Water leak above pedals

[PSX]

Latest update.. I think my windscreen was replaced at some point in time by a previous owner and the rubber seals that go along the A pillar not refitted correctly: the rubber was laying flat on top of the glass and could be easily lifted to reveal the edge of the glass, rather than with the flange folded back and pushed in to meet the edge of the glass. This creates a 'gulley' for water to run down and a slightly raised lip, rather than a flange of rubber laying flat. I hope this will help the problem in the rear (perhaps water was running quickly all around the inner edge of the A panel, round the bottom of the drivers door and then out by the centre pillar, entering the rear footwell here??). I say I hope - because no matter how many buckets of water I poured over the back (and front) of the car last night, I could not seem to pick up where water was getting into the back. This part of the problem is ongoing.

However, I positively confirmed water entering the drivers' footwell, so I went ahead with trying to find and seal the bulkhead/bonnet release leak. I thought it'd be best to try and seal from the outside if possible, just to prevent any water sitting above the panels if possible..

Wiper arms were a pain to remove (when would they ever be easy), but a lot better after applying heat gun for a bit. Made sure to use sellotape to mark the positions of the blades before removal. Scuttle panel then pops off with some coaxing, and can be fully removed once washer hose is disconnected. Interestingly, someone had already tried to fix a leak on my car - a thick white bead of sealant runs for about 15 inches on the drivers side just below the windscreen, which the scuttle sits on top of. I doubt that this was ever a location for a leak, though.. unless the windscreen was refitted poorly.

The hole pointed out on page 1 of this thread was by no means as large on my car - in fact I could not even be positive that it was a hole.. The bonnet cable grommet appears to be in a different place for me. In any case, I applied sealant all along the back of this edge - but not all the way toward the engine so as to still allow a channel for water to drain. It is worth noting that the water deflector clipped in just above will channel water directly down on top of the grommet release and the edge I have sealed. Due to this I thought it wise to apply more sealant to the grommet - however even more may later be needed if the leak is here rather than at the seam. Pictures below, in order..

1. h**p://i50.tinypic.com/2m6puvl.jpg
2. h**p://i47.tinypic.com/kbt0nl.jpg
3. h**p://i45.tinypic.com/154yarr.jpg
4. h**p://i45.tinypic.com/2whh25l.jpg
5. h**p://i45.tinypic.com/ipnx44.jpg


Alex

 

[ajmally100]

I have been having the same problem guys. Sealed all 4 doors about a month ago and it has definitely helped! There is still a leak though and looking at the photos, I think i'll have a go at adding more sealant around the grommet for the bonnet.

Is that the same place where Andi and Costa found the leak? For me, the water seems to be around the accelerator pedal and the plastic foot rest to the right of it. I can't quite picture from your previous posts where you are describing. but it must be coming in from above there... Do you have any photos of your leaky areas?

Cheers for the photos Alex, they are a great help and I will seal the grommet next time I have a bit of free time. Start there at least...

 

[costa]

Hi ajmally100
I sealed everything I could find under the wiper scuttle including the electric cover box ( where the cables go through the bulkhead ), the bonnet release grommit, the bulkhead seam and the windscreen ( righthand side facing car ) but to be honest I am not sure whether any of these were causing the leak which dripped off the bonnet release lever inside the car. There are some good posts from andicapped on here. He found what appears to be another leak up behind the fusebox. Currently, although I have run a hose pipe over the windscreen and scuttle are for more than 5 minutes with no leak, I am waiting for the rains to return to see if I have in fact solved the problem.
Costa.

 

[ajmally100]

I will seal the electrics cover too then just to make sure. I know that there are big holes under the scuttle panel but I am assuming that they are the drain holes to the wheel arch. Perhaps they are a bit big and I could maybe make them a little smaller. There is a lot of s**t in there also, I cleaned out all sorts of stuff and a lot of muddy type material. I think that I will have a look under the fuse box, following the guides on previous post to see if there is a leak in that area. Needle in a haystack job! Thankfully you and andi have put in a lot of ground work already. Makes it a little easier..

 

[PSX]

Ajmally100, the leak I have in the front footwell is the same as you are describing - droplets on the corner of the carpet below and slightly right of the accelerator pedal. Also droplets on the kickpanel trim. So far since sealing that edge and the bonnet release cable grommet I've not noticed any more water ingress - but then it's not really been raining. Will post again once I've been driving in some heavy rain or doused the car with some more buckets of water.

Alex

 

[ajmally100]

Ok. Thanks for that. I'll give that whole area a really good clean over the christmas holidays and then just seal the joint with loads of sealant. Hopefully this will get the last little drops!

Andrew

 

[CupraString]

j
ust to help other members, the leak was on a seam on the bulkhead under the wiper panel, which required alot of parts being removed to identify the area. Until i used a airline to clear the water channel under the wipers i still could not see it.I have taken some photos to help if i can work out how to post them.

can anyone tell me how to load the photos, thanks

the bonnetcable is just above, and the gasket to the wiring cover to the right, hope this helps! must have leaked from day 1!

Mine looks identical to this I thought that these were the drainage holes for excess water to run off down the wings.
I have spent the last 2 days sealing under the scuttle to prevent leaking and after putting it back today im now worried I should have sealed this

 

[costa]

Update - it rained a fair bit here last night and this morning the diver's footwell is dry. I hope this is a result that will last but we will see.

 

[LEE69]

Mine looks identical to this I thought that these were the drainage holes for excess water to run off down the wings.
I have spent the last 2 days sealing under the scuttle to prevent leaking and after putting it back today im now worried I should have sealed this

I think he means the tiny hole at the end of the arrow head, rather than the bigger hole the loom is going through?

 

[LEE69]

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[PSX]

Lee - thanks for linking up my images!

