Investigated the leak into the passenger footwell today. First job was to remove the wiper arms. Looked easy but actually impossible to do. The spindle moves around so makes adding any force difficult and they did not look like they had been off any time recently. So I had a look to see if I could get onto the plenum chamber without removing them as the panel is in two pieces. Disappointed to see that the nearside plastic had been broken to gain access to the pollen filter. It was done by a "proper" garage in 2013 as it was helpfully stamped on the filter. So no one has managed to ever get the wiper arms off it seems. I imagine that is standard practice.

Having removed the panel and the filter I could see lots of leaves and muck but not enough to block the drain. What I did find was a black grommet just above where the drain is and this grommet had been "star" cut to pass a cable through this hole and then a load of mastic added to try and seal it. The mastic had failed and this is where lots of water would get in. I assume the grommet is standard so worth checking if you have a leak here. I don't know if the cable is normal I guess not but this was a taxi so lots of old cables. I now have to strip the glovebox to find the end of the cable to fit a proper watertight grommet.

 

 

 

 

It is normal practice not to remove the wipers/panels to change the pollen filter, the panel lifts up enough to slide the filter in and out.

There is a puller to remove the wipers.

Nevermind.

Edited 25 January, 201610 yr by mac11irl

Rogue cable was from tow bar fitting. Nice job! Lazy fitter prepared to ruin a customers car to save a bit of effort.