Leaks but not from door seal I don't think?

[Ryan6926]

Hi all I know the LC's are prone for leaks from the door seals and knowing that the weather was going to be awful yesterday and not being able to do the sealant in time I braced myself for leaks and sure enough they've happened.

Now the part that I'm confused about is that my passenger side which is the side which always has standing water on the kick plates when the doors are opened after it's rained / floors are bone dry but my drivers side is drenched.

I've looked at the door skin itself as best I can and I can't see any water whatsoever seeping through and the kick plates are bone dry still but the seat slider has around 3 inches of water in it, Also the drivers side seat is wet at the top but the rest is dry?

Now I'm thinking an maybe wrong but if it was coming in through the normal place ie doors then the seat wouldn't be wet as it's to high up?

I apologise for the question / thread as it's been asked so many times before but any advice gratefully appreciated.

Also I hope your cars are all safe , well and dry this xmas

 

[Ryan6926]

Anyone at all please?

I've used a grand total of 7 towels and the damn things still wet, I've noticed it's coming from the front underneath the drivers side (where the heel pad of the carpet is if you remove the floor mats) don't know how to describe it.

The interiors all steamed up, The rear carpet's soaked and I'm just about ready to scrap the poxy thing

Anyone able to shed any light before it ends up on ebay?

Thanks

 

[andycupra]

the top of the seat is wet? does the car have a sunroof?
were all windows done up?
were all doors closed properly?

 

[andycupra]

the top of the seat is wet? does the car have a sunroof?
were all windows done up?
were all doors closed properly?

 

[Ryan6926]

Hi buddy yeah the top of the seat is wet too, the car doesn't have a sunroof and all the windows were done up properly, I'm not sure where the water's coming in from as the doors seem dry as a bone yet the car itself is drenched :-(

Cheers

 

[andycupra]

ok so if the carpet is wet behind the pedals its a good chance it coming in from the suttle panel area.

remove wipers, (note position of wipers on screen first);
then remove the grey plastic cover below the windscreen, you can then see where the water runs down the screen and drains via a drain hole on each side of the car.
These often get stuck with mud/dirt/leaves , so clear out any debris.
On the offside of the car the bonnet release wirre enters the cabin here, this can alow water through(espeically when the water doesnt drain well during periods of heavy rain).
Also there is a plastic rectangular box with a foam type seal (ECU?) this also can allow water through.
seal up wherever you think water can get in, if you can get a spray type seal this is ideal to spray the area the improve watertightness. (look for gutter spray sealers etc in DIY shops, or £1 shops sometimes have this)

 

[Ryan6926]

Ah ok nice one I'll go and have a look, we're meant to be getting some bad weather again soon so I don't really fancy having it wet again lol

Cheers again

 

[wildrides]

I have owned a Mk1 cupra from new for ten years now . It took me five years to solve all the water ingress issues completely ............... been dry for 5 years .

There are the usual issues :-

1) Seal the door cards with " sticks Like " sealant from Travis Perkins builders merchants.
2) seal round the cabin filter plastic housing where is sits on the bulk head and make sure the cabin filter cover is located and fitted correctly
3)unblock the drain points at either of the plenum chamber that the cabin filter and wiper motor sit in
4) Seal around the plastic cover where the main wiring loom passes through the plenum chamber into the cabin ( above pedal box ) . This has a foam sponge seal underneath it (as does the cabin filter housing ) to make a seal with the bulkhead and this rots away after a couple of years from new. Water can leak through here and run down the wiring loom and enter the panel of electrical regulators . This will cause them to short . Symptoms are the engine will cut out or misfire on rainy days . Eventually the regulator will cry enough and blow. Car will not start .
5) You can get the same symptoms as in 4) if you get very heavy condensation on the inside of the windscreen on cold mornings . The water runs down the screen behind the dash and again drips onto main wiring loom and shorts out rectifier/ regulators

The above condensation is caused by wet carpets . Your problems will continue in an endless cycle unless you get the carpets dry ............ due to condensation on cold mornings on the inside of the car windows running where it should not and affecting electrical circuits.

