Paddling in the back seats!

Penguin · Unread post by **Penguin** » 10 Mar 2011, 08:06

A couple fo weeks ago my wife noticed that the footwell of the rear offside passenger seat was sopping wet. I vacuumed out the footwell (using an aquavac type thing) which merely left the carpet damp. I checked out the drainholes in the sunroof (the front ones as I park facing downhill in my drive) and they were fine. The door seal looks OK. Thgis morning when I checked it appears to have got wetter again (haven't used thecar since Monday). Is there anything I should be aware of that is a known issue?

Ta chaps.

Unread post by **citroenxm** » 10 Mar 2011, 10:11

Have you had a sunroof fitted??

Open the doors and pull back the door seal that sits up against the roof edge, you will either see threaded holes or tape covering the holes.. If they are open, try filling the holes up...

IF it was the front passenger then Id say check the windscreen scuttle, but as its the rear thats a little harder..

Is it wet under the SEAT lower half????

Paul

Penguin · Unread post by **Penguin** » 10 Mar 2011, 10:37

Thanks Paul

We have a sunroof but it was fitted as standard when the car was made.

I'll check the holes and see what they are looking like. Never knew they existed.

Not sure about under the rear seat. Certainly not as wet as the footwell but could be damp, but that could just be wicking from the footwell. I'll have a look at lunchtime.

When I open the boot after its been raining I do tend to get water ingress due to the rain pooling in the gulleys at the side of the hatch. Poor design really. I did wonder whether it could be this water running forward but I've only noticed the wet footwell recently and the water has always come into the boot since I've had the car. Also, probably both footwells would be wet if this was the case as water comes in from both gulleys.

Xantidote · Unread post by **Xantidote** » 10 Mar 2011, 11:49

Paul's mentioned looking under the rear seat squab. Have a close look in case water is collecting there, which could be draining in from the boot area. IIRC, there's been posts referring to leaks past the body seal of the lights cluster in rear wing, which ends up under the squab.

I also park downhill, and yes, the design of rear hatch is a pain - always drips into the boot

mendedit · Unread post by **mendedit** » 10 Mar 2011, 11:55

One place I had found rain to come in was from the tailgate hinge,
To see if this is the case remove the cover over the rear pillar below the hinge(s), I found that it worked it's way down inside said pillar then drips inside car through a factory hole in the panel then runs down the inside of the cover and under seat,
I plastered some mastic around hinge under tailgate and jobs a good'un,
Had intended to loosen hinge at a later date and seal properly,
As yet later date has not arrived.

Penguin · Unread post by **Penguin** » 10 Mar 2011, 12:01

Martin, sorry for ignorance but what is a squab?

Edit: Thinking about it the only thing I have done recently was to replace a bulb in the rear light cluster so your post got me excited for a minute, but then I remembered the bulb was rear near side so probably not that.

Unread post by **Paul-R** » 10 Mar 2011, 12:18

Squab can be either the seat base or seat back depending on the car manufacturer. As a result I always prefer to use base and back - no confusion there.

By reading Xantidote's post I would say he means the seat base.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 10 Mar 2011, 12:18

Anoter possible ingress route is the roofrack mounting holes on the sides of the roof.

Open the doors, peel back the rain gutters and check the roofrack holes are plugged or covered. The original factory-applied plugs deteriorate over time.

I filled mine up with RTV Silicone after suffering wet rear footwells.

Unread post by **citroenxm** » 10 Mar 2011, 12:33

CitroJim wrote:Anoter possible ingress route is the roofrack mounting holes on the sides of the roof.

Open the doors, peel back the rain gutters and check the roofrack holes are plugged or covered. The original factory-applied plugs deteriorate over time.

I filled mine up with RTV Silicone after suffering wet rear footwells.

Thats WHAT I said above Jim... But you have worded it better, my words are useless when it come to describing

Paul

Penguin · Unread post by **Penguin** » 10 Mar 2011, 13:19

OK. I have checked the taped up holes under the door seal and they look fine. I pulled the rear seats forward and lifted the carpet and it was wet in there, so mopped that up. That is, it was wet under both seats but only seems to make the off side footwell wet. I guess from that we can say it is coming forward from the rear? I removed the rear light cluster where I changed a bulb recently and that didn't seem excessively damp. The hatch hinge mounts look fine although I haven't had time to remove the pillar cover so could still be the issue I guess.

Unread post by **citroenxm** » 10 Mar 2011, 14:59

Put the car on high, and under the rear passenger wheel arch, look for the sunroof drain pipe which comes out at the top of the arch, check to make sure theres no crap blocking the pipe... clear and unblock as neccessary..

Paul

Penguin · Unread post by **Penguin** » 10 Mar 2011, 15:22

OK Paul I'll give it a go. I'm busy after work tonight but I'll try and have a look at it tomorrow after work. I would be surprised if this were the problem though as I normally park facing downhill (both at home and at work) and surely the water would run to the front drain holes? These I know to be working fine as I have tested them.

I will check anyway.

c.morewood · Unread post by **c.morewood** » 10 Mar 2011, 16:55

Is it an estate? If so it could be the plastic seal inside the rear door. I had problems with a wet boot for years, till I found this forum.
I have had a dry boot for over 2 years now.
There's a opaque plastic cover behind the trim on the boot door which seems to be there to stop water leaking in through the rear wiper seal from getting into the car. Its attached to the door by a double sided sticky tape of some sort.
I have just augmented the tape with loads of good quality bathroom sealant around the bottom half of the plastic and no more wet car.
I would guess that as your car is parked facing downhill the water would make its way from the boot unde the rear seats intho the front foot well.
You could test this theory by parking facing up hill if thats possible.
Hope that helps

mendedit · Unread post by **mendedit** » 10 Mar 2011, 17:32

I couldn't see any glaring fault with the hinge untill I looked realy close then I could just detect hairline cracks above the hinge under the roof.

A squab is also young featherless pigeon still in the nest.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 10 Mar 2011, 19:05

citroenxm wrote: Thats WHAT I said above Jim...

Paul, I'm so sorry

I completely missed your post. I blame the tiny laptop I was using at the time

The laptop gets the blame rather than my addled brain. In truth it's more likely the latter.....