Astra - water in driver's footwell

[Mark (2)]

As header really - '97 Astra (series 3). I took the mats out to clean them, and the underside of the drivers mat was wet. I pressed down on the carpet in the footwell and my hand sank into more and more water.

I took the clips out of the carpet, removed the foam inderneath and there were pints and pints of soapy water in it.

Now I use a jetwash pretty regularly, and there is no water anywhere else inside the car - for this reason I'm pretty confident it's not heater related so where is the best place for me to look for the ingress?

I've got the foam on a cloths-horse in front of the living-room fire drying out after squeezing as much water out as I can. The heater has been set to blow on the footwells all day as I've been riding around, so it's pretty much dry. Before I put the (dried) foam back under the carpet, I'd like to know if anyone else has had this problem and if so, how they solved it??

 

[Mike (2)]

sorry for obvious logic, mark, but it must be coming from above! have a look around the leaf filters on the air intake under the top of the bonnet. pull off the plastic cover etc ( if you have them) and make sure the vents are clear.

next step is to run some water down that side of the windscreen & follow it's course. might even the sunroof channel ( if you have one fitted) check they are clear ( poke some thin wire down the pipe)

lastly, not had any previous owners that drilled a hole for wires to come thru??

good luck
hope you find it.

mike

 

[Mark (2)]

sorry for obvious logic, mark, but it must be coming from above! have a look around the leaf filters on the air intake under the top of the bonnet. pull off the plastic cover etc ( if you have them) and make sure the vents are clear.

next step is to run some water down that side of the windscreen & follow it's course. might even the sunroof channel ( if you have one fitted) check they are clear ( poke some thin wire down the pipe)

lastly, not had any previous owners that drilled a hole for wires to come thru??

good luck
hope you find it.

mike

Thanks for that Mike. I dried the sponge out last night and went out to the car this morning with a view to refitting it.

When I got the carpet up again, there was the water (again). I then looked up around the back of the pedals and spotted something I missed yesterday - the backplate that I thought was actually made of plastic is actually sponge, just like the mat I dried out last night. That too was completely sodden, so I've wrung it out as best I can.

I've had the bulkhead cover off under the bonnet, and the lowest part of it seems to be the pollen filter housing. There's nothing else under there that seems to be able to take water apart from a square hole at either side which seem to go through the inner-wings.

The next step will probably be a hosepipe under the wiper and the interior trim out under the dashboard to see if it's coming in through the bulhead or the wing. In the meantime, I'll just have to keep checking and mopping...

 

[Mike (2)]

good work mark
getting a little closer.
i wonder if the stuff & the back of the pedals has 'soaked-up' water from below or is it getting in from above it?

btw, was the pollen filter dry?

mike

 

[Mark (2)]

good work mark
getting a little closer.
i wonder if the stuff & the back of the pedals has 'soaked-up' water from below or is it getting in from above it?

btw, was the pollen filter dry?

I was wondering the same thing - I'm hoping it has, that way the likely ingress is through the door somewhere and not behind the dash (hope springs eternal).

I'm leaving the foam underlay out for the week to see how quick the carpet gets wet.

Thanks again.

 

[Mike (2)]

could be
any signs of water stains on the indise of the seals etc.

mike

 

[Mike (2)]

ok now we know your problem....and yes it is a common problem.look under the bonnet and where the wiper motor is situated you will see a drain pipe that comes out just above the steering rack...unblock it because after a while it will be full of leaves and other debris...what happens is the water collects here and builds up, because the drain pipe is blocked it will simply enpty into the car via the heater vents.

 

[Mark (2)]

ok now we know your problem....and yes it is a common problem.look under the bonnet and where the wiper motor is situated you will see a drain pipe that comes out just above the steering rack...unblock it because after a while it will be full of leaves and other debris...what happens is the water collects here and builds up, because the drain pipe is blocked it will simply enpty into the car via the heater vents.

You're right - I checked it and it was full of leaves and black sh1te which stuck to everything ('orrible stuff).

The wife wasn't too pleased with the state of the kitchen sink when I'd finished cleaning it out, but peace has now returned chez nous...

I've still got damp in the foam rubber behind the pedals, but as I don't want to end up shredding it, I'll leave it where it is and let the heater dry it out slowly. We should then see if there is any more water build-up.

Thanks again

Mark

 

[Mike (2)]

well, i'd take it out & dry it indoors.
the moisture will stay in the car this time of year & reform as condensation everytime the motor gets hot then cold.

you will never know if you have cured it until you do,

mike

 

[Mark (2)]

well, i'd take it out & dry it indoors.
the moisture will stay in the car this time of year & reform as condensation everytime the motor gets hot then cold.

you will never know if you have cured it until you do,

mike

Right...

Chopped out the foam behind the pedals (all one piece so I used a craft knife). Dried it out on the clothes horse in front of the fire (again). I then dried out the footwell and put the carpet back.

Went out to pick the kids up (in the rain). Got home and took the carpet up and inspected the floor underneath. HEY PRESTO !! Water was back at the front of the seat runner nearest the door. It was a tiny amount but it made me look very closely at the floor. The floor wasn't wet anywhere else, and using the torch, I couldn't see any 'beading' higher up behind the dash where it could've run in from the bulkhead area.

I looked at the floor where it was wet, and under the paint I made out what I thought was a washer - when I poked at it with my thumb nail, it became clear what it was; a rubber grommet and a wet one at that. I got under the sill with my torch and looked at the bottom of the car to see the other side of the grommet which was only partially pushed into the hole - some use that was!!

Given that this is almost directly behind the offside front wheel, I want to be convinced that the water is being forced up through this imperfect grommet seal (now replaced) and that the ingress has been a slow but steady one over a long period of time. My insistance of power-washing the underside of the sills won't have helped if this is the source of the water, but I'm not total sure of it (it would explain why the water is soapy though). I will leave the carpet out for a week and see what it shows me this time next week.

 

[steveb]

My insistance of power-washing the
underside of the sills won't have helped if this is the source of the water, but I'm not total sure of it (it would explain why the water is soapy though). I will leave the carpet out for a week and see what it shows me this time next week

Also, the power washing could be what first pushed the grommet out of place (or is that what you meant?)

steveb

 

[Mike (2)]

yea, well that's the standard fitting for all vauxhalls with the crap heater matrix....a drain hole! makes it easy for the monkey to get it dry! HEHE.

well done mark.

good thread...one for the FAQ replies.

mike

 

[Philip]

ok now we know your problem....and yes it is a common problem.look under the bonnet and where the wiper motor is situated you will see a drain pipe that comes out just above the steering rack...unblock it because after a while it will be full of leaves and other debris...what happens is the water collects here and builds up, because the drain pipe is blocked it will simply enpty into the car via the heater vents.

Yep happened to me and was a mystery of where the water was coming from for a while!

Regards

Philip

 

[Mark (2)]

Yep happened to me and was a mystery of where the water was coming from for a while!

Regards

Philip

Cheers Philip - Hopefully I've solved the problem I had when I sealed the rubber grommets in the footwell. I've still got a bit of water in the solid soundproofing pad to dry out, but once that's done all the foam rubber can go back under the carpet.

No ingress of water for nearly a fornight now - seems good to me.

Rgds

Mark