Mk2 Leon leaking water into foot wells - Help

[DuBDuDe]

Hi Guys,

Has anyone experienced the above?

Basically i'm pretty certain that this isn't caused by door membranes. I think it's coming through the ventilation system. The reasons being -

1. Sides of the carpet are not wet and doors show no sign of leakage.
2. During the summer months when it became very dry the vents smelled a bit musty
3. When you have the vents on in the rain it steams up immediately indicating the presence of water in the ventilation system.
4. As soon as you turn on the air con on the smell and the moisture goes, i presume as the aircon system cleans the air and as we all know air con takes the moisture out of the air and i assume the smell with it.
5. When i use the screenwash i can immediately smell it in the car.
6. Even if i haven't used the screenwash i still get water in the footwells when it rains.
7. The other day when it was raining hard i'm sure i could feel water droplets flying through the vents, however the cabin filter is not wet so don't know how this is possible.

As far as i know there is only one way in for air into the ventilation system so i presume the water is getting in the same way.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I've heard about the rear screen wash pipe breaking as it goes through the bulkhead but to rule this out i've never used the rear washer since i noticed the leak last year so it can't be that. Plus the water in the footwell isn't soapy.

My next step is to rip out the interior completely and just drive it with no carpets etc and just the two front seats in for a while to try and see where it's coming from.

Any other thoughts? Some help is much needed to find out where the water is coming from.

 

[Jimbobcook]

It seems to be one of the amazing "features" that SEAT give us lol

If you put masking tape round the footwell (above the mats) when it hit water would it not lose it's stick to give you an idea of location?

Have you tried the hosepipe over the doors and front scuttle to check for air bubbles?

I assume it's just the front foot wells that have this issue or does the water travel all the way to the back as well?

Cheers

 

[DuBDuDe]

Features

I've checked under the scuttle for blockages. Going to have another more thorough look round the ventilation inlet for blockages or possible entry points. Have had a good look after and during washing with the hose for leaks around doors windows. Couldn't see anything. I wonder if it's possibly coming under the bottom side of the windscreen. I've heard the bonded windscreens can leak without it being obvious.

I think carpets and sound proofing out and just give the car a good soaking might be my best bet to find the point of water entry.

 

[Jimbobcook]

Good Luck!

Get your swimming shorts on haha

 

[DuBDuDe]

Wet suit and snorkel more like!

 

[fozzybear]

Hi Guys,

Has anyone experienced the above?

Basically i'm pretty certain that this isn't caused by door membranes. I think it's coming through the ventilation system. The reasons being -

1. Sides of the carpet are not wet and doors show no sign of leakage.
2. During the summer months when it became very dry the vents smelled a bit musty
3. When you have the vents on in the rain it steams up immediately indicating the presence of water in the ventilation system.
4. As soon as you turn on the air con on the smell and the moisture goes, i presume as the aircon system cleans the air and as we all know air con takes the moisture out of the air and i assume the smell with it.
5. When i use the screenwash i can immediately smell it in the car.
6. Even if i haven't used the screenwash i still get water in the footwells when it rains.
7. The other day when it was raining hard i'm sure i could feel water droplets flying through the vents, however the cabin filter is not wet so don't know how this is possible.

As far as i know there is only one way in for air into the ventilation system so i presume the water is getting in the same way.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I've heard about the rear screen wash pipe breaking as it goes through the bulkhead but to rule this out i've never used the rear washer since i noticed the leak last year so it can't be that. Plus the water in the footwell isn't soapy.

My next step is to rip out the interior completely and just drive it with no carpets etc and just the two front seats in for a while to try and see where it's coming from.

Any other thoughts? Some help is much needed to find out where the water is coming from.

daft as it sounds ...have you had a replacement windscreen....had a less damaging leak after screen was replaced after accident.....it was ayr later I got stonechip and autoglass repaired only to find gravity and sheer luck was holding glass in as sealer wasn,t done around bottom and half of sides of glass letting water through into cabin....worth a check at least

 

[DuBDuDe]

Hi mate,

Actually I was going to come and do an update this week. I think I've found the issue.

