Water under carpet?

[Matt 123]

Hi everyone,

I don't really ever post anything much here but am often reading through all the threads but now i'm in need of some help!

I was just cleaning the inside of my car and when i lifted up the carpet in front of the back seat to vacuum i noticed a heap of water underneath the carpet! I have no pulled up a heap of the carpet and it is soaking wet underneath on the drivers side (passenger side is totally dry.

Weird thing is that the carpet itself is completely dry but the foam underneath is really saturated. Any ideas on where all this water could have come from? There's some pipes under the seat that look like they could have something to do with air con, is it likely to have anything to do with that?

cheers for any help you can point my way,

Matt

[Matt 123]

Oh, car is facelift e36 coupe if that helps narrow down what the problem could be.

Cheers

[jochen 4]

Check and clean all drainage pipes / channels from the front air vent intakes below the front windscreen.

Check carefully for signs of rust, especially around any cable gromments and other pipework that goes through the firewall.

It is possible that water dribbles down the firewall, between the firewall and the carpet.

I had a similar problem on a 10-year old Mitsubishi, in the end I found it was a body seal that had cracked between front guard and firewall, right where the drainage was, and water was coming in. To repair the body seal would have required removing the front guard panels, removing welded-on body parts, and removing the entire dash. In the end, I tried to seal with expandable foam, and also fitted a water barrier to prevent water flowing over to the cracked body seal area. Then it was good !

Make sure you lift and dry the carpet thoroughly- I parked my car outside with the doors open and sun shining in on the wet spot, as well as using fans, to properly dry the insulating material. Otherwise, mould will grow and it'll stink like anything.

Edited October 18, 2008 by jochen

[no-coast-punk 0]

Does the car have a sunroof? I've seen leaky sunroof trays cause water to get into some strange places.

[Matt 123]

Check and clean all drainage pipes / channels from the front air vent intakes below the front windscreen.

Check carefully for signs of rust, especially around any cable gromments and other pipework that goes through the firewall.

It is possible that water dribbles down the firewall, between the firewall and the carpet.

I had a similar problem on a 10-year old Mitsubishi, in the end I found it was a body seal that had cracked between front guard and firewall, right where the drainage was, and water was coming in. To repair the body seal would have required removing the front guard panels, removing welded-on body parts, and removing the entire dash. In the end, I tried to seal with expandable foam, and also fitted a water barrier to prevent water flowing over to the cracked body seal area. Then it was good !

Make sure you lift and dry the carpet thoroughly- I parked my car outside with the doors open and sun shining in on the wet spot, as well as using fans, to properly dry the insulating material. Otherwise, mould will grow and it'll stink like anything.

Sweet, I'll have a good poke around there and see what i can find.

I have the carpet partially lifted at the moment. The only thing stopping me from taking it out is the bloody accelerator pedal which i can't figure out how to remove and really don't want to break! Ive got a dehumidifier sitting in there as well to try and dry it out.

Cheers for the help

[Matt 123]

Does the car have a sunroof? I've seen leaky sunroof trays cause water to get into some strange places.

The car does have sunroof. Surely though if it was leaking from there i'd notice water on top of the carpet too?

[no-coast-punk 0]

Surace tension

The sunroof leaks are tough little bastards to find at times. Typically they can manifest in a very persistent but small leak over a long period of time. Wet foam but no carpets are often found (not enough water is leaked to saturate through the foam and reach the carpet).

Small leaks will allow small water droplets to conform to the metal of the roof then the b-pillars then the floor without ever touching the other squishy stuff inside the car. Without touching the squishy stuff, the leak will never be seen except for at the lowest point.

The only reliable way I have found to find water leaks is to remove carpets from the car and drive it through a high pressure (the higher pressure the better) car wash and see where the stream of water is coming from.

If it's at the front of the car (a-pillar or firewall) that often indicates a windshield or cowling problem.

If it's coming down down the b or c pillars it's about 100% a sunroof problem.

Remove the plastic windshield cowling (either a 13mm or a 15mm nut on the wipers depending if it's a webasto or Johnson Controls car) and inspect all the silicon/rubber seals you can find. If you see ANY cracks you've found your culprit.

However, based on the water being at the rear of the car I'd suspect a sunroof problem first.

[Matt 123]

to be honest its is just as wet up by the drivers pedals as it is in the rear passenger footwell.

At he base of the windscreen, the rubber that connects to the top of the cowling and the base of the windscreen is pretty corroded. I just flicked a bit and some snapped off. Sounds like it could be a pretty likely culprit then, eh?

I've undone the bolts for the wipers to take them off and inspect under the cowling but the wiper arms wont even budge they're so tightly stuck on. Am i likely to break anything (on the car, not myself) if i yank for all its worth or is there a better way of going about it?

Anyone got any tips for removing the accelerator pedal so i can properly remove the carpet as well?

Help so far is great, thanks guys!