Water in drivers footwell

[Anonymous]

Just bought a Dolphin Blue 2010 RCZ 156THP GT with 29,000 miles on the clock. Happy with it all except that the drivers side footwell carpet is soaking wet.

I can't see any obvious problems with the door seal and the windscreen and seal don't appear damaged or anything. Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone know a likely cause?

I'm wondering how easy it is to pull the carpet back and see if I can see where the water's coming in. Are the surrounding trim panels holding the carpet in place easy to take off?

The cars under a 6month warranty, but if Ic an quickly and easily resolve it self, I'd rather not have the hassle of loosing the car for a few days while they go through trial and error replacements of various seals etc.

All other footwells are dry.

All ideas/advice welcome.

 

[Abzynthe]

Water in the footwells are usually either the door seals or a leaking heater matrix.
The seals may look ok, but the smallest gap will let water in.

 

[Anonymous]

Personally, I'd be taking it back under warranty. With only 6 months warranty remaining on the car, you need to be getting this fault "logged" in case in continues beyond the warranty period.

You can by the sound of it wait until a courtesy vehicle is available to minimise the inconvenience. I be suspecting climate control/heating leaks. How well does the heating system work?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks - came to a similar conclusion. I'm going to get them to look at it under warranty and take a courtesy car.

Interesting point on the heater, I'll keep an eye on its performance. I presume if there's a leak on the heater matrix I should notice the engine coolant level dropping also?

 

[Jimbrodie1]

In the floor pan of cars are drain holes. These are used when the cars are run through the anti corrosion ED dip tanks. When the car emerges from the tanks the excess liquid coating drains back through these holes into the tanks. These holes are then sealed during the paint and assembly processes.

Different manufacturers seal these in different ways, rubber grommets, plastic plugs and plates with sealant it is possible one of these have come out. If they have it will allow water in from underneath which will soak your carpet. Best way to check is just get underneath the footwell and you will see if one has come out.

 

[Anonymous]

A while back whilst my Z was in the dealers for some work, the service manager mentioned to me about a problem with some Z's having leaks through the bulk head, where the wireing harness comes through, but if I recall that was on the passenger side, but water can track to a different place to where it originally starts. :eusa-think:

I did mention this on here, but it was a while ago.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestions all. It's booked into my local garage for diagnosis on Thurs. I'll let you know. I heard there's a drain under the front wiper panel that can get blocked on RCZs, so that, along with the rest of this list will go to the garage for them to check out. Warranty guys say they'll I nurse me, or if it's a big job (which both they and the garage doubt) they'll take it back to do it themselves.

 

[Anonymous]

No joy from my local mechanic, says the drains all seem to be running clear. Needs some more intrusive investigation, like removing interior panels etc. sounds like a job for Peugeot or the dealership I bought it from...

 

[Anonymous]

How frustrating!! :thumbdown: Keep us posted and hopefully it is resolved quickly.

 

[Anonymous]

The dealership I bought the car from would like to remind me that water ingress is not covered by their warranty, let battle commence!

In the mean time, I took the car to my local main dealer who says the driver's door is misaligned, suggesting body work may have been carried out on the car before I had it. The result is they water is entering at the top of the B-Pillar and that a body shop needs to look into it.

I've looked up adjustment in the Peugeot workshop manual I've downloaded from e-manuals. It looks relatively simple, just a few bolts on the hinges and the slam panel to loosen off and the alignment can be adjusted to suit. Could this be a DIY solution, or do those lore in the know than I discourage amateur mechanics from messing around with door alignment? Is it an art form, or is it simple? Or am I missing the point, could it be a lot worse and e door be warped or misshapen or something.

It all looks relatively ok to me, it is a bit proud at the bottom of the door, compared to the top at the B-Pillar end, but it's a very small difference.

Any experts out there?

