water leaks

Post by **Chris Morley** » Thu Jan 01, 1970 1:00 am

Wet carpet or excessive condensation in your 2/4 door saloon? A leaking rear screen rubber will allow water to trickle down behind the back seat and flood the cavity underneath the rear seat. As this is only spot welded to the floorpan, water will seep through and soak the carpet.
To check, lift the rear seat squab and point a torch into the row of holes. Any rust or water inside will indicate a leak. If left untreated the rust will eventually break out where the rear spring front hangers are, and that's an expensive & difficult floorpan repair.[ This Message was edited by: Chris Morley on 21-03-2002 01:00 ]

Post by **rayofleamington** » Fri Nov 01, 2002 3:13 pm

I once bought a 4 door with that same problem - it seems common on the less well maintained cars, and makes plenty of money for back street garages.
The previous owner had spent litterally hundreds having the floor plated and re-plated every year until eventually giving up.
It took me a while to remove the rotten repairs and had to replace a huge amount of the car's floors.

Moral of the story - seal all the windows, with new rubbers if necassary as it is far cheaper than letting the car rot away.

Post by AJ » Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 pm

Hi,
First post so hope I get this right......

Had a similar problem with my series 11, carpets were always wet in offside rear footwell and the back of the boot could accumulate an inch or so of water after prolonged rain. It wasn't the window rubber however and it took me an age to track down the source of the leak. The water just appered with no obvious signs of where it had come from. I had helpers with watering cans and hose pipes whilst I sat inside the car, nothing, no sign of a leak yet when it rained the water reappeared.
I eventually tracked it down with a pump up garden sprayer, I set the nozzle to a jet and tried playing it along any bodywork seam/joint I could.......and yep the water got in.
It turned out that there was a small gap/hole in the guttering just above the offside rear door and this was enough to let the water in. It must have found its way down the tubular section that runs above and around the door frames to a hidden point where it found a way out and flooded the car. I fixed it by applying some black bodywork putty (DumDum?) to the tiny gap in the gutter, the car has been dry ever since!

I was lucky though, the car had never been used in the winter and no serious rust had developed!

AJ

Post by **MrA.Series** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 11:58 am

I had that problem with my 2-door! Hehe, it was such a mistery to me at first, untill I noticed dirt being washed in onto the rear parcel self. Took the seat up and there was at least 3inch of water in the box cavity! An old industrial hoover was the only way I could empty the cavity through the holes in the top. A new rubber sorted it out fine.

Post by **Chris Morley** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 12:12 am

I syphoned most of the water out of the box cavity using a 3 ft length of plastic tube (as used in fish tanks) . Then I pushed a cloth through the holes which soaked up most of the remaining water. Finally I got rid of the last traces using a heat gun. Then I flooded the cavity with waxoyl.

Post by **an_avenger** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 12:23 am

If any one is lucky to come across some dessicant crystals (you know; you stick on a new pair of shoes and get a small white sachet stuck between ya toes!) chuck a load in every cavity! I've got a massive bag underneath my driver's seat to mop up any atmospheric condestation! Its very good - the crystals are self-servicing - they soak up the tinyest bit of moisture and then when they get warm the water evapourates away!

Not sure where you can get them from - I was lucky doing a science degree at uni i managed to get some from the lab - but these crystals come in every thing these days - but you could buy 100 pairs of Shoes!!!!!!

Post by **brit** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 1:17 am

Funny enough I've been flapping over this problem tonight. I thought id sorted it a long time ago but found my rear carpet to be soaking this eve. How easy are new seals to fit?

Post by **Dizzi141** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 8:27 am

I noticed that my rear footwells and carpets were wet too, when I get my car back I shall investigate!

Post by **d_harris** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 10:44 am

When are you painting it dizzi?

Post by **MrA.Series** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 11:57 am

an_avenger wrote:If any one is lucky to come across some dessicant crystals...

I tried with two large 3kg (industrial!) bags of the stuff in my Minor and also in my parents Rover which suffers from condensation. I find that they don't actually help to tackle water on a large scale degree, just atmospheric humidity.

Dizzi141 wrote:Funny enough I've been flapping over this problem tonight. I thought id sorted it a long time ago but found my rear carpet to be soaking this eve. How easy are new seals to fit?

Which seals in question? The rear window rubber is quite okay to fit, takes a couple of attemps, and string and lube are a definate need. Door seals are dead easy. It's just trying to get the dorrs to close nicely with the new seals that is the problem!

Post by **brit** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 9:12 pm

New main door seals went horribley horribley wrong for me so i gave up *they kept coming off when the door was opened plus id cut them a little too short* I still have them but I think they are usuless now

, im talking about rear side window seals mine are totally dead one of them lets in a silly amount of water.

Post by **MrA.Series** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:18 am

oh, I've never even thought of changing mine. Hmmm, looks as if the previous owners of my mog have injected copious amounts of silicon sealer along the crevace in the rubber...

Post by **brit** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 2:32 pm

aaaargh I want a garage!

, I've been told by some people that this may be a pretty hard job *so I will prob just do a bodge job* but If I had a garage id probabley strip the car

Post by **edd** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 3:37 pm

but If I had a garage id probabley strip the car

You dont need a garage to strip a car. Its easyier with one mind.
It depends if you can get the car off the road.

Edd

Post by **Kevin** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 4:43 pm

Brit why not see if you have a local windscreen fitter who does private work and ask him for a price if you supply the rubbers.

Post by **Chris Morley** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:45 pm

Brit & Dizzi - when a window rubber causes a leak it's sensible & cost effective to fix it ASAP. When the roof of a house leaks you fix the leak before redecorating: the same logic applies to durable old cars. There's really not much point buying Wolfrace wheels or buying loads of pink paint for a car which will soon develop floorpan holes.

.

Have a look in the Yellow pages - a local firm advertised in there that they specialised in classic car window refitting. It cost me £45 (I bought the rubber from ESM). A new floor costs at least 20 times more.....

Post by **MrA.Series** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 10:57 am

How true!

Post by **salty_monk** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 6:04 pm

Mine has this leak on the drivers side rear, loads of work has been done on that side of the car but hardly anything on the drivers side, must have been leaking for years & yet I found it the first time it rained....
Looks like it's common though from this thread!
I've got a tube of silicon that will seal under water, (useful as it keeps raining & I don't have a garage!) (my dad works for Wurth so I get some good freebies on occasion). I'm going to run that under the rubber (which is pretty solid..) & see if it works, I'll keep you posted.

Post by **Kevin** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 8:09 pm

The best solution is to renew the rubber, its often the case that its only when you look closely that you realise the rubber is starting to crack but appears to be quite sound and they dont cost that much, and you are only putting off the inevitable.

Post by **salty_monk** » Sun Nov 23, 2003 11:48 am

You're right of course! (incidentally I meant solid in a bad way... sorry bit misleading).
I'll get one eventually! Interestingly there is a piece of wire (or is it string?) which appears to come down from the rubber & is fixed to the body behind the trim with a self tapper, is this normal?? Anyone know what it is? It seems to be this which channels the water down from the window anyway... I wondered if I should attempt at taking it out?