Thread: Water Leak - RRS

Originally Posted by Fatso

Think maybe you should have left well enough alone as in your post 34 .

Yes - now I do have wet carpets that I cannot get dry.

It is all SBD4's fault

Originally Posted by garrycol

Yes - now I do have wet carpets that I cannot get dry.

It is all SBD4's fault

But at least you now know what the problem is.

Could even be worth taking to the dealers as the quoted time for repair is 10 minutes...

Originally Posted by the_preacher1973

Could even be worth taking to the dealers as the quoted time for repair is 10 minutes...

Charged in hour blocks

Originally Posted by garrycol

Yes - now I do have wet carpets that I cannot get dry.

It is all SBD4's fault

Sorry Garry

Given the amount of rain around at the moment, I hope you get it sorted out soon.

I have not driven the car since I hosed it down.

As mentioned there was a bit of water in the footwell coming from under the kick panel. I had mopped the water up so the carpets were just damp.

Even though the rain has been light and no new water had come in, when I took the car for a drive down to the shops water rushed in from under the kick panel - so much so the water was about 1cm deep in the lowest section of the floor.

It looks like there must be water traps in the door jam area under the pillar that fills up with water and then over flows down the floor. In my case it looks as if these traps were full of water and as soon as the car moved it all dumped inside - enough water to fully soak a standard sized bath towel.

So it would seem that the pillar leaks but due to the trim not a lot of water gets in and then is collected by these water traps in the door jam where it normally evaporates away with the use of the A/C. It gets caught out when the rain if very heavy and sustained where these traps get filled. In light rain it never gets into the cabin.

The obvious answer is to block the holes in the pillar. I might add that it is only the passenger side that leaks and the drivers side is dry - each side mirrors each other so I guess the driver's side pillar is sealed and the passenger is not.

Garry

Garry,

This has been my experience too - well apart from the hose/flooded compartment . The last few days I have not had any leaks or moisture found in the area around the hinge of the glovebox although the conditions have only seen light rain. The trim on the a pillar seem loose at the base on both drivers and passenger sides although, as you gave said, the leak only seems to occur on the passenger side.

I didn't even up bothering windscreen obrien as I haven't had a leak since I was at the dealer last time. Either they (dealer) fixed it as they were mucking around with all sorts of trim, or I have the same thing going on as you and need heavy rain for it to overflow (albeit a very small amount of moisture).

James

Originally Posted by garrycol

It looks like there must be water traps in the door jam area under the pillar that fills up with water and then over flows down the floor. In my case it looks as if these traps were full of water and as soon as the car moved it all dumped inside - enough water to fully soak a standard sized bath towel.

So it would seem that the pillar leaks but due to the trim not a lot of water gets in and then is collected by these water traps in the door jam where it normally evaporates away with the use of the A/C. It gets caught out when the rain if very heavy and sustained where these traps get filled. In light rain it never gets into the cabin.

Hey Garry. On the weekend I was in the process of replacing all my interior globes with LED's. Whilst doing the front passenger puddle light, I noticed that the body drainage points on my RRS were full of debris. Dirt and leaves.
You can see the condition of the drainage points/flutes when you have the front door open.
I removed the front section of trim from the inner wheel guard, to the rear of the front wheel (not sure I'm explaining that very well). I hosed out all the built up grime and leaves from there. I also noticed a very soft grommet in a hole between the drainage flute and the cabin.
This is where all the water from the windscreen goes once it drains off the screen and down the pillars. If the drainage points are clogged, and by the looks of them they would clog easily, I would imagine that water would ingress into the cabin. Also, if the grommet is missing or damaged water will easily enter the cabin at the passenger foot-well.
Food for thought maybe.

Thanks for that information however I am not sure I follow all of it as there are no drain holes visible when the the door is open. However I do agree that if there was dirt and leaves blocking the drains in the air ventilation plenum there could be an overflow issue.

I took the plenum cover off and the plenum was clear of leaves - I put my snake scope down the holes and all was clear. I also put the hose into the plenum and the water drained away with nothing going inside.

I managed to remove the A pillar trim without breaking the clips. All the clips were damp where they go through the holes in the pillar - also the service action to fix a possible leak in the pillar has not been done.

The holes up the pillar where the clips go could leak (as said were damp) but really only drops at a time. Interestingly the clips that hold the plenum cover in place have a rubber ring on them to seal them, even though they do not need it and the A pillar trim clips do not have this seal and should have them.

The bottom hole which is the subject of the service action is elongated and does not take a clip just a retaining pin moulded into the trim and some sponge material surrounding it.

When I put it all back together I will some rubber over the elongated hole and put some silastic around the clips where they go through the metal in the pillar.

When driving in very heavy rain with the ventilation fan on I can see how water vapour could be sucked into the cabin - direct water could not get in due to the a diverting panel in the plenum cover. Water can however get up between the A pillar and its cover and down the elongated hole when travelling at speed.

Also when parked downhill (as my car is in the drive) water can also come off the roof and down the inside of the pillar cover and through the elongated hole at the bottom. The sealing at the top of the A pillar does not go all the way across the pillar so allows the water in.

So - hopefully fixed.

Garry