Cuprastring - yes the only thing that must be sealed is that seam and edge - the larger gap to the left of shot must be clear! Water drains here into the wheel well under the wing - your aim with the sealant should be to channel water towards the engine side of the scuttle so that the problem area (tiny hole at the end of the arrowhead, which may or may not already be covered with some kind of black sealant) doesn't get saturated.

FYI - rain was heavyish last night and no more water ingress from what I can tell so far. Condensation inside has already stopped and that's from only a couple of nights with the heat gun! (Plus a week of driving with vents set to footwell, and a handful of dryish days on the drive to work and back).

Thanks to all for your help and photos on this - I'm almost certain that the windscreen seals being fitted wrong was adding to the problem though by loading up more water than normal through the hole in the bulkhead seam. Amazing how small the hole is though.. perhaps there was a constant puddle in the back of the scuttle which ran continuously underneath the driver door sill and into the rear footwell? If I find out anything more on this I'll be sure to post again.


Cheers,

Alex

 

[CupraString]

Lee - thanks for linking up my images!

Cuprastring - yes the only thing that must be sealed is that seam and edge - the larger gap to the left of shot must be clear! Water drains here into the wheel well under the wing - your aim with the sealant should be to channel water towards the engine side of the scuttle so that the problem area (tiny hole at the end of the arrowhead, which may or may not already be covered with some kind of black sealant) doesn't get saturated.

FYI - rain was heavyish last night and no more water ingress from what I can tell so far. Condensation inside has already stopped and that's from only a couple of nights with the heat gun! (Plus a week of driving with vents set to footwell, and a handful of dryish days on the drive to work and back).

Thanks to all for your help and photos on this - I'm almost certain that the windscreen seals being fitted wrong was adding to the problem though by loading up more water than normal through the hole in the bulkhead seam. Amazing how small the hole is though.. perhaps there was a constant puddle in the back of the scuttle which ran continuously underneath the driver door sill and into the rear footwell? If I find out anything more on this I'll be sure to post again.


Cheers,

Alex

Can't believs that tiny hole can cause so much havoc!!!! I need to check mine again as I have sealed around the grommit but maybe missed something

 

[CupraString]

I think he means the tiny hole at the end of the arrow head, rather than the bigger hole the loom is going through?

My bad didn't enlarge picture to see tiny hole

 

[PSX]

To be fair I just recalled my previous comment about the bonnet release grommet - and that is a FAT grommet for what is not a lot of cable - taking into account the fact that the water deflector (just inside the scuttle, immediately at the bottom of the windscreen) will funnel water pushed down from the windscreen wiper directly ontop of the grommet, this is another likely candidate which is worth sealing while you're there, in my opinion (see brown sealant all around the grommet in my pictures)

Alex

 

[tom1362]

could it be a simply rubber Bung in the bulk head that has frayed and water splashes (this time of year, there is plenty) is seeping through.

 

[ajmally100]

I will hopefully get the grommet and surround sealed over Christmas.

To dry out the carpet, I have bought some bags of desiccant silica gel and put them under the foot rest. This has seemed to have dried up the footwell quite well. I also used to set one on the dash so that the windscreen wasn't too condensed in the morning and it seemed to work ok. I think this is probably best doing once all the leaks are fixed. Just another idea I guess...

 

[costa]

Second update - snowed here yesterday and there was a good covering of snow in the end on the LCR. Checked this morning and still no leak. Just to recap I removed the wipers and scuttle panel and sealed the bulkhead, although I couldn't see a hole similar to those others have had, sealed the bonnet release cable. cable box, lefthand side of windscreen and where wires go through into door pillar from door. Trouble is having done all that in one go I'm not sure exactly where leak was coming from but best guess being bonnet release cable grommit and/ or windscreen. Hope this helps all those with similar leaks.

 

[CupraString]

Second update - snowed here yesterday and there was a good covering of snow in the end on the LCR. Checked this morning and still no leak. Just to recap I removed the wipers and scuttle panel and sealed the bulkhead, although I couldn't see a hole similar to those others have had, sealed the bonnet release cable. cable box, lefthand side of windscreen and where wires go through into door pillar from door. Trouble is having done all that in one go I'm not sure exactly where leak was coming from but best guess being bonnet release cable grommit and/ or windscreen. Hope this helps all those with similar leaks.

I did the same on Monday and it poured down here yesterday and my footwell is bone dry.
Only trouble is I opened the door and splash!!!! Water had leaked through door seal again doh!!!!!!!!!

 

[costa]

Here we go again! Sealed everything I could find under the scuttle panel as per previous posts and after running a hosepipe over the windscreen and two lots of heavy snow which is now melting there was no leak from the bonnet release area on the driver's side where I had the original leak. That is until yesterday and 'happy Christmas' the bl..dy leak had returned. Fortunately I had put newspaper in the driver's footwell ( you can see how confident I was that I had stopped the leak ) and this collected the water up and there was a dribble of water down the plastic kick panel below the bonnet release lever. I will now, when the weather warms up follow Andicapped's advice and look up under the dash behind the fuse board. In the meantime I think I will be using the newspaper to soak up any water. What I can't understand is why after a few days of lots of snow and water via the hosepipie no leak suddenly becomes a leak. One of life's great mysteries I suppose. Will keep you posted on progress as water leaks seem to be a real problem for Leons. But I really love this car what a pity SEAT let themselves down with rubbish build quality.

 

[NI3K]

some helpful information on here.
if you guys poured water on windscreen would this cause the leak to show up? ive just poured a bucket of water over after an attempt at sealing last week.stripped lower dashboard and scuttle panel out, loadsa sealant around the bonnet release and electrical box. no dripping yet anyway