The way to get the carpets dry is to jack the car up at the rear and from underneath you will see a plastic bung in the floor pan of each rear footwell . Take an electric drill and drill a hole in each bung about the size of a biro . Park the car on a slope front up hill . The water will drain out of the car . It will pour out at first and then slow to a trickle after an hour or so . Leave it parked on a slope as often as you can until the carpets get dry. Also open all the windows and boot on every warm dry day . This will dry the carpets out and saves removing the seats and carpets .If you have a dehumidifier you can use one to speed up the drying . You can leave the holes in the floor ......... just dont expect the car to float if you drive into a river by accident .
I knew I had to act regarding my wet carpets when I opened the rear door to take my mother inlaw out for the day to find real live mushrooms growing out of the carpet in the rear foot well ............ I am not kidding !

Finally a very unusual one which foxed me for about a year and caused the higher wet seat in my car that you describe . LOW BATTERY CONDITION .
If your battery is at the end of its life it can cause electrical malfunctions . This happens on cold nights usually when the battery charge gets very low . The car alarm can go off because of this low battery charge AND one or more of the windows come down at the same time . In the morning when you come out and operate your key fob the windows will go back up . It is possible not to notice this if you are in the habit of operating the key fob at a distance . If there has been rain overnight your car will be full of water for no apparent reason . A new battery solved that issue for me.

I hope this may help ......... its a fantastic car, but ownership has sadly been blighted for many by these annoying water ingress issues ........... which is such a shame.

 

[andycupra]

interesting comment regards low battery... not one ive heard of before, but may account for water on the 'top' of the drivers seat?

 

[Ryan6926]

Cheers for that, I'm taking the car to another member on here who has offered to help reseal the doors which I didn't think it was although I've now realised that my drivers side footwell is wet from just underneath where the door shuts (wasn't before) and has most likely drained towards the centre then flowed back which has caused the puddle in the back footwell although I've got a receipt from the previous owner where a garage has redone the seals already

I'll have to strip the seats out if I can but I'm hoping that 4 hours with the heaters on full aimed at the carpets should be enough to dry it when I go to get the floor / doors sorted Next week. Luckily it's not meant to be raining over the weekend so I'll leave the windows open to let the car vent or if I'm feeling brave attempt it myself

My key fob doesn't work at all with the car so I have to open the car manually with the key, The light flashes on the fob but doesn't connect to the car as it were. It's had a new key / reprogrammed last year so unless it's likely to have died in the year I'm not sure what'd cause that to faul but whenever the door is opened or first started the car alarm goes off (The siren's been removed thankfully) but the hazard lights flash for around 15-20 seconds then the car is absolutely fine which is one of the niggles that bug me lol

Thanks again for your help guys it's appreciated.

I've only had the car 6 weeks roughly and love driving it but the few niggles it's been giving me have kinda made me lose confidence in the car but I don't think it's too bad so I'm likely overreacting which I've been known to do lol

Thanks again

Ryan

The other side of the car is bone dry and has no leaks in the boot when I last checked although

 

[wildrides]

Re the non operating key fob .......... try a new battery in the fob as mine will still run the red blink light when the battery is tired but wont open the doors . New fob battery fixes that . However if the fob is old ( mine is ten ) a capacitor gets tired in it . This results in fob batterys lasting only a couple of weeks if your lucky . To be honest I live out in the sticks and I never bother locking it any more ............ no ones going to nick my standard aura stereo !and it saves the idiots breaking the glass if they want to try !

