Water leak in footwells

...Thanks for all your good advice. In my case, the water primarily (!) seems to come from above the footwell but below the sort of dashbord or should I say small items gully. Passenger side of course. I took off the piece of metal that is meant to hold the antivibe padding in place, and behind there appeared a horizontal strip of considerable corrosion and wetness. As with the others, the car stays bone dry in the worst weather when driving (strange when it´s supposed to be the vent lining...?) but the right hand side footwell transforms into an aquarium when the car is parked in heavy rain.

Just been diagnosing and fixing a couple of footwell water leaks on my 1897 Ninety.

Problem was compression of the door seals at the arch above the top door hinges. The hollow D of the seals was getting over compressed and the seal was distorting. This allowed water ingress by capillary action (as well as a draft from the door).

Fix as to pull that part of the door seals away from the attachment flange. Make a 1"/25mm slit, lengthwise, into the seal using a new Stanley knife blade. Insert a 4"/100mm roll of *closed-cell* polythene packaging foam into the hollow D section. This allows the seal to compress without distorting its D shape, as well as ensuring it presses firmly against the door and frame.

It takes a bit of trial and error to find the optimal thickness of foam. Removal between trial fittings is easy with snipe nose pliers.

When finished, reseal the door rubber with waterproof superglue. Job Done!

By the way, I've just been watching Edd, on Wheeler Dealers, using an expensive smoke generator (placed inside a vehicle) to observe where smoke is escaping from the vehicle. This gave me the idea of trying a steam cleaner (steam generator) as a cheaper alternative. Simply run the steam nozzle around the possible ingress areas (like the door seals) from the inside, and have an observer outside the vehicle to see where the smoke is escaping. Yes, it does leave damp in the Landy, but so does a water leak!

Another possibility is to use a tin filled with smouldering hay. This also generates a lot smoke, and the after smell (for a few days) is not too bad; similar to smoke used in cooking (and you can disguise with car air freshener).

Good-luck,
Rick

Good tip is the bulkhead lip under the bonnet needs rubber sealing strip fitting, i had water coming in when it rained hard and the water overflowed the bulkhead gutter and ran down the bulkhead engine side, seal fitted problem stopped, would never have thought of it until i noticed my mates early 90 had one, whether my 93 did I havent a clue, but its been dry for a couple of years now.

You can just see it at the top of the picture

I had water coming down the inside of the door and onto the driver's floor. Traced to the "seal" at the front of the window channel. Even a new seal didn't close the gap. As an experiment I ran a large (18mm) diameter tube from just under the front of the gutter down to the bottom of the door via progressively smaller tubing ty-wrapped to the snorkel. Result! All the water that would otherwise run down the window and into the door now gets diverted. Dry floor. Looks a bit of a lash-up ('coz it is) but now thinking about tidying it all up and routeing the tube into the engine bay and out of the way.

Ogb , when you say the "gutter", are you referring to the gutter of the roof (above the windscreen) or the guttering beneath the bonnet? (A photograph would be useful.) -- Thanks, Rick.

Never been in one that didn't leak somewhere

Bought mine with a missing passenger side carpet, all others fitted...hello, big ole clue there. I suspect my next defender purchase will be better informed

Carpets! What, in a Defender?!
Did it also come with fluffy dice?
HOW can you use the words Carpet and Land Rover DEFENDER in the same sentence?
What happens when you hose it out?
Next thing, you'll be telling us it has sheepskin seat covers. Blimey.
MADNESS!!!!!!

Rick

Richard Seddon said:

Carpets! What, in a Defender?!
Did it also come with fluffy dice?
HOW can you use the words Carpet and Land Rover DEFENDER in the same sentence?
What happens when you hose it out?
Next thing, you'll be telling us it has sheepskin seat covers. Blimey.
MADNESS!!!!!!

Rick

Click to expand...

I jammed the fluffy dice in the hole in the rear crossmember before smearing bonds over it

nesponge said:

Never been in one that didn't leak somewhere

Click to expand...

Thats why I always laugh when people say they are going to fit carpets, you tell them they dont believe you and I hope they enjoy the musty smell for years to come

Richard Seddon said:

Ogb , when you say the "gutter", are you referring to the gutter of the roof (above the windscreen) or the guttering beneath the bonnet? (A photograph would be useful.) -- Thanks, Rick.

Click to expand...

The roof. A pic to follow when the sun comes up again.

ogb said:

The roof. A pic to follow when the sun comes up again.

Click to expand...

....A bit discoloured now as it's been on for a while, but this is plastic pipe from the garden centre.

If the pipe didn't catch the water it flows down the door "seal" to the window, then inside and onto the floor.

I get this on both footwells. It's a small/tiny amount of water that gets in at bottom of door - which is then absorbed/sucked in my the mats, causing more and more water to come in. Solution - put something under the mats so they don't quite touch floor by the door.

Thanks, Obg. Good idea to keep the water from running down the door shuts.

By the way, I decided to spray some water repellent behind the modified (aftermarket) door seals and, when I was doing this, found a 1/4" hole had rusted through the bulkhead. Fortunately, I've caught it in time for waxoyl repair, but another rust area for us Landy owners to add to the list.

Cheers
Rick

johnnyoxford said:

I have it too in my 93 200tdi passenger side only

I think it is getting in through the door seal and then dripping down onto the mats from the door stay thingy. I reached this concusion by parking it sideways on a slope both ways round on different nights, and looking for drips in the morning, have not got round to sorting it out yet.

I think the phrase "thay all do that mate" might be appropriate here.

Be interested to hear other peoples cures though.

Click to expand...

A combination of door seals and bent deals on mine. Dry foot wells and feet now

Richard Seddon said:

Thanks, Obg. Good idea to keep the water from running down the door shuts.

By the way, I decided to spray some water repellent behind the modified (aftermarket) door seals and, when I was doing this, found a 1/4" hole had rusted through the bulkhead. Fortunately, I've caught it in time for waxoyl repair, but another rust area for us Landy owners to add to the list.

Cheers
Rick

Click to expand...

The list is probably endless, but here's the result of the PO ignoring the problem: https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1Vdy8xFr...ryM2jGMw-ncId1424CILgCLcB/s1600/dash+hole.jpg
The water that ran down the front of the windscreen frame "split", part found its way into the door, the rest .....well, this should've been an Mot fail but the blind b*stard that did it missed it.