Wet feet still

[King John]

The old car is giving me gip!

It is letting water into the driver's well and the instruments have stopped working again.

I checked the sun roof and cleared the drain but it is still coming in. I have also cleared the muck from behind the driver side wing liner. It is difficult to trace the source as I haven't been able to remove the carpet and underlay from the well but it appears to be coming in at a line below the foot pedals as I can only find wetness below the ridge under the pedals.

I replaced the pollen filter and couldn't find any water in the tray - what a terrible design, having to lever up the moulding to get access! The rubber seal at the base of the windscreen along the plastic moulding is in poor condition. Could this be the cause but if so, why does it only drain into the driver's side?

I have previously used silicon to seal the ends and a previous owner put duct tape across the ends of the moulding. Is there a fix apart from silicon?

I tried to resolder the instruments (which worked for two months previously) but managed to solder across the terminals of the voltage controller. Now the car will not start (actually it starts and then dies) so it is going for a professional repair as a new unit is some £600. I'll let you know how I get on.

Life has its little problems!

[mbames]

A solder sucker and some careful application of heat might fix your soldering issue.

Water leaks on the passenger side - I would check where the loom enters the car and also the bonnet release cable. I assume that if you pour some water into the scuttle panel area is now immediately drains out at the rear of wheel arch liners?

The ex's Felicia has a windscreen replacement done by Autoglass, and the job was cr@p - it used to leak like a sieve. They failed to clear out all the old sealant and water literally used to pour in when it rained. I had my local garage remove the windscreen, clean out all the old sealant and refit. That worked a treated, as previously her fusebox used to flood....

When you mention the "rubber seal at the bottom of the windscreen", I guess you mean the rubber strip attached to the 2-part scuttle panel cover - it might have an affect, but nothing too major. Mine isn't in great condition.

I had a leak into the rear passenger footwell and that was brought on by failed sealant on the grommet near to the pollen filter (passenger side), I was amazed at how much water came in through such a small hole. However basically it was all the water draining off half of the windscreen went over this grommet..... (and into the car).

[percymon]

Firstly i'd suggest you establish whether the water gets in whent he car is driven or when stationary - I had a Mk3 Golf that i ciould drive in a monsoon without issue, but leave it overnight and i could have 2" of water in the rear footwell !

I traced it (after 3 months !) to a minute hole in some sealant between the inner wing and the scuttle - I could not believe it, as it just looked like a spec of dirt - it was only about 0.5mm across, so small you'd think water couldn't get through. Whent he car was driven the air flow pushed all the water from the wipers off the top/side of the screen, when stationary, the water ran down into the scuttle and then into the car via the fuse box to the right of the steering column. I fixed it with about £0.005 worth of silicon sealant !

[King John]

Thanks for the replies. Most (all?) of the rain has come in while stationary with the front facing down hill. The bulkhead is very crowded around there so I was looking for points on where to look.

You are right, I was talking about the two part scuttle panel.

I've tried to find the leak when it was raining but there is not much space for maneuvering so it looks like I'll have to wait for the sun to return and buckets of water if the flooring doesn't start rotting before!

Thanks

[percymon]

I had the front seats out in the Golf, lying on the bare floor on my back peering up into the dashboard from below with a torch. Garden sprinkler running outside ! Remove the drivers seat, manouevre the carpet up and fold into the passenger side - run without carpet on the drivers side for a week to give you the best opportunity of investigation. You may be surprised how wet the underlay is - the wetness at the front of the footwell carpet possibly only reflects the downward slant of the car and not necessarily the source (I used to bail out the rear footwell with a jug every morning, even when parked on flat ground, yet the source was the scuttle area !)

You could temporarily tape over the sunroof edges to isolate that as a source

[wayned]

Mine used to let water in from around the bonnet release cable grommet.