Water in "rear" footwell

[knockmacool]

Took the time to wash/vac/wax the car today and was surprised to find the rear left footwell soaked in water. Any suggestions? It was left out in very heavy rain earlier in the week (don't ask  )

(BTW found Klaus's instructions on seat removal very helpful!)

[jameshoward]

Could be a number of things, including rusted floor pans (I had that and a wet foot well) or blocked soft top box drainage (had that too). The latter is, I think I recall, now in the Wiki, but if you search for soft top and drainage you will find lots of info. You can check the soft top box drainage by pouring a measured amount of water into the drainage holes and have a receptacle to collect it at the draining area beneath the car and see what comes out. It's worth checking firewall drainage as well (the two short bent tubes 1/4 way down the firewall on the left and right sides. They may have the proper rubber things that look like a squash ball wearing a Roman centurion's helmet. Mine were full of crap and utterly perished when I got my car. (Given the price I never replaced them).

[scoot]

Oh my car it was the drains for the soft top box - the drain holes are as near the mounting brackets for the soft top.  If you dump some water in the drain hole area it should fairly immediately drain from under the car.  If it doesn't, the hose inside the car is either broken or moved or the drain holes are clogged.   While you are at it, take out the rear parcel shelves and see if that area is full of water...

[knockmacool]

Thanks, have never seen water in soft top well, so must be drain itself. Will investigate.

[jameshoward]

It will drain, it's more of a question of where it drains. In your case it could be the footwell. There are rubber hoses (as for the firewall) that can perish. Worth checking them, and their clips as well as whether they're blocked.

[Naj ✝︎]

Check this thread:

http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=11475.0

naj

[knockmacool]

Thanks for photo, Naj. Water does drain, and though I didn't measure output, looks like it was working ok, which still leaves me looking for water ingress. Since there is no water in front of the cross member where front seat brackets rest, I took out parcel shelf; small damp patch in corner of that section, so will see if I can get water to migrate from there to footwell (I can't see how, but you never know) and will then trace back.

 

[scoot]

Is the water on both sides of the tunnel (either in the footwell or under the parcel shelf) or is in only one one side?

[knockmacool]

One side only, mostly under seat. Under the parcel shelf it was very minimal, I am going to take a hose to the car this weekend and see if i can figure out how it's getting in. It is not from drain holes in boot (trunk)