 

[Anonymous]

Someone else on here wanted to adjust a door a few weeks back, not sure if they went ahead though :eusa-think:

I'm trying to picture how the door would adjust ?
I can see that if you loosend the hinge bolts you could adjust the door left to right or up down on the left or right side, but I cant see how you can pull the "proud" offending part of the door inwards :eusa-think:

Have tried holding a hose over the door to see where exactly it is entering.
Maybe the door is not the problem.
Water leaks can start in one place but be seen in a totally different part of the car, a service tech at my local dealership mentioned to me a little while ago about some Z's having problems with water getting in behind the fuse box through the wiring loom that comes in from the bulk head, it took them a while to trace the problem and they've had a few in with the same problem, but I think that was on newer models?
Also I was at the same dealers very recently when a lady was kicking off big time because her "bubble" glass was leaking, so unless you know for sure it is the door you may need to go over certain place methodically with a slow running hose, try to eliminate each possible cause before going onto the next panel/door ect....

Anyway, I hope you manage to sort it , good luck. :thumbup:

 

[Anonymous]

I was just thinking (ouch), a couple of years ago I owned a Renault Megan which I bought from new, after a few months one of the electric window motors packed up so it went back into the dealers for a new motor, but after I had it back I would find water in the door card tray or the footwell would be wet, all depending how the car was parked.

Anyway, it turned out that the door card is designed to hold back water that runs down the door glass into the inside of the door, which happens on all cars, but because the door card had been removed to replace the motor on the window, and not resealed as it would of been from new, it was now letting in water to the car, but not all of the time.

I only mention this because you say that theres a chance that your Z has had work done on the door, so maybe if the door card was removed, perhaps it was not sealed properly when it went back, which is a quick and easy fix for any dealer.
It might be worth asking your dealer to take off the door card to check if it is sealing correctly.

Just a thought (ouch), no more thinking for me tonight, too painful

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jactac - I was about to launch into my own diagnostic attempts this weekend. I planned to take out the drivers seat, the plastic trim between the carpet and door and food the carpet up on the drivers side whilst someone hosed the car down all over.

But the dealership called me in response to my letter pointing out a few things about the Sale of Goods Act and Misrepresentation. They're taking the car back tomorrow and giving me a courtesy car while they adjust the door and dry out the carpets free of charge. Result.

If it comes back after that, I will indeed look into it myself. I also own an extremely modified 1995 Escort and had the dash, seats, carpet out of that for a day whilst a friend hosed it down so I could find all the leaks. If I can make a 20 year old car water tight, I'm sure I can do the same with a 3 year old one (don't really want to have to though, taking the dash out of a 3 year old car fills me with dread).

I've got the electronic workshop manual (the one the main dealers use as their guide) which shows how to adjust the door. The hinges will allow adjustment up and down and also a bit of in and out at the from of the door. But for the B-Pillar it's really the position of the 'catch' (not sure what that's called - the bit that the door lock grabs onto in the closed position). Loosening the fixings on that and giving it a tap with a rubber mallet towards the car makes the door shut tighter. Knocing it upwards makes the door close higher etc etc. I expect it's trial and error, fiddly and someone well versed in the work (such as an experienced body shop) will do a better job than me!

Also I'd rather have it resolve under warranty and have some sort of comeback in case it recurs.

You are right, I'm not 100% sure it's the door, but since the main dealer's pointed it out, I'll get that sorted and take it from there. It's 3 years old, 29,000 miles, has almost every extra going and cost me £12,495. I think that's pretty reasonable so don't mind if I have to spend a little more on it to fix a problem or two.

 

[the big blue]

Hi mk_83 ...Sale And Supply Of Goods And Services Act 1994 all the way! ,,forget about what they may try and say about their warranty which is more likely to in fact be an MBI (Motor Breakdown Insurance policy which are generally termed as warranty's) which legally denote, "This Does Not Affect Your Statutory Rights" which I see that you've already researched!

The 1994 regulation that I stated is simply an update consolidation of the Sale Of Good Act 1979 that you quoted, and your argument should be that the goods (RCZ) is not of "satisfactory quality" taking into account how long you've had the vehicle, price paid and the nature of the fault. Its not for you to have to make the repair yourself BUT for the dealer to meet their statutory obligations under the Act.

Good luck and may your feet soon be dry, had you wanted wet feet you would have bought a convertible and kept the roof down :thumbup:

.the big blue (back bencher, wannabe Master Detailer ..and shhh' I hear theirs a former trading standards enforcement officer at large :shock: ,,not that I believe it) !