Ripped the scuttle apart completely last week. Wiper motors out, everything else too. Basically there are two panels bolted onto the bulkhead. One either side. One is the inlet for the ventilation on the passenger side. When I unbolted this to check the seal i found it has perished in one corner. I had a roll of the mouldable door membrane rubber from my old MK1 Leon left so I dug out the perished seal and replaced it with that.

Basically I think the water that ran off the wonddcreew was running into the scuttle as it should but then it was running under that grill and down inside the vents from there. Strangley it didn't damage the fan motor which is right there. Must have run down the side and not actually through the fan motor.

All the rain we had last week and no more steaming up and no more wet footwells.

If this is your problem make sure to check the panel on the drivers side too. And the two grommets in each corner of the bulkhead. I had them out and put some gasket sealer round them.

Hopefully problem solved. Always knew it was coming though the ventilation system!

 

[shood3]

I had the same issue, it caused my fan to short out as water was getting into it and when I took the old unit out it was filled with water. Bit of a poor design but they would never know in Barcelona where it’s nice weather all the time


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[DuBDuDe]

I had the same issue, it caused my fan to short out as water was getting into it and when I took the old unit out it was filled with water. Bit of a poor design but they would never know in Barcelona where it’s nice weather all the time


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Haha. Did you get a musty smell through the vents when not on Aircon? Dunno how I'm gonna get rid of that. Hoping it'll just go eventually.

 

[fozzybear]

Haha. Did you get a musty smell through the vents when not on Aircon? Dunno how I'm gonna get rid of that. Hoping it'll just go eventually.

Only comes through when you switch from a/c to econ and goes after a few mins....lol

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[DuBDuDe]

Exactly the same for me. Just wondering what's growing in there lol

 

[fozzybear]

Exactly the same for me. Just wondering what's growing in there lol

Best not knowing.....lol just put cleaning gas through car aircon every now and then.....

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[Nick9-11]

2001 model: Had water in right footwells after washing or rain: Placing car on slopes revealed rear door water entry.
Problem: vertical faces of footwells dry yet pools on floor (did repeated tissue test. Water comes through bottom of door, goes under door opening seal on bodyshell, underneath carpet and pools on floor.
Solution: pull back base door seal to reveal drain holes, poke through all holes and use wet vacuum with brush to thoroughly clean seal and holes. Do same with bodyshell seal and finish with wet microfibre cloth. Now perfect for 1 year.

 

[DuBDuDe]

2001 model: Had water in right footwells after washing or rain: Placing car on slopes revealed rear door water entry.
Problem: vertical faces of footwells dry yet pools on floor (did repeated tissue test. Water comes through bottom of door, goes under door opening seal on bodyshell, underneath carpet and pools on floor.
Solution: pull back base door seal to reveal drain holes, poke through all holes and use wet vacuum with brush to thoroughly clean seal and holes. Do same with bodyshell seal and finish with wet microfibre cloth. Now perfect for 1 year.

Yep this a common issue on mk1s. Had the same on my 2003 cupra.

Different problem on mk2s.

Having said that I used some of the same roll of the door membrane seal I had left over from doing the doors on my mk1 to fix the leak coming under the ventilation system inlet under the scuttle on my mk2. Free fix!

 

[DuBDuDe]

Guess what problem is back. Looks like the same issue again..... Although it did happen in monsoon rains sunday on the A11 so i think it might have overwhelmed the ventilation intake completely and come over the top rather than leaked under it. When i took it apart yesterday the box wouldn't even come loose so i think it's attached pretty well so i can't see it having leaked under.

Does anyone elses (apart from @fozzybear ) do this in heavy rain (i mean really heavy, like everyone doing 15 mph on the motorway)????? Seems like a pretty big design flaw for it to only affect a couple of people.