up the rubber and fitting edge on the car when I removed the screen. At the time I wasn't convinced it would make any difference as the rubber on refitting seemed a loose fit and the screen a bit small in places. But a few days after and the rubber's tight on the screen and everything for the last few months have been dry. So on refection the windscreen sealant didn't work. Although when my previous Uno had a leaking screen the sealant fixed it.

Thanks jjhepburn for your cleaning advice.