Disco 2 Footwell Leak Tracing

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Naf623

Active Member
Posts
296
Location
York
Discovered (boom boom) that the front carpets are drenched underneath - but no signs of it above. No clue how long they've been like that. I've got the carpets out and drying in the lovely sun, so now I need to get to tracing where its all got in from. Could do with help not only where, but more specifics of how to get at/find some of the places; as well as how to test and fix.

It's not red, I'm not losing that sort of quantity of coolant, and it seems to be near the doors, so it's not heater matrix. And I don't have any sunroofs, so not that either. Had the headlining completely replaced just a couple of months ago, and there were no signs of leaks then, nor any wet patches on it now. I did used to get damp patches at the tops of the A pillars, but I stopped those years ago with a little external sealing work to the gutter ends. I've also already looked at the A piller drain holes, and assuming they're supposed to only be a few mm deep at that point, they seem clear too.

Two things I have identified are the holes in the floor (body mount access?) weren't plugged. I've added grommets now - but how much water would realistically make in through them (I don't even off road, let alone wade)? And secondly the seals around the door straps are loose. I guess water would get in there, especially heavy rainfall; but wouldn't that drain out through the A pillars? Any good suggestions what to use to reseal those up?

I've also had the air con drains suggested, but again it seems like a lot of water for that to me. But worth checking, I just don't know where?
Or the drain along the bottom of the windscreen? How do I get in there and see if there's any issues?

Any help with how to trace and fix appreciated.
 
Investigations continue.

I've replaced the rubber door strap seals with some neoprene that I cut to fit, and also had the whole lower windscreen cowl off, cleaned things up, and reassembled. I suspect the rubbers at each end were badly positioned, plus one of the screws and the debris filter were missing completely. With that back on I've taken this incredibly hot, dry day to pour water down the windscreen and see where it goes.

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I've discovered that on the driver's side a little water comes out of the circled hole in the engine bay, and pools above the wheel arch where the arrow points to some rusty mess. On the underside that soaks through, and I presume that with sustained rain that's soaking through and inside the footwell too, though it didn't seem to make it that far in my tests. I'm not really sure this represents as much water as it takes to drench the carpet, though.

Similarly on the passenger side I also found a small hole in the drainage channel which would dribble a bit onto the wheel arch; but again, nowhere near enough to account for the literal pool I had in the footwell last week, and no sign of anything on the inside anyway.

Where else should I start pouring water to see if any gets in?
 
Think we all been through this, and to be honest it could be coming from anywhere.
Start at the top, sunroof, roof bars, work down, windscreen all around, remove front scuttle cover.
Up in footwells, grommets, door seals.
I ended up selling mine as I just could not get to the bottom of it.
Sorry not much help but if I had my time over again, I would strip the carpets and insulation and seal everywhere !
Good luck.
 
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