Damp carpet in drivers side footwell

[knightime]

Morning all,

I always though that the initial dampness in the drivers side footwell was due to when I first bought the 2 with a tear in the roof, and that the dealer I bought it from left it out in the rain without patching it properly!

However, after this weeks heavy rain, once again the footwell on the drivers side has become wet again!

Now, I checked the drain plugs and indeed, the drivers side drain plug was blocked, and the inside of the 'boot' was full of water.  So I removed the side vent, cleared out the slug and removed all the water from the boot.

What I find strange is the the carpet at the back of the drivers seat is bone dry, and the carpet right at the front of the 2 (just under the steering column) is bone dry.  However, the carpet area right at the front of the square leather heel scuff 'thing' is soaking wet, while the area of carpet and sound deadening just in front the drivers seat is just 'damp'.

I've read a couple of the posts here and it seems others have experienced similar dampness.

I was wondering if the blocked drain could be the problem, and if so how, as I can't figure out how the water could bypass the back carpet, slightly dampen the area in front of the seat but soak the area just under the foot pedals!

I'm gonna carry on using the wet vac and hairdryer, as I'm not confident in removing the seat and carpets to get access to the sound absorber (unless I don't have to?  Can anyone advise on this?).

Has anyone experienced this recently, and if so, what did you do to rectify the problem?  Without jumping to any conclusion, do you think MrT should take a look at this issue?

Here's hoping the sun stays out today - it'll help to dry the footwell out  s:D s:D !

Cheers!

[Ilogik]

Have you been driving your car a lot? More than likely be the dampness from your feet not drying out. Take out your Mat and give it  a scrub with a cloth and let it get some air, then monitor it again by leaving it in the rain without driving it.

Morning all,

I always though that the initial dampness in the drivers side footwell was due to when I first bought the 2 with a tear in the roof, and that the dealer I bought it from left it out in the rain without patching it properly!

However, after this weeks heavy rain, once again the footwell on the drivers side has become wet again!

Now, I checked the drain plugs and indeed, the drivers side drain plug was blocked, and the inside of the 'boot' was full of water.  So I removed the side vent, cleared out the slug and removed all the water from the boot.

What I find strange is the the carpet at the back of the drivers seat is bone dry, and the carpet right at the front of the 2 (just under the steering column) is bone dry.  However, the carpet area right at the front of the square leather heel scuff 'thing' is soaking wet, while the area of carpet and sound deadening just in front the drivers seat is just 'damp'.

I've read a couple of the posts here and it seems others have experienced similar dampness.

I was wondering if the blocked drain could be the problem, and if so how, as I can't figure out how the water could bypass the back carpet, slightly dampen the area in front of the seat but soak the area just under the foot pedals!

I'm gonna carry on using the wet vac and hairdryer, as I'm not confident in removing the seat and carpets to get access to the sound absorber (unless I don't have to?  Can anyone advise on this?).

Has anyone experienced this recently, and if so, what did you do to rectify the problem?  Without jumping to any conclusion, do you think MrT should take a look at this issue?

Here's hoping the sun stays out today - it'll help to dry the footwell out  s:D s:D !

Cheers!

[knightime]

Have you been driving your car a lot? More than likely be the dampness from your feet not drying out. Take out your Mat and give it  a scrub with a cloth and let it get some air, then monitor it again by leaving it in the rain without driving it.

Hey there buddy!

No, I had the brake discs and pads done on Monday, and hadn't driven the car since as I was on holiday and was using the Punto to ferry the wife and kids around!

The first time I drove it was yesterday, which was when I noticed it  s:( s:( !

The wet vac has been running for around 45 minutes, on the same spot, and there's still a ton of water coming out - the downpour this week was pretty heavy down here!!!

Just out of interest, If I wanna remove the sound deadening material, I take it I'll have to remove the seat???

Thanks for the reply man!

[Ilogik]

Strange that, could be a mechanic walking in and out of the rain, try using just a towel see how much water it absorbs. Strange to get getting that much water in drivers footwell. Other option is put some paper on the floor, get the hose pipe and start testing high pressure water around window and door seals see if anything goes in.

