Soggy Drivers Footwell

beanandbean

Hi all. I recently purchased a second hand car (Vauxhall Meriva 2004) and after taking it through the car wash I found that the drivers side footwell was absolutely soaked.
After googling I get the idea that maybe its the windscreen seals or the door seals.
When I shut the drivers side door there is no softness to the sound - I tried googling this but its an odd thing to google. By that I mean when the door is shut, I hear the metal on metal sound of the latch catching the ring of the door very harshly. I would expect the door seal to cushion ever so slightly but it doesn't appear that this it the case.
The windscreen seals look mildly curled under in the corner too.

Could I get some advice as to how to proceed? I have put some gaffa tape on the corners of the windscreen seal just in case.
I was going to pick up some door seals form a scrapyard because new ones are fairly expensive - but if I buy second hand door seals there's a chance they will be rubbish also...

Essentially, I'm just looking for general advice for anyone who has had this problem!
Garage quote me £80 investigation charge then plus any repair costs.
So I'm planning on removing the seat on sunday and drying the carpet out myself.

BeenThroughItAll

beanandbean wrote: »

Hi all. I recently purchased a second hand car (Vauxhall Meriva 2004) and after taking it through the car wash I found that the drivers side footwell was absolutely soaked.
After googling I get the idea that maybe its the windscreen seals or the door seals.
When I shut the drivers side door there is no softness to the sound - I tried googling this but its an odd thing to google. By that I mean when the door is shut, I hear the metal on metal sound of the latch catching the ring of the door very harshly. I would expect the door seal to cushion ever so slightly but it doesn't appear that this it the case.
The windscreen seals look mildly curled under in the corner too.

Could I get some advice as to how to proceed? I have put some gaffa tape on the corners of the windscreen seal just in case.
I was going to pick up some door seals form a scrapyard because new ones are fairly expensive - but if I buy second hand door seals there's a chance they will be rubbish also...

Essentially, I'm just looking for general advice for anyone who has had this problem!
Garage quote me £80 investigation charge then plus any repair costs.
So I'm planning on removing the seat on sunday and drying the carpet out myself.

Probably much more likely to be blocked drains in the plenum between engine bay and the firewall, where air enters the cabin. Or, it could be a missing pollen filter or leaking pollen filter housing - especially true if you're unable to see any signs of where the water may be entering the car.

SailorSam

Check the windscreen by leaving a duster on top of the dash.

beanandbean

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Probably much more likely to be blocked drains in the plenum between engine bay and the firewall, where air enters the cabin. Or, it could be a missing pollen filter or leaking pollen filter housing - especially true if you're unable to see any signs of where the water may be entering the car.

Hmm. Well I haven't driven her in the rain since I got her, so I haven't had the chance to see where it may we coming from.
There was a suggestion of stripping the carpet and seat out and using water with a drop of food dye as a tracer to try and find the origin of the leak. It might be worth spending an hour of my time to give it a go before I take her in.

beanandbean

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Probably much more likely to be blocked drains in the plenum between engine bay and the firewall, where air enters the cabin. Or, it could be a missing pollen filter or leaking pollen filter housing - especially true if you're unable to see any signs of where the water may be entering the car.

Seems like the pollen filter is fairly easy to replace. I might have a look behind the glove box myself and see how accessible it is.

BeenThroughItAll

beanandbean wrote: »

Seems like the pollen filter is fairly easy to replace. I might have a look behind the glove box myself and see how accessible it is.

Right - so if the filter's housed inside the vehicle behind the glovebox, the issue is more likely inside the plenum; possibly where the air intake to the HEVAC unit is located.


My money's still on blocked drains in the plenum as #1 likelihood.

Does the car have a sunroof? Often there are drains in the corners with tubes then running behind the trim to the outside. Over time the tubes can become blocked or split, allowing water in - it very often ends up in the footwell.

kaya

the normal cause for water in the footwell is a broken or leaking heater matrix, keep an eye on the water level in the engine and if it drops its your heater

BeenThroughItAll

kaya wrote: »

the normal cause for water in the footwell is a broken or leaking heater matrix, keep an eye on the water level in the engine and if it drops its your heater

I'd say that was far from the 'normal' cause. I've come across only two damaged matrices in 20-odd years.


Normally noticeable at all times too, not just after going through a carwash...

beanandbean

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Right - so if the filter's housed inside the vehicle behind the glovebox, the issue is more likely inside the plenum; possibly where the air intake to the HEVAC unit is located.


My money's still on blocked drains in the plenum as #1 likelihood.

Does the car have a sunroof? Often there are drains in the corners with tubes then running behind the trim to the outside. Over time the tubes can become blocked or split, allowing water in - it very often ends up in the footwell.

The car has two sunroofs (sunrooves?!). I will have a gander at each.
I can access the filter without removing glovebox by popping the bonnet so I'm going to have a peek at that now.
I have access to compressed air, do you think it would be a horrendous idea to run some of the through the drains (provided I can actually locate them, which I may not be able to!)

beanandbean

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

I'd say that was far from the 'normal' cause. I've come across only two damaged matrices in 20-odd years.


Normally noticeable at all times too, not just after going through a carwash...

Yeah. Was bone dry before that and the water/carpet doesn't smell musty at all so I don't think this has happened before

beanandbean

Can I just say a blanket thank you to everyone who took the time to respond. Your help is much appreciated!