Thread: Water in the footwell - a sunroof problem?

Of late, after heavy rain, the aircon fan sounds like it is running in water. There's some water in the p/s footwell. The drains have been checked and are clear.

I've just sent the car for a new roof lining and George (who is doing the trimming for me) called yesterday to say, "Mate, your sunroof is cactus". Apparently the frame around the glass has a big hole rusted through. So I called the company who do mechanical services for me and they told me that this is not unknown, and that they won't repair a sunroof any more because the last time that they tried, they broke the glass because everything gets rusted together. George thinks that there must be lots of water going down the hole that has rusted and that perhaps the drains cannot cope.

I've read a few threads about water in the footwell and thought that some people might find the sunroof information useful, and also thought that others may have experience of the rusting because I was also informed "They all do that!" (My favourite words as used by the motor industry to explain some cr4p design flaw, as if that then makes it ok)

Has anyone else enjoyed the same experience and are there words of wisdom to share?

Originally Posted by RR P38

Water in the left foot well indicates that the drain(s) are blocked up.
get under the RR up above the gearbox there are 2 nipples (rubber about the size 5-10c piece) that block with dirt. Very hard to see.1 either side.
Take a torch and a stick 40cm x 3mm and do it when the exhaust is cold.
Doesnt sound like a sun roof issue to me.

I would concur that the water appearing in the LH footwell is most likely from the AC condensate.

In my case there was a lot of water dripping from the LH ducting at the join near the blower motor. It had been a particularly humid couple of days in Melbourne and the water had saturated the carpet along the side near the door and then somehow found its way out under the car dripping from a seam near the rear edge of the passengers door.


Pic from under the car near the rear of the passenger door.

The first thing I did was check the drain pipes. You can pull these drains off from inside the car without dismantling anything. I used compressed air to check these tubes were clear (I believe both were clear). Interestingly it appeared that the RH drain had very little condensate coming from it whereas the LH drain had lots. My conclusion is that the AC drain tray or whatever collects the evaporator condensate is not level and the water tends to flow to the LH side, building up and eventually coming out the ducting on that side. Very strange to say the least as there was so much water appearing on the LH side and very little on the RH side..

It is possible that the drain was partially blocked (lots of water was appearing on the ground below the LH drain outlet before my clearing attempt).
I'm not really convinced that I have found the solution to this problem yet and am waiting for the next (if ever) humid day in Melbourne.

I intend to investigate this further and will definitely report any findings.