Interior Wetness ....what to check

[percymon]

Having spent a bit of time under the car recently I must say that I was surprised at how many holes there are in the floor filled with the grommets.
Makes ya wonder why they are there.

The holes are there so that when the body is dipped in the initial cathodic paint bath (ie the initial grey paint layer) the paint runs into and out of the body and all the cavities easily - the body is hanging on a conveyor at this stage.

[Len]

Aha! That explains it!

[HoopDub]

hey guys, i got me a mk3 last weekend, then the heavens opened and i got the wet carpet issues on passenger side, and i mean wet!!!!!!!!! had a bit of a hunt around, carpet up, scuttle clear out etc with no luck. then i had an idea to sit in the car while a mate lashes it with buckets of water. i then found the leak, its pi$$ing in throught the top corner passengers side of the windscreen, looks like the black glue has failed in the corner and water is getting in and running down in the A pillar, onto the pool floor. so it looks like im going to have a windscreen claim on the insurance soon, for now if filled around the corner of the screen with silicone sealant and that seems to have done the trick. hope that helps

[percymon]

Tonights chapter    ...

managed to release the fuse/relay box from its hangers tonight, and was able to move it slightly out of the way for a marginally better look up into the top corner of the bulkhead....




I've arrowed the bonnet release cable and the right hand hanger of the fuse box has the green squiggle on it.  The picture shows dry sound deadening on the left (this has been peeled back , was covering the cable), and wet material to the right (this section is folded down onto the right hand side wall and is part of the sound deadening running across the underside of the bulkhead).  I wasn't able to get any further than this without serious disassembly of the cable loom etc.


I've reapplied underseal to the cable grommet in the scuttle under the bonnet - i'm hopeful this is the root cause. 

I also undersealed the bottom edge of the windscreen and where it joins the metalwork - will slow the creepage into the laminates that its already afflicted with and hopefully seal any weak point in the windscreen seal if there is one !!



I've added a few pictures of the remedial work on the floor bungs to add to the detail of the thread..

Front floor inside... the bung at the top of the picture is into a box section carrying the brake lines to the rear - this was dry.  The bung i removed and GRP'd was rotting around the edges due to cracked/flaking VW underseal on the outside.





Front floor outside...



This was after one coat of GRP - it got another one before a couple of coats of underseal - you can see another bung in the picture - its in the channel section carrying the brake lines - this was dry and fine, but undersealed later for good measure!



The rear foot well bungs from underneath - this after cleaning off the bubbling VW underseal and treating area with Hammerite Kurust .



I have since removed the bungs, GRP'd over inside and out and undersealed the area - much happier as the metal was pretty flaky in local areas around the bung.  You can see the other inboard bung prior to any work - note the bubbling underseal, and as i found last night, perforated metal beneath. Again this has been removed, GRP'd and undersealed.



Picture on inside rear footwell after GRP repairs - note i had to cut back the bitumastic bonded sound deadening to expose the bung in the first place.

[gibby]

First pic of your post above, looks like a rubber jonny !

Dude, if there was ever anyone that deserved to find out and resolve a car leaking problem, it's you.

[percymon]

i'm resorting to wearing wellies after this week 

[percymon]

Hosepipe over car tonight - STILL leaking into corner of footwell.  Managed to remove the sound deadening on the right , above the orange/browm earth spur plate (the disc on the right hand side of the firt picture in my post above).  There is a dogleg in the body at this point, even though its the corner.  The top door hinge bolts are hidden behind an inner cavity also in this area, so that gives an idea where i am talking about from the outside.      When water is directed at the upper back edge of the front wing, 4 inches down from the corner of the windscreen, water can be seen dripping into the cabin from the dogleg area behind the earth spur.  Whether this is a failure of the factory seam sealant i can't tell. It  might be the cavity where the hinge bolts come through is filling with water and overspilling into the footwell; its  impossible to see the top of the cavity section even lying on my back in the footwell, and using a makeup mirror to see behind the earth spur.

So i am guessing at either ingress through the hinge plate (no sign of any corrosion) or though a poorly applied sealant where the front wing bolts onto the corner of the passenger cell / scuttle. If i look through the gap between the door and the front wing,at a height level with the bottom edge of the indicator repeator, i can see the threads of the attachment bolt which runs from inside the wing rearwards to the passenger cabin - maybe the wing has been removed in the past for accident repairs ?

About six weeks ago i cleaned up the area around the hinges etc on a mammoth cleaning/waxing session - it was a bit greasy and dirty in this area at the time, its now spotless. i could possibly have removed some sealing grease from the hinge plate area.



So.... i've applied underseal along the joint between the front wing and the passenger cell and around the hinge plate - not exactly pretty, but if it seals it i'm not bothered .


Fingers crossed 

[irmscher]

Fingers crossed mate, really feel for ya

[gibby]

I really hope that sorts it for you matey, you deserve it after the efforts you've put in this week !

[Len]

Dont think we should lose this thread, so please can a Mod make it Sticky!

Hope thats finally it, found the leak and sealed it!