Hi there,

Don't post often, but read allot.

I have this reoccurring problem where my passenger side rear foot well fills up with water. Thing is, it goes away every winter (or cold spell), and then reappears in the summer (or warm period).

It's dry as a bone just now, but early last summer it was a pretty deep puddle. I no longer think it's water ingress having made all the usual checks and put it into the garage to investigate the problem.

I have read about a problem caused by the air-conditioning run off. Problem is I don't use the air con much/at all. Is there much of a discharge from the air con system even if it is switched off? I can imagine on a hot summers day that a certain amount of water may still condense when the blower is on LOW, but don't know. Can someone please help?

Cheers,

icedink

It could be leaves etc blocking the drain holes in your scuttle panel. In the winter there ain't no leaves, in the summer there is. If you get what I'm saying.

HTH

I think by scuttle panel you mean in front of the windscreen around the pollen filter? This has been cleared from the pollen filter down to the wheel arch drain.

I really do not think its water ingress any more. Garage could find no evidence of water ingress through any normal passage.

Check out the Alice in Chains song called "Chewbacca, What A Wookie!" or something like that. Hilarious......

What you mean this

Bit of confusion over who sang it though could be Nerd Herder, Alice in Chains , Green Jelly or Supernova even System of a Down have been mentioned (it wasn't them) I know it was in Clerks

If you want some more Chewie fun check out Taff Wars

As for your water problem I'm all out of ideas sorry mate

Run the A/C on low in the winter months.

There will be plenty of water for it to pull out and as such if it is the a/c causing the problem you will end up with the puddle.

If you do then the dealers need to rerun the drain hose and make sure there are no kinks in it.

Suppose running the a/c in the winter might induce the problem, but the relative humidity of cold winter air will be very low, but it can do no harm to try.

Do you think that with the blower on LOW, that water within the air can condensate? I've heard about kinked a/c outlets before but have no idea where they run to and from.

Yes the car can definitely produce lots of water via the a/c in the winter. putting the a/c on recirc mode would probably increase this especially if you were to put a few pans of boiling water in a closed car to really fill it with water vapour before giving it a go.

IIRC the exi for the a/c hose on the Octy MK I is somewhere under the passenger seat area.

Do you have a sunroof? If so do you only open it during the summer as it could be a blocked drain pipe for this in this case.

I think a blocked rear sunroof drain is more likely than anything to do with the aircon. The drain on my aircon is nowhere near the back, and not significantly near the side either.

I have no idea offhand where on the site it is , but a search will reveal a diagram of the factory sunroof and drain routings.

Sorry Ken, no sunroof.

I have done searches for this problem and some sound similar, but there are no posts as to what has solved the problem, and I or the garage have tried many of the suggested routes.

When the blower is on it's coldest setting without the A/C being on, will condensation/water drain through the a/c pipe? I don't use the a/c at all.

Please help me, my new shoes are getting wet.

This is a bit of non-help, I suppose, but I'm pretty sure the rear washer pipe goes on the other (driver's) side, assuming RHD.

Its RHD and I've had no issues with a lack of water to the rear "skoosher" (as my lady calls it)!

As I say it's not an all year round problem.

Daft question, but I'll ask it anyway, are the window seals, door seals and speakers all original?

I really think it can only be from the A/C system as otherwise it would happen all year around.

Don't forget the rear of the car is lower than the front, so a leak in the front foot well would end up in the rear. Have you checked the pollen filter is all correctly sealed and the drain holes around there clean?

I'd go with the A/C drain, given where and when the water appears. It is a rubber pipe that goes through the passenger side bulk head and exits under the soundproofing in the engine bay.

That sounds familiar. If you leave the car standing on dry tarmac in Summer after using the aircon you should see a small pool of water appear under it at the back of the engine bay.

All original as far as I can tell.

But what if I don't switch on the a/c ever and use it just on the coldest setting, will air still condesate within the system and produce water?

I'd guess you may still get a bit of condensation if it was on cold.

Does the climatronic say econ or just nothing as if it says nothing the A/C is still on.

I really can't think of anything else it can be really.

If it's Climatronic then the A/C is always on unless it's turned off (display blank, vent fan not running), or air temperature is under 5C. AIUI Econ uses the air con and air blending but not the auxilliary heater.

I don't think I knew that. So the Climatroic control uses the a/c without it telling you that it's on.

Sorry I don't get what you mean "AIUI Econ uses the air con and air blending but not the auxilliary heater."

I'll check out the manual too.

Thanks guys.

AIUI Econ uses the air con and air blending but not the auxilliary heater.

I'm pretty sure that's not right and that ECON actually switches off the compressor.