Sportline taking on water, bail out......... bail out.........

[goodo]

Hi everyone, goodo here. This is my first post. I recently took on a MK1 golf sportline in black, and I'm trying to get is spick and span.

Now, I know it's been quite wet the last few days, but I went out to my car today and the near side footwell is soaked through with water, front and back. I'm not talking a few teaspoons, I'm talking a couple of litres of water. Now I'm pretty sure it hasn't come from the roof - there's no way that sort of amount could get through, and I'm also pretty sure it hasn't come from the engine compartment - so the only place which kind of makes sense is from the area behind. The boot is dry aswell. It looks like it might have collected in the arch/skirt and somehow worked its way inside the car, there's very little other places from water to collect when running off the car. I wondered if anyone had encountered this problem, and if so where they discovered the leak was coming from. Any ideas?

Cheers
Goodo

[Madone_si]

Hi Goodo, first of all - welcome to this forum. Good to see another cab owner on here...!!

Have you checked the rubbers on the doors are 100% ok, as I've had water come through from them before near bottom. Also the front arch's where the body kick is someones water gets through between bodykick and main body and holds there and then rots body and leaks inside right near carpet.

Make sure that there is no cuts in floor pan or under dashboard - check where the heater unit is under the bonnet as if the rubber goes water goes straight into car, but this usually goes all over wiing and your notice that more than water....!!!!!! 

If you really want to test out the roof - get hose pipe and turn on - doesn't need to be blasting and put over the front door roof area about 4 inchs from edge and go back and forth to cover the whole window length for about 1 minute and watch to see if the water is leaking into the car - usually the water comes in from the front door seal or at back of door where top rubbers from roof area are not up against each other properly - this is due to wear. - I had this on my current cab and replaced rubbers and hood all went away.. A bit costly though.

Hope this helps.

[Phil303]

I had a similar problem with the rear offside footwell although to this day I'm still not 100% sure how it got soaked.

Back to your car though! The garage who deals with mine gave me a list of places to check for water coming in; if it's the front footwell thats wet then pop the bonnet and check the drain holes on the scuttle/firewall (is that right?), bascially it's the area just below the windscreen. There should be a thin plastic cover clipped over this area that covers the wiper motors. On each side of this area you'll see two drain holes, about the size of  a £2 coin. If these are seriously bunged up then water won't drain off and will rise up to such a level where it will overflow and run into the car from behind the dash.

Have a look at the drain holes on the bottom of the doors too, and the seals around the windows and the seal on the rollbar.

I thought maybe water was coming up through a hole in the floor but the garage said that it's quite rare for water to work it's way up to the extent that the carpets are not just damp but soaked, so I don't think it's likely to be due to corrosion underneath, unless it's chronic.

Failing that, was the roof up or down? It might make a difference.  

[Madone_si]

I had a similar problem with the rear offside footwell although to this day I'm still not 100% sure how it got soaked.

Back to your car though! The garage who deals with mine gave me a list of places to check for water coming in; if it's the front footwell thats wet then pop the bonnet and check the drain holes on the scuttle/firewall (is that right?), bascially it's the area just below the windscreen. There should be a thin plastic cover clipped over this area that covers the wiper motors. On each side of this area you'll see two drain holes, about the size of  a £2 coin. If these are seriously bunged up then water won't drain off and will rise up to such a level where it will overflow and run into the car from behind the dash.

Have a look at the drain holes on the bottom of the doors too, and the seals around the windows and the seal on the rollbar.

I thought maybe water was coming up through a hole in the floor but the garage said that it's quite rare for water to work it's way up to the extent that the carpets are not just damp but soaked, so I don't think it's likely to be due to corrosion underneath, unless it's chronic.

Failing that, was the roof up or down? It might make a difference.  

 Also do you have a roof on the car - that helps too.!!

[dj g]

i'm going mad with mine i have water in the boot water under the back seat, soaking wet passenger seat

[goodo]

Thanks for the suggestions eveyone, I have to say I'm really impressed by your replies - it's good to see so many passionate people out there. I will have a fish around tomorrow and see what looks likely. I was in the car the other day and it was raining heavily and there was nothing but the odd drip, so I suspect something else like a drain hole not doing its job.

I was just thinking - I changed the external window seals on the near side, and if drain holes were blocked (either at the door, or more likely the passenger window) then it may well end up on the floor pan instead of outside. The bodykit does tend to accumulate lots of muck. I guess I just need to find drain holes and make sure they're unblocked.

I was feeling a bit down earlier - as you do when you don't know why something's happened to your pride and joy, but you lot have cheered me up no end

Cheers once again

Goodo

[goodo]

Back to your car though! The garage who deals with mine gave me a list of places to check for water coming in; if it's the front footwell thats wet then pop the bonnet and check the drain holes on the scuttle/firewall (is that right?), bascially it's the area just below the windscreen. There should be a thin plastic cover clipped over this area that covers the wiper motors. On each side of this area you'll see two drain holes, about the size of  a £2 coin. If these are seriously bunged up then water won't drain off and will rise up to such a level where it will overflow and run into the car from behind the dash.

What up? I've just spent my lunchbreak outside (nice day for it) looking for potential causes. I checked the drain points in the bulkhead and they were both bunged up with sludge. That having been removed, I hope th eporblem will go away. There is so much water in there that must be the reason (especially as the windscreen drains into that area, and that would accont for the amount of water in the car.

Whilst arsing around managed to snap off one of the hood release handles, which is not ideal. Bodged it up for now though, so should be ok (dry) until I can get a replacement.

TFI friday!

Goodo