Check your drains!!!

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arai1200

New Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Messages
11
Car
'99 CLK 320
What with all this wet weather combined with dead blossom falling off the trees, now would be an excellent opportunity to check the drain hole isn't blocked near the a/c intake. I didn't on my '99 CLK and have just spent the entire afternoon trying to dry entirely flooded n/s front and rear footwells!! I ripped that useless rubber "valve" off too as all that appears to have done is trap twigs and leaves allowing it to overflow into the a/c intake. Well done MB!!!
 
Damn it. I thought I'd fixed this!! It looks like water is still coming in despite me clearing a/c intake the drain. Anybody got any other ideas as to where the water's coming in from?
 
Sunroof drains?
 
....I ripped that useless rubber "valve" off too as all that appears to have done is trap twigs and leaves allowing it to overflow into the a/c intake. Well done MB!!!

I have a 98 w202 and a little while ago i had a similar problem as the drain was blocked which caused water to flood in same as yours (It took me a long time to time to get it all dry, make sure you pull the carpet up and soak up all water sitting there and also try and get as much as you can out of the sponge as that retains water and and soaks it up as a sponge does, i removed the seat as well!!)

When i was cleaning out the drain i found that i had to unblock two different areas before the water stop entering the car. I see youve cleared the area around the rubber valve which is normally the culprit and most of the water drains down through here. After cleaning water was still getting in. After looking around i found a drain pipe, fairly large on the left of the wiper blade looking from the front. This also drains water and if blocked (which mine was) and raining heavily at the time the water obverflows and drains along the to the rubber valve you cleaned and starts to gather again as it cant drain quickly enough and flows back into the car via the a/c intake.

Sorry for the long post and im not sure if everything will be the same on your car but i presume it will as they are quite similar.
 

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Newspaper is excellent for drying wet cars out.
 
Yup i used newspapers and laid them under the carpet and left the for a while, works very well. In the pictures you can see i used a vax and the chamois cloths to quickly gather as much water as i could as it was going everywhere, alot of water had actually managed to get in because of the very heavy rain at the time.
 
Took seat and carpet out and it's been "drying" for two weeks now!! Got hacked off with it as it became difficult to tell whether the moist sound-deadening sponge was actually still drying out or just getting wet again, so I ripped it all out and let it dry inside the house. Just been abroad with work and I've got back to find my naked passenger footwell is wet again!! I'll check this other drain tomorrow morning as both pics look very similar , as you'd expect.

I checked the sunroof drains and they seem to work well, also, water is getting in with the sunroof closed which implies it is not that.

I threw a couple of buckets of water over it to see if I could see any water coming through the a/c unit before I left last week but nothing came through. Perhaps it needs to be more sustained than that.

Thanks for your suggestions chaps. I'll let you know when (if) I get to the bottom of this. If I don't, it's getting a load of air freshener and I'll get it part exchanged for a BMW!!! I don't need this!!!!
 
What a piece of s***!!! I couldn't help try to get to the bottom of this so I thought I'd nip outside armed with a torch and a piece of paper to confirm whether the water was coming from the a/c unit by watching for drips (it's raining, you see). Nothing was forthcoming so I thought I'd check the sunroof drains (clear, but a surprising amount of water gets past the seal, so it's essential they're checked if you have a leak) and look for the other drain from the windscreen mentioned in an above post. Couldn't see the drain as it's too dark even with my trusty torch, so I checked for drips onto the paper again... still nothing. I thought this was odd as most of the water appears have come from directly beneath the a/c unit. However, I could not find any moisture on the a/c unit itself.

Then, and to my absolute horror, I noticed that the side of the footwell had a small, but clear, wet and rusty streak coming from a rust crust. Closer investigation (a heavy jab with my front door key) confirmed my fear - it looks like perforating rust that the water has saturated from the front left wheelarch drain collector. All of the water running off the windscreen and some from the roof drains out of the main drainage ducts to an area between the main engine bay and the a/c intake, where it appears to then get channeled behind the wheelarch and out of the car (or in this case, into the car). Take a look at these pictures... I smell a rat as the beige/rust-coloured stuff surrounding the leaky rusty scab has a rubbery texture which suggests to me that it's been patched up before.