[Anonymous]

 l viewtopic.php?f=47&t=12582 l
Edit:
Sorry didnt read properly,to remove the seats is dead easy as it is only 4 bolts and an electrical connector on each seat then you can remove the 4 center console screws to lift this up to disconnect electrical connectors and gear knob,then its just bits of trim to remove carpets but its probably just left over water from the blocked drain.

[knightime]

Thanks for the advice guys!

Yeh, it's defo a good idea to sit in the car with the hose going over to see if there actually is a leak somewhere - just need to find a baby sitter to take the urchins off my hands - then my Mrs can help!

Thanks for that life of bryan - I think - judging by the amount of water still coming out, that I'll have no choice but to remove the seat and trims to remove the absorbant and dry it indoors!  Fingers crossed it was just a blocked drain!

[knightime]

...lift this up to disconnect electrical connectors and gear knob,then its just bits of trim to remove carpets but its probably just left over water from the blocked drain.

Hey buddy - dumb question, but I should disconnect the battery before disconnecting the electrical connectors under the seat yeh?

Cheers!

[Anonymous]

This might help,although I can't get the pics to show on the second topic.
 l viewtopic.php?f=47&t=12545 l
 l viewtopic.php?f=47&t=6370 l

[knightime]

Thanks for the links buddy!  Now to find some time...

[knightime]

Ok, I was just gonna attempt to remove the carpet when I've hit on a snag.

How do you remove the footrest?  I unscrewed the four screws visable, but they just hold on the silver front plate.  The left of the foot rest is movable, but the right side won't budge.  There aren't any other screws visable.

Is it just a snap on, in which case I use brute force to remove it, of am I missing something?

Cheers!

[knightime]

Ah, just gave it some wellie and it popped off!

OMG - the whole section of sound absorber was saturated!!!  I'm guessing the initial soaking the front of the car took just before I bought it has meant it's never had a real chance of drying out properly.  That and the blocked vent!

Anyway, I've removed it and gave the car a good soaking from loads of angles with the hose for around 10 minutes, and so far there is no evidence of any leaks at all.

Incidentally I didn't have to remove the seat in the end (not that I could!!!) as it the absorber was a separate section from the rear, so all in all it's worked out ok - just need to let it dry and hope I can live with the smell  s:( s:(   s:) s:) !!!

[Ilogik]

Strangely im having this exact issue with a wet drivers side footwell. Going to inspect the front window drains.

[knightime]

Jesus Holy Christ - will this issue never end?!?

Well this weekend I thought, 'That sound absorber should really go back in!', so I removed the trim and lifted up the carpet and...Frak Me - there was a puddle of water under it   s:evil: :evil: s:evil:  !  I used the wet vack to remove most of it, then a towel, then I felt underneath, and right at the back of the drivers footwell, under the seat, it still felt wet.

So my wife says, 'Is the back behind the seat wet too?', and so I check by hand but couldn't feel anything.  But then I push down and blow me - there's a squelching sound!

Now, I tried removing the four bolts for the seat, but could only get the two at the rear and the one near the door.  'No probs' I thought, 'I can just lift the rear of the seat from the bodywork and pull out the sound absorber like I did the front'...except that the blasted sound absorber at the back is glued to the flippin carpet   s:evil: :evil: s:evil:    s:evil: :evil: s:evil:  !!!  Why did Toyota do this???  Why couldn't the rear be the same as the front i.e. separate???

Needless to say in order to dry the sound absorber proerly I'm now going to have to remove the whole carpet and dry it indoors.  This will more than likely put the car out of action for around a week I reckon, but I have some time off at the beginning of November so I'll just have to do it then.

I still think the water soakage issue is the remnants of when the drains blocked and overflowed into the luggage compartments - but the only way I'll really know is to remove the carpet, dry the sound absorber, make sure the drains are clear then wait for another downpour!!!

What a pain in the a$$ - bearing in mind that the carpet is 'plastic' backed, has anyone ever tried to dry this kind of heavy saturation without removing the carpet?  I have a wetvac, but it's not powerfull enough  s:( s:(  !  I'm concerned that I may have damaged the head of last bolt and may not be able to remove it - in which case I may have to pay MrT to do it - and 'financially!!!) I'm not that keen to venture down that route...

