Water leak- passenger side

[SuperV8]

Really heavy rain overnight, checked this morning and leak still there , not sure if less water than before and could be my bad sealing (difficult to get to the back of the bracket) or if its coming somewhere else up the front as Equalizer has suggested.

Might try some dye tracing when it stops raining.

Any chance the door wiring loom connector could be leaking below your hinge?
Good luck - back in the day it was my 'the apprentice' job to lie upside down with a torch in MGF's in the spray test room trying to find water leaks - right pain as water can enter at one point then track along and come out at a completely different spot!

 

[SuperV8]

Any chance the door wiring loom connector could be leaking below your hinge?
Good luck - back in the day it was my 'the apprentice' job to lie upside down with a torch in MGF's in the spray test room trying to find water leaks - right pain as water can enter at one point then track along and come out at a completely different spot!
View attachment 35112

 

[Leonardo]

Thanks for the suggestion, the water seems to come in above the wiring loom.

Photo looking up through opening (outside left, inside right, front door seal (not visible) bottom), wiring loom connection (bottom left), green seal (top left) I think is where the door hinge is connected, acoustic foam (top right) where the water gathers before making its way down into the footwell.

I tried to reach my hand around but need arms like Mr Tickle + the metal edges are really sharp. Beginning to think it isn't the hinge.

 

[Leonardo]

Bit of an update, I put a white paper towel in the leak area and tried pouring food colouring mixed with water on to the hinge and door seal, definitely not coming through here.

The next day poured some onto the plastic at the bottom of the windscreen over the scuttle drain area and a small amount of colouring coming through at the leak point so definitely front end. The leak happens both when facing up hill and downhill but appears to be worse when facing up hill. Also takes around an hour to seep through.

Was difficult to be precise with my pouring so could be bottom of the windscreen, scuttle area (the bit with the big hole behind the top of the shock absorber).

Tried to take a picture of the underside of the drain (from under the wheel arch) and doesn’t look very well sealed plus water looks like it could track back underneath and possibly through the gap. Think this has been mentioned before as a possible ingress point, will try sealing this and making more of a lip to drain.

 

[Equalizer]

If you want a temporary solution to avoid your carpets of getting wet, you can make a DIY water catch tank. After a heavy rain the box is full of water. If something looks stupid, but it works- it isn't stupid

 

[Leonardo]

That’s genius, only problem is my car is right hand drive so will have tupperware between my pedals, have noticed there is a drain hole with a plug under the carpet so could direct the pipe through and seal it with silicone if it comes to it. Have removed the acoustic underlay which seems to absorb most of the water and replaced it with mix of towels and absorbent bed protectors and put disposable nappies under the dash which seems to catch most of the water, just have to remember to change them, didn’t mention this in the Seat brochure!

 

[Equalizer]

That’s genius, only problem is my car is right hand drive so will have tupperware between my pedals, have noticed there is a drain hole with a plug under the carpet so could direct the pipe through and seal it with silicone if it comes to it. Have removed the acoustic underlay which seems to absorb most of the water and replaced it with mix of towels and absorbent bed protectors and put disposable nappies under the dash which seems to catch most of the water, just have to remember to change them, didn’t mention this in the Seat brochure!

That is also what I was thinking about. It should do the trick. If you want to dry your carpets without removing them, use cat litter. After you fix the problem or build this temporary workaround, just put a thick layer of the litter on a wet carpet, and after couple of days it will be dry (change the litter to new, dry if it will be wet).

I hope we will find a source of the leak

Cheers.

 

[Leonardo]

Think I’ve managed to fix it! After sealing the gaps on the underside of the drain hole there was a noticeable difference in the amount of water getting in, noticed I had missed an area on the first attempt, after the second attempt have been totally dry for two weeks, did an extreme weather test this weekend with buckets and hoses and no water made it in, no nappy needed.

From reading on another thread it seems to be more of a problem on 2018 reg cars, my theory is that at the factory they forgot to seal / or there was a defect with the metal panel on this side (the hole on other side with no water ingress looks a lot better), water makes it through the gap, when it freezes it expands causing the gap to get bigger enabling more water can get through freeze, expand and repeat in some cases causing the metal to split /corrode.

https://www.seatcupra.net/forums/threads/water-ingress-into-drivers-footwell.471576/post-5025681

Leaky side

Non leaky side

Definitely worth checking the condition of the hole, simplest way I've found to do this is to access the area from below, above the wheel arch by tuning the wheel full lock gives better access. Putting a smartphone recording in video mode with the light on through the gap in the wheel liner, waggle it around and freeze frame the hole afterwards.

I sealed mine with tiger seal (cheaper version Puraflex 40 PU Sealant). In hindsight it would have been easier to do by taking the wheel off and potentially the wheel liners, managed to get to mine from above by lifting up the windscreen scuttle tray removing a clip and plastic pull rivet and lifting it up (be careful it breaks easily as I found out although only cosmetic) and from below by reaching my hand around the wheel liner and working by feel, hence why it looks like a dogs dinner.