 

[Ryan6926]

Nice one I'll give that a go then

Cheers for the advice bud it's appreciated

 

[super_stylin]

Some good advice on here had my LCR 2003 for a week and soggy NSF footwell. Took the pollen filter housing out and the filter and some kind of sponge thing was soaked! The sponge was nakered so chucked it. Dried the pollen filter out, and refitted hosing correctly sealing the outside of the hosing with water proof gaffer tape all round the edges and into the bonnet seal. Took it to seat today to double check and they said it was the PF and the NSR door window reg leaking. Don't understand that as my rear carpets are bone dry...

 

[wildrides]

The critical seal on the PF is located where the black plastic housing joins ( sits on ) the metal bulk head . There is actually a foam draft excluder type strip underneath the tray which rots away . Its easier to just seal around the edge of the tray than to remove the tray to get at the seal This must be sealed with a waterproof sealant . I use "sticks like" from travis perkins builders merchants at £ 8 a tube . Its building reg approved and 25 year life so you wont be doing it again any time soon

The window regulator panel that Seat refer to is what you and I call the door card . If your parking area is level it is possible that the front PS only will flood due to humps in the floor pan . If you have a mega steep driveway like me it just runs over the hump and into the back as well .

DO NOT let the Seat dealer replace the door card seals for you . They are just foam glazing strip ( draft excluder foam type stuff ) in a factory packet and will rot away again in two years .

There is a very good guide on here in the Frequently asked questions section for leon MK 1 which explains how to do it yourself . It is infact piss easy, but just takes a bit of time . Use "sticks like" again or similar instead of the Seat foam strip part . saves a fortune on what the dealer charges . I had a mate who used to practically make a living out of doing them back in 2006 - 2008 charging half what the dealers charged ! He did such a good job he got no repeat work after he had done all the local cars . He loved it at the time cos he had no overheads ( only an £8 stick of glue ) no premises needed ...... did it on peoples drives . lives abroad now tho .

 

[Ryan6926]

I'm not confident about doing things myself when it comes to cars though. I ended up dropping a bolt into the top of my intake manifold on my old Celica (luckily I got a friend round to fish it out before I started the car so no damage was done but it's kinda put me off lol. I'd normally go to a friend of mine's house to do it but he's really busy at the minute fixing his own car (MX5)

Our car parks not exactly steep but I should park it on the flattest bit then until it's sorted(hopefully next week)

I've read in the guide it says not to use sealant but to use butyl tape so I'm even more confused lol

Cheers

 

[wildrides]

butyl tape is glazing tape . You can get it anywhere that sells windows / glass for window repairs . In my opinion sealant is better BUT you must use the 25 year life stuff from a builders supplies place that is designed to keep water out of buildings . The cheap home brand stuff from your local DIY like homebase wont last . "Sticks like " is a trade only product by Bostick , which is a water proof, all temperature, flexible sealant that comes in a tube ready for a calking dispenser gun. Builders merchants travis perkins sell it . You can buy it there with cash without having a trade account. Roughly £8 a tube + vat . A tube will do at least 2 doors .

Ps I dont work for Bostick or Travis perkins ...............just a great glue / sealant that I have been using in the building trade for about 10 years

 

[Ryan6926]

Nice one cheers that's awesome, I'll go there now, Hopefully my friend'll give me a hand today while it's dry

Thanks again

 

[BoostHard]

Sealant was previously used on my car by previous owner which failed. It was a pain removing the sealant which had to be done in order to repair the seal properly with butyl roll. Also butyl isnt the foam stuff. Its a really sticky rubber almost tar like stuff. Really easy to seal the doors and the carrier doesn't need to be removed which is a bonus.


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[wildrides]

For the benefit of other readers :-

where are you sourcing your butyl tape ? I used to get it from a window glass merchant . It comes in several choices of thickness from that source . I think they use it to stick and seal the glazing into hard wood window frames onsite in newbuilds.

 

[BoostHard]

Ill get the details off the box ive used 8mm x 8mm round butyl although im led to believe 6mm is better suited. Its definitely not foam. Its used on boats and in body shops amongst other uses to create waterproof seals

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