Xantia water leak fix and upgrades

[mirafioriman]

I've had a water leak for some time and it's been getting more and more annoying.

I also bought a nice black exclusive leather interior and matching door panels last weekend

So started the job today. I removed the seats and carpets including the side trims and carpet in the boot.

Some pictures below:

Rear seat bases removed



All seats out



All carpets out



Water sitting in the wells below the rear seat bases



The boot sound deadening was absolutely sopping so I'm pretty sure the leak is into the boot area and it's then running down into the rear seat base area and the footwell.

I fitted one of the new door panels to the near side rear.

Before:



After:



The carpets are currently hung up inside to dry out. Next job is to locate and fix the leak.

More soon

[Lighty]

Nice work, not sure on your leak though .

[Clogzz]

If the wetness starts from a corner of the boot, then it's caused by water getting in through the opening for the wires of the tail light.
You may see water sloshing around inside the light cluster.
Check that the light is firmly tightened and the seal in good shape.

[CitroJim]

Excellent on the leather. It makes a lovely interior and comfy seats

Does the car have a sunroof? If so, check all four drains are working by pouring coloured water into the channel with the roof open and ensuring you see four puddles under the wheel-arches. If not, the drains need to be cleared. Rear ones exit at the top of the wheel-arches and can become choked with mud.. Gentle compressed air can clear other blockages.

Sometimes the drain pipe can detach from the sunroof gutter and the easiest way to determine is this is the case is to look for damp around the grab handles. the roof lining itself is impervious but water will find a way out, often down the C pillars.

This picture shows a drain pipe that was detached and repaired with bedding mastic and a cable tie...



Another odd place for leaks on a hatch is the roofrack fixing holes. These are sealed with patches but these deteriorate over the years. They are under the rain gutters and by peeling them back you can see then holes. Fill with sealant if they are open..

This shows where they are, there's four sets of them, one above each door.



Luckily Xantias can leak badly yet suffer no rust damage to the floorpans...

[citroenxm]

I also found water gets in on sunroof cars if the Near Side Drain tube is blocked in the rear wheel arch!

Put the car on high, and up in the top corner, scrape away all the mud, and up there is the outlet for the drain.. It fills with mud nautrally from the wheel, give it a poke to free the trapped water like I did and got an arm full of water..

This stopped the water inlet on a Blue SX TD I got here to sell...

[mirafioriman]

The roof rack mountings are already sealed up so it can't be them. Had a little rain last night but it's still bone dry at the moment. As the boot sound deadening was so wet I'm guessing it must be coming in at the rear somewhere as water can't travel upwards and the boot floor is much higher than below the rear seat bases and the rear footwell.

[lurchy666]

is it an estate if it is its the tailgate membrane leaking, had it on mine, have a look on here http://www.attfield.dircon.co.uk/xantia.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

3rd one down on left and it tells you how to fix it

[citroenxm]

its his white one as shown in has Avitar Picture below his user name..

Id go with rear light lens on the hatch too...

[andy5]

My BX had such a spectacular amount of water in the back after a storm that when I went around a corner I heard a waterfall behind me, looked over my shoulder and it was pouring from under the back seat into the footwell

I took all the carpets out and took it to the dealer to fix. That was the sunroof drains.

That's an interesting point about the holes for the Xantia roof rack bolts. I did think they were overdoing masking to stop paint going in, but now I shall tape over them when not in use, which is 99% of the time.

[mirafioriman]

Interesting post on the estate tailgate. Mines a hatch should it not have a membrane fitted too? There does seem to be water around when you open the tailgate.

[CitroJim]

Nope, no membrane in a hatch tailgate. It's designed to be leaky and there's a channel below the glass to catch the leaks and funnel them to the sides.

All the water that pours out when you open it on a wet day is totally normal. Just check that the drain holes on the sides by the sharp corner and at the bottom are all clear as moss likes to grow in them...

[mirafioriman]

It's been dry since I stripped it out until today. Snow this morning which then turned to wind and rain. There is now a small amount of water below the rear seat on the passenger side. So it definitely is leaking I'm off work now until Monday so will hopefully be able to get a proper look and see where the water is coming in at

[Clogzz]

Start by looking in the tail lenses for in case there's water sloshing around in one of them.
If so, it can be fixed in a few minutes; there are two posts about that up the thread.

[mirafioriman]

Well, a little progress. There is water getting in through the rear doors as the inner door membrane is not watertight. I'm onto this and will hopefully have it fixed tomorrow. I also discovered water in the near side rear light. This is currently out and will hopefully be fixed tomorrow too. One issue though is how do I get the water out of it?! I'm not having much luck

Another issue is I still seem to have drips from the driver's side sunroof drain. I'm wondering if the pipe has a split or a hole in it or is leaking where it joins the sunroof tray. Looks like I will have to drop the headlining again

[MTND]

Water sitting in the wells below the rear seat bases

Jim's right about the lack of rust on the Xantia, that does look nice clean rust free white paint! Hope mines nice and white like yours Mirafioriman, hope you get the leak fixed

Mark