Top tips: uses disposable gloves and throw away after each application, have white spirit at the ready to wipe off any spillages on the body work while it’s still wet, video the area after dry to check for missed bits, don’t get any sealant on your phone.

Pretty sure it if fixed but will post back if it returns, hope this helps.

 

[Wilto]

Fingers crossed for you mate, still waiting for time to do mine, started amassing tools/materials to seal up potential ingress points.
Got my windscreen wiper pullers yesterday, and got two tubes of white Dow Corning sealant today from Screwfix (my car is white).
Hope to get round to start this annoying problem soon.

 

[Equalizer]

It would be a great news if this would be a problem. An easy fix.

 

[Equalizer]

Leonardo, any news? Has your solution fixed the problem?

 

[Wilto]

Think I’ve managed to fix it! After sealing the gaps on the underside of the drain hole there was a noticeable difference in the amount of water getting in, noticed I had missed an area on the first attempt, after the second attempt have been totally dry for two weeks, did an extreme weather test this weekend with buckets and hoses and no water made it in, no nappy needed.

From reading on another thread it seems to be more of a problem on 2018 reg cars, my theory is that at the factory they forgot to seal / or there was a defect with the metal panel on this side (the hole on other side with no water ingress looks a lot better), water makes it through the gap, when it freezes it expands causing the gap to get bigger enabling more water can get through freeze, expand and repeat in some cases causing the metal to split /corrode.

https://www.seatcupra.net/forums/threads/water-ingress-into-drivers-footwell.471576/post-5025681

Leaky side
View attachment 35397

Non leaky side
View attachment 35399

Definitely worth checking the condition of the hole, simplest way I've found to do this is to access the area from below, above the wheel arch by tuning the wheel full lock gives better access. Putting a smartphone recording in video mode with the light on through the gap in the wheel liner, waggle it around and freeze frame the hole afterwards.

I sealed mine with tiger seal (cheaper version Puraflex 40 PU Sealant). In hindsight it would have been easier to do by taking the wheel off and potentially the wheel liners, managed to get to mine from above by lifting up the windscreen scuttle tray removing a clip and plastic pull rivet and lifting it up (be careful it breaks easily as I found out although only cosmetic) and from below by reaching my hand around the wheel liner and working by feel, hence why it looks like a dogs dinner.
View attachment 35396

View attachment 35395
Top tips: uses disposable gloves and throw away after each application, have white spirit at the ready to wipe off any spillages on the body work while it’s still wet, video the area after dry to check for missed bits, don’t get any sealant on your phone.

Pretty sure it if fixed but will post back if it returns, hope this helps.

Done the same thing as you, only I did mine from above, applying small amounts of silicone to my fingertip and scraping off on the underside of the hole.
I also applied silicone around the 4 edges of the door hinges on the A pillar.
And I applied a generous amount of silicone around the bulkhead/ inner wing area.
After doing all the above, I vacuumed all the water up, put a towel under my mat for a few days, and then used a heat gun to dry the carpet.
After 3 jet washes, and a bit of rain this week I can confirm that the footwell is still DRY

 

[Leonardo]

Also not had any leaks since, although hasn't been as rainy since although I did have the hose running over the windscreen and other areas for a long time with no water coming through before putting my carpet underlay and other stuff back.

It would be worth trying to take a picture of the underside of the drain holes to see if leaky side looks different (like my photo) from the unleaky side.

Hope this helps, I will report back if the leak returns.

 

[Equalizer]

Hello.

Still dry?

 

[Wilto]

Hello.

Still dry?

Yeah, still bone dry, and it's been tipping down this last couple of weeks, all good

 

[Leonardo]

Yes, still dry for me too, also been raining solid here for the last few weeks

 

[Equalizer]

Today I have found some water under the carpet :/ It still gets in somewhere. I don't know what to do anymore...
Additionally I have found some water in the boot under the spare wheel. Those cars are ****.

 

[Leonardo]

It might still be coming in at the same place (certainly the front leak), when I sealed mine it took several attempts to cover all of the gaps around the drain hole, are you able to take a picture of the bottom of the hole through the gap under the wheel arch when turning the wheel full lock (or removing it)?
Don't know what to suggest about the rear one, remember seeing similar posts but can't recall what the solution was, do you have a sunroof? If so could be blocked or broken drains.

 

[Leonardo]

One thing I also did was put a smear of silicone along the side of the upper part of the drain chamber and around the screw, it sill leaked after so didn't think it did anything however it might have done if the water was coming in in two places.

 

[Equalizer]

I will have to disassembly everything around that piont and seal every joint. I have bought two tubes of Tiger Seal. I will plug this mother.ucker to the death.