Water leak into footwell - dodgy seal info and DIY repair guide (Image links dead)

[Merv]

Sealed the drivers door today, top job!
Problem being the window now won't work with one touch. It works with one touch going down but.not up. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[TheDukeGTi]

Thanks very much for this guide! very helpful!

 

[Dai Rob]

After 7 trouble free years (okay apart from the pollen filter which was done in the first six months of owning!) i've joined the leaky door seal army!

I'm following the excellent guide from DubSteve68 and ordering this and this today!

Fingers crossed for a sunny (okay i'll settle for a non rainy - after all I am in Wales!) day next week to tackle this head on!

Finally got enough time (and decent weather!) to attack the doors last week.

Job took about 4 hours to do all four doors (the front passenger was the longest as it was the first one!) and the need to replace the plastic clips got less as I went round the car!

Found that on all four doors the seal had perished under the speaker on the metal door card. Replaced from the top left to the top right on each door, leaving the uppermost seal as it was going to add unnecessary difficulty to the job (doing it alone I left the top bolts in but loose to hold the card).

Not had a big downpour yet but the car has been washed several times since with nothing appearing on the door sills - fingers crossed it's fixed.

Then left a heat gun (industrial hair drier!) pointing to the rear foot wells for two days to dry the back out. All seems okay the moment.

Thanks again to DubSteve68 for the great guide and advice. (and I suppose to ebay to allow me to buy all the bits I needed for about £20 all in! Can't start to think how much a stealer would have charged for this!)

 

[Slimy]

Sealed the drivers door today, top job!
Problem being the window now won't work with one touch. It works with one touch going down but.not up. Anyone got any ideas?

Have you tried reprogramming it? Wind up the window and hold the button down for five seconds or so after it reaches the top.

The other option is that you've disturbed the electrical connection that assesses how high the window is. Might be worth taking the panel off (not the metal one) and checking the connections are mated correctly.

 

[B1rdy]

Step 3. Loosen the carrier plate. Take your 10mm socket and remove all the 10mm bolts except the two that are arrowed below. These two remaining bolts should be wound out nearly all the way, allowing you good access to the rear of the carrier without completely removing it. You could remove these last two bolts but your assistant would then have to hold the carrier while you fit the sealant strip - but you really need your assistant to hold the roll of sealant so leave the bolts in position...

Front door...

Rear door...

Now you need to break any seal between the door frame and the carrier. The best way to do this is with the large flat-head screwdriver you hopefully have ready, resting on a towel so you don't kill any paint...

Here's where my seals disintegrated, seem to be very common failure areas. Affected areas are between the arrows...

Front door...

Rear door...

Now the carrier is loosened, get to work on that seal and show SEAT how it should have been done in the first place! Start wherever you like and pull the old seal off slowly. I made an exception on the rear doors as I couldn't get as much clearance behind the carrier as I wanted and so left some of the seal in place. The next step will show what I left in place. It's adhesive backed but will come off cleanly if you are lucky. I wasn't, and was left with a few inches-worth of rotten seal on each door that had to be scraped off. I used my trusty T20 to get into the channel where the worst of the remaining rotten seal (and brown gunk) was hiding. You don't need to get the surfaces surgically clean but they do need to be dry and free of as much of the old seal and gunk as possible.


Step 4. Fitting the new seal. See the pics below. I started where I did on the front door (arrowed) due to the electric window wiring loom getting in the way. It seemed like a good starting point and worked well for me. Slowly feed the butyl sealant strip into where the old seal lived.

Front door...

As mentioned in step 3 I didn't replace the whole seal on the rear doors due to access. Here's what I did replace...

Step 4. Put it all back together. Self explanatory really. Replace any trim retaining clips that broke. Here's where I used the wire cutters to grip and wiggle free any snapped clips or clips that came off the door cards and could be reused…

And after all that, only one bust clip per door. Not bad going!

Once you've done one side the other will be a piece of cake. I'd read all the guides but still wasn't sure how difficult it was really going to be. As it is, the job isn't difficult at all. All four doors can easily be done in an afternoon once you have everything prepared. One final note about the butyl sealant strip, it's pretty sticky stuff (even more so when warm) and it's much easier to handle when it's cold. For anybody reading this in the summer, stick your sealant in the fridge before you need it...