[Anonymous]

If you get stuck for removing the bolt then these are pretty good.   m http://www.screwfix.com/prods/96028/Van ... emover-Set m

[Ilogik]

same symptoms as mine, can't work out what it is, strange that the problem tends to occure drivers side in most instances, is there any pipework or other known sources than could cause water to get in? my drains clear. Plus I have a hardtop/

[knightime]

If you get stuck for removing the bolt then these are pretty good.   m http://www.screwfix.com/prods/96028/Van ... emover-Set m

Buddy - thanks for that!  I knew there had to be something that could rescue impatient people like me   s:D s:D !  Picked up the set from Ebay for £14 - used my 'Plus' points to get £8 off - bargain!

same symptoms as mine, can't work out what it is, strange that the problem tends to occure drivers side in most instances, is there any pipework or other known sources than could cause water to get in? my drains clear.

That is weird!  I'm hopefull that it was just years of blocked drains and overspill that has caused my problem.  When I remove the carpet I'm gonna lay down some chaulk dust and then give the car a good soaking to see if anything apparent shows up.  I'm hopeing to be lucky, but you never know...Do you think you may have to go down the same route as me?

[knightime]

Well, this weekend I removed the seats and managed to pull the carpet back - yep - the whole of the back sound absorber was saturated, to the point where I had to 'shave' it off the carpet for me to do it any good (I'll never understand why Toyota did that...).  Anywho, it's in the airing cupboard drying out, and I'm gonna put it back next week.

The wetness was only on the drivers side, which leads me to believe it was the rain coming through the tear in the roof last year - we'll find out when I give the car a good soaking!!!

On a related note - I wasn't able to remove the carpet entirely as a section was stuck under the plastic bit where the key goes in to lock the petrol cap and boot.  I was hesitant to undo the two nuts I could see holding the whole mechanism in, in case there was an easier way of removing it!  If anyone has removed their entire carpet can you please let me know if those bolts would do the job?

Cheers!

[Anonymous]

I had a similar experience. Basically where the steering column goes through into the front of the car there is a rubber boot.
On mine this had split allowing water in when driving through puddles.
Might be worth checking this is a ll in one peice.

Good luck.

[loadswine]

Bit of a thread resurrection, but just been out to my new 2 that's been sitting for a week and carpet is wet on both sides. I'm suspecting the entry is from the door seals somewhere. One particular piece of rubber trim on the leading edge of the door, below glass level isn't stuck to the door and I wonder if it could be that, or maybe it isn't meant to be stuck to the door at that point. I've cleaned out a couple of grooves in the rubbers.
Can someone do a check on their roadster at some point to see if the rubber trim is fixed to the door all the way down please? Thanks.  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[philster_d]

May not be relavent but for my mk2 t bar. I got some rubber rejuvenator and that made the rubber much more sealable and "rubbery" again. It might help, if thats realy your problem.

Phil

[Ilogik]

I found mine leaking in from around the window, best bet is to get some tape and mask around the window area and spray with a hose, only real way to see the issue is to remove the carpet,  as the sound proofing is like a giant sponge, it could also be quite wet on the underside and starting to rust so for good measure iw ould remove the carpet on a dry weekend and make sure you have gotten rid of all the trapped water and work from there.


The rubber seal should be nice and right towards the dash area make sure there are no gaps, For some extra measure I used some rubber tape to make an extra seal. Will some pictures for you tomorrow.

[loadswine]

Cheers!  s:) s:)  
Ihave one or two ideas which I'm looking at , as places the water can get by the rubbers seals. Favourite at the minute is the one that has a very small lip, level with the steering wheel on the A pillar. Originally it was a little gummed up and didn't have any channel open at all. After a bit of cleaning, it does look more effective. We will see......   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

Which way round do you park it Nige?

If you remember when I backed mine onto the front it leaked in when it rained that time,the only time it seems to do it is when the water runs down hill forwards  s:? :? s:?

[loadswine]

Its driven on , front towards the house Les, so the rain would mostly drain towards the rear.

[philster_d]

Oh and of course clean out your drains and water channels.