brand new car - passenger side footwell carpet has become soaked with water

Inigo_Montoya

Nobbie1967 said:

Inigo_Montoya said:

angrycrow said:

Are we actually talking soaked carpets or just damp. The last one I dried out was a cabriolet with a leaky roof. After removing the carpets there was still 7 litres of water sat in the floor pan. I suspect there was about the same volume soaked into the carpet. After 5 days of leaving the carpet in the sun during the day and storing it inside at night it was completely dry and no problems with mould since. That's what I would class as soaked carpets. The key is to get it really dry before putting it back in. A dehumidifier speeds things up.

It is unlikely this car is that bad and it could just be a damp carpet, running a dehumidifier in the car would dry it out quickly with no lasting issues once the leak is found and fixed. 

as far as I can tell it is soaked through and not just damp e.g push a finger into the carpet & you can see the water logging

water has not started pooling above the carpet so far

we have now visited Renault & the service manager was very non committal about removing the carpet to dry it out - he seemed to imply that the carpet would not be removed if the water was only in the carpet pile above the "wax layer" - we are not happy with this so will be writing a letter saying we want the carpet removed and dried out properly

I had a similar experience myself in an Astra car I previously owned around 25 years ago when IIRC a small heat exchanger near the gear stick that heats the cabin air started leaking coolant  & the carpet & floor pan  got completely water logged with engine coolant

The service manager may well be right. If the leak has come from above the carpet then it may well not go through to the backing and just need drying out from the top. I had an accident with 5 litres of oil sloshing around my footwell and it never got through to the backing.

Even if its just the upper "pile" of the carpet that is wet (& thats a big if) then I still cannot see how they are going to be able to dry it fully without removing it  

I am pretty sure even just the upper pile of the carpet can hold a lot of water & the footwell is completely soaked 

However if  there is a way to dry the carpet fully without removing it then I am happy to take advise on that  

We have just spent a lot of money on a brand new car 3 weeks ago so we are not prepared to accept anything other than a carpet in the same dry condition it was in when we took ownership

Ant555

Whatever method they use, I guess you could take along some loo roll or tissue and press/dab into the carpet when you collect.   If its still damp then you can point it out to them there and then.

Chris_English

As well as the air conditioning issue this could also be caused by a blocked drain hole stopping water running away properly or by a piece of seal having gone loose.

The dealer should be able to quickly identify and fix it, but it’s also worth finding the owners group (if there is one) and asking there. Issues like this will often be down to a well-known thing.

ian16527

I had this issue on a Ford Mondeo which was the pollen filter leaking after a service. The passenger footwell was soaked over a couple of months

Once repaired, I used the aircon all the time and this dried the carpet out as it takes the moisture out of the cabin.

No residual effects or mould

Exemplar

Grumpy_chap said:

Is it a leak, or could something have been left slightly ajar?  With the current weather, a very slight not closed window would allow a lot of water in.

Don't you mean leaving the window (K)adjar?

pulliptears

I've had two wet cars over the years.
The first, a Renault Clio, was a very common issue with water tracking down from a leaky sunroof into the footwell and unfortunately into the ECU.  That was not a cheap day....

The second, a Fiat 500 and the cause of that was a blocked drain under the windscreen.  My own fault, I'd neglected to clear the leaves.

Nobbie1967

Inigo_Montoya said:

Nobbie1967 said:

Inigo_Montoya said:

angrycrow said:

Are we actually talking soaked carpets or just damp. The last one I dried out was a cabriolet with a leaky roof. After removing the carpets there was still 7 litres of water sat in the floor pan. I suspect there was about the same volume soaked into the carpet. After 5 days of leaving the carpet in the sun during the day and storing it inside at night it was completely dry and no problems with mould since. That's what I would class as soaked carpets. The key is to get it really dry before putting it back in. A dehumidifier speeds things up.

It is unlikely this car is that bad and it could just be a damp carpet, running a dehumidifier in the car would dry it out quickly with no lasting issues once the leak is found and fixed. 

as far as I can tell it is soaked through and not just damp e.g push a finger into the carpet & you can see the water logging

water has not started pooling above the carpet so far

we have now visited Renault & the service manager was very non committal about removing the carpet to dry it out - he seemed to imply that the carpet would not be removed if the water was only in the carpet pile above the "wax layer" - we are not happy with this so will be writing a letter saying we want the carpet removed and dried out properly

I had a similar experience myself in an Astra car I previously owned around 25 years ago when IIRC a small heat exchanger near the gear stick that heats the cabin air started leaking coolant  & the carpet & floor pan  got completely water logged with engine coolant

The service manager may well be right. If the leak has come from above the carpet then it may well not go through to the backing and just need drying out from the top. I had an accident with 5 litres of oil sloshing around my footwell and it never got through to the backing.

Even if its just the upper "pile" of the carpet that is wet (& thats a big if) then I still cannot see how they are going to be able to dry it fully without removing it  

I am pretty sure even just the upper pile of the carpet can hold a lot of water & the footwell is completely soaked 

However if  there is a way to dry the carpet fully without removing it then I am happy to take advise on that  

We have just spent a lot of money on a brand new car 3 weeks ago so we are not prepared to accept anything other than a carpet in the same dry condition it was in when we took ownership

Just leaving a dehumidifier in the car for 24 hours will dry out the carpet once the majority of the surface water has been removed. They’re very effective unless the water is trapped in the backing foam, which is when carpet removal is needed.

born_again

Quite a few cars now do not have what we would consider carpet. They have a reconstituted material that is as tough & rough as old leather.

nologo

They will just use a vax type carpet washer to dry out out. You brought a renault, if this is the only problem you have with it you will be lucky...

Nologo 
Ex renault tech...