Cheers all, DubSteve

Brilliant. I've used the "quote" to get it to the end of the thread as will probably using this anyday when I get another mk1 LCR. Brilliant write up mate!

 

[Mobo]

Mine has started leaking again now but this time from on top of the clutch pedal
will need to attack it once weather is good

 

[TomJackUK]

Mine needs redoing this weekend, but I've just ordered the trim clips for the doors so they wont arrive until midweek. If I break some of the clips today when doing the seal, will I have any problem not refitting the door trim until the clips arrive? Or might I be able to 'get by' refitting it until the new clips arrive?

 

[slickbone]

TomJackUK: I didnt have any of the door clips ordered last year sept when I resealed with (Bathroom sealant). I only broke 1 or 2 clips and refitted the door card back on. My door card creaks and 'knocks' when I'm driving and is annoying and if you can put up with that then for sure you can 'get by'. I've had no leaks at all.

I now have the door clips and shall be taking off my door card to fit them in. Only worry I have is that my door sills are getting a little wet but no water is getting inside which is a good thing. I think I'll do the job properly now and get this butyl tape!

 

[TomJackUK]

Cheers for the reply mate.

Amazingly (and almost miraculously) the clips showed up today in the post which I am staggered by due to only ordering them yesterday afternoon!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a dry day to redo the seals, otherwise this will have to wait until next week

 

[rydogg09]

is 8mm by 8mm butyl tape ok or is 8mm by 6mm better? want to buy tonight needs to get done!

 

[TomJackUK]

I don't think there is a 'better' one. Logically, so long as it plugs the gap it doesn't really matter. The 8x8 will simply require more effort to bolt up.

 

[HugoGouveia]

Grate
I will have a go

 

[kylestyle09]

Morning

I did this over the weekend and resealed the front doors as there was water holding in the door, which realeased when the fronts were open. My rear footwell had about a inch of water in.

Now, as I had resealed I thought it'd be happy days, but unfortunatly the back is still wet.
What the hell can I do? When I resealed the front doors, I put some extra sealent over the seals once the base plate was on, would this mate a difference?

Also, I didn't look to see if the drain holes are blocked, would this make a difference also?

I didn't do the rears as water didn't get blocked in the doors when it rains, would I still need to do this? As it was only the rear footwells that were full of water.

Please help as it's pissing me off now.

Thanks

 

[seat-shed]

I'd be inclined to do the back doors as well, the seals rot just the same as the front. No need for your extra sealant, but shouldn't cause a problem as long as it doesn't interfere with the cord seal between the hanger plate and door frame. Definitely need to check the door drain holes, easy to do, pull the rubber seal back and poke some stout wire or similar through them. Did you remove the carpets/sound deadening and dry everything? If not, you'll be surprised how much water accumulates under there and moves around front to back as you drive around. Wet back carpet doesn't necessary = leak location.

 

[kylestyle09]

I'll give the back doors a go.
I checked the drain holes with a cotton bud, and everything was dry in the door, is that how it should be?

The rubber below was wet and manky though where the water was sitting on the door sills.

 

[seat-shed]

As long as you can get something through the drain hole and into the door cavity, it should be ok.

 

[virdi]

Hi - Please could somebody advise which thickness of BUTYL Tape is right?

There are quite a few on eBay.

Thanks

 

[seat-shed]

Minimum 6mm diameter or you can get away with 8mm butyl cord - not tape.

 

[BEEFYGTI]

My issue was a leak above the pedals. I found that the foam sealant that surrounds the main electrical box next to the bonnet release grommet. I had to remove the wipers, scuttle panel wiper motors to get to the box. The seal was perished to the bottom left hand side. This box was unscrewed and the foam removed , resealed the box with the burtyl seal stuff then refitted , here is a picture I the old seal and where I sealed with the burtyl

 

[Trueman]

Seat-shed's right about the back not necessary having a leak. You need to get a wet-vac in the back and suck it out through the carpet. I had the same issue where the water was ending up in the back from the front. Mind you, the way I drive I'm surprised it didn't end up in the boot! Lol.

Don't seal the b/doors yet or pull the carpet up. Just 'suck it and see'. If there's a bit left it should evaporate on a warm day. Just remember to leave a window open slightly for it to get out.

Worked for me.

Good luck.