mazda mystery?????

ktj

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone could help me with my latest problem!!

We seem to have water sloshing about in the subfram of our car!!

The problem started after we left our car parked at the airport when we went away for a fortnights holiday. On picking up the car there was a considerable amount of standing water in the foot well of the nearside rear seat!!

It was not clear how the water had got in - the rear seat was not wet and the wetness was very localised.

When we got home, we mopped out the water as best we could and tried to dry out the carpet. We've got rid of all the standing water, but the underlay is still soaking but we can't remove it
without taking out the rear seats, which I'm not sure how to do.

Now when we are driving I can hear water sloshing about. The water sounds to be sloshing about in the subframe under the near side seats, but we can't see how to get to this area!

Has anyone any suggestions how the water may have got into the car and more importantly how we can get it out without an expensive trip to the garage?

As always, many thanks in advance to anyone who can offer any advice. Here's hoping. Regards, kje.

Premier_2

You sure it's not the petrol sloshing about in the tank you can now hear?

mark5

The front doors on my wifes 08 Fiesta 5 door regularly fill with water and we had the same problem with a 3 door 55 plate Fiesta a few years back.
I usually just unblock the drain holes with a stanley knife, its probably something similar to this.

Paradigm

Does the car have a sunroof? If so it could be the drain is blocked.

Hammyman

The subframe is in the engine bay and it isn't solid so you won't get water sat in it. If the sloshing is at the rear, the petrol tank may be under the seats.

So where is the water coming in? One route is the rubber weatherstrip at the top of the metal panel of the door where the bottom of the glass is. Over the years they harden and stop keeping the water out. Another route into the car is the rubber weatherstrip that goes round the whole of the door opening. Rain gets into the gap between the door and the body, seeps down the back edge of the door, through the gap in the seal and into the car.

anotherbaldrick

As said , blocked door drain holes. Open doors and feel all along the bottom edge . You will feel the drain hole (s) get a bit of fat wire and poke up to free any rubbish blocking the hole.

colino

You do have to get that underlay out otherwise apart from stinking up a treat it will accelerate the rot of the floor. It may well be that the door or tailgate rubbers arent very good, but you havent noticed it until you parked your car at an unusual angle or exposed spot when on your hols.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Did you park the car yourself or was it valet style parking where they cram your car in millimetres from hundreds of others then bring it to you after the holiday?

If compressed parking it could have been in a low spot for a week and ended up in a small flood, the water may not have come from above....well it did but not necessarily into your car that way..;)

Water in the subrame does lead me to think that, it's probably got trapped in the integral chassis members, you'd better get under and find any bungs you can in the area of the sloshing and get it out.

If it's stuck in the rear wheel sill area it will stay there, you'll have to strip the whole interior out and do it now, once winter arrives it'll take weeks to dry and you'll have alternately steamed up and frozen windows...inside..., leave the carpets out for a week or two if you haven't got a good fan heater to put in there to dry it out over the weekend.

Ghostrider

I reckon it's probably petrol sloshing about in the tank you can hear, try filling it right up to the brim and then listen to see if it still does it.

All the advice above about door seals and drain holes is good advice. Once you've found the leak i'd invest in/borrow/hire a dehumidifier to dry the car out. Leave it in the garage running all weekend or every night for a week and that will pull the water out of the carpets and underlay.

I had to do this to a car of mine once, although that had been driven into a river and required an awful lot more water sucking out than yours does! (yes this is actually true!!)

atrixblue.-MFR-.

sure theres no water in the boot around the spare wheel? that you can hear sloshing back and forth? theres a drain plug under the spare (a rubber bung).

ktj

Hi all,

Many thanks for replies - much food for thought!

With regard to suggestions - its definitely not petrol - we can still hear sloshing when the tank's full.

No we don't have a sun roof, so it's not that. (Our other car is a Clio with a sunroof and we did get water in through that at the start of the year!).

No water near the spare tyre. Anyway our car is an estate and the spare tyre is near the back, but the sloshing sound is just behind the front passenger seat.

No valet parking. Just parked in Jet 2's open air car park - on the flat and with the normal gap between adjacent cars.

We did think the water might be in the back door, but when opening and closing it - no sloshing and no wetness on the bottom of the door, so how did all the standing water get in the foot well? - It's a mystery!

We've double checked the drainage points on the doors and they are clear, but we agree there doesn't seem to be a cavity under the part of the floor where the sloshing sound is coming from. It really is a mystery, but I dread taking it to the garage, I'm sure that it's going to cost a fortune, so if anyone has got any further thoughts, they would be very greatly appreciated.

I know that we do need to get the carpet dried out asap, but there doesn't seem any point doing that until we get the water out that's sloshing about so I'm going out to have another poke around - wish me luck.

I'll keep you all posted about any discoveries. Regards, kje.