Anyways, hopefully I've found the problem now. I think the solution could be a way off though. Not sure what to do next other than sulk!! Interestingly, I probably would never have discovered this had the a/c intake drain not blocked up and flooded the thing totally as there's not an awful lot of water coming in. Probably not enough to saturate the sponge and the carpet anyway.

How much could I get for it if I was to break it for parts???? I'm only half joking unfortunately!!!
 

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That's seam sealer used in manufacture. The outside isn't protected well enough and it has rotted all the way through.

Get the car into your local dealer for a Mobilo-life corrosion warranty claim. It looks like this could be our first genuine perforation claim, as opposed to a Goodwill surface rust claim.

It will be interesting to see how this one pans out.
 
I went to an MB dealer (Cribbs, Bristol) shortly after getting the hateful thing as I noticed some surface rust around the wheelarches and bootlid. They said that the car was over 8 years old so was no longer covered under mobilolife (mobilolife? an 8 year life for a "prestige" car?), so I asked them about a goodwill gesture and told them about all of the stuff I'd seen on these forums. They said they'd get back to me, but never did so I just dropped it. You'd guess that perforation corrosion in an area near the engine bulkhead and door sills would be covered, but I'm not certain this is the case. I would not be surprised if they say that paint work/corrosion protection of any kind is only covered in the first 8 years.

I'll give it a stab anyway. It's not as if I have anything to lose so I'll let you know the outcome.
 
Went for a spin today as the car had been just parked during this rain we have had and found the passenger footwell flooded and my fan not working, so I took away the lid under the ac box and jug of water just fell, found the tube with lid in the engine bay (scratching my arms to smithereens in the process) and unblocked it (just a small tissue worth of mushy leaves).

Am i right in saying that this blockage and then flooding has burnt out the motor which is the fan that controls the temp in the car w208 99clk convertible and anyone know the part no and cost or better still where to get a replacement online.

Sorry for all the questions but I have still not found a good local indie.
 
Went for a spin today as the car had been just parked during this rain we have had and found the passenger footwell flooded and my fan not working, so I took away the lid under the ac box and jug of water just fell, found the tube with lid in the engine bay (scratching my arms to smithereens in the process) and unblocked it (just a small tissue worth of mushy leaves).

Am i right in saying that this blockage and then flooding has burnt out the motor which is the fan that controls the temp in the car w208 99clk convertible and anyone know the part no and cost or better still where to get a replacement online.

Sorry for all the questions but I have still not found a good local indie.

Where are you? Have you used the advanced search facility on the forum?
 
Where are you? Have you used the advanced search facility on the forum?

I'm in Canterbury I have had a name thrown at me before about a chap in
wingham who is no longer and moved to sandwich (not a million miles but being a busy person it's a bit awkward)

I will use the advance search facility more but felt this subject should be brought up now we have had so much rain and was hoping someone would read this and gone through the same crap recently and pass on some advice.
 
Thanks to this site I have found all the info needed regarding this problem, a blocked drain will cause The heater motor to stop working as this is where the water will escape to.

Will take a break from home cinema project and get the tools out for this one, sounds like a simple fix....but anyone with W208 who has not come across this before please go and check that awkward tube with a lid and make sure it's unblocked.:thumb:
 
For those interested, the fan motor and regulator that sit below the glove compartment where removed (20 min job) after a blocked drain had forced the rain water into the box it sits in and flooded the moter and footwell.

Took both to a mechanic who looks after my vans who gave them a clean and a general service and fan is working fine, did not want to take money for it but gave him £30 drink.

30 mins to put everything back so in total no more than 1.5 hour job saving minimum £150 DIY or £400 dealer, on this one I'm a happy bunny :D
 
Thanks to this site I have found all the info needed regarding this problem, a blocked drain will cause The heater motor to stop working as this is where the water will escape to.

Will take a break from home cinema project and get the tools out for this one, sounds like a simple fix....but anyone with W208 who has not come across this before please go and check that awkward tube with a lid and make sure it's unblocked.:thumb:

This awkward tube with a lid, whereabouts exactly does it sit and what does it look like? I'm having major water leakage issues and am trying to rule out every cause.

Cheers
 
I went to an MB dealer (Cribbs, Bristol) shortly after getting the hateful thing as I noticed some surface rust around the wheelarches and bootlid. They said that the car was over 8 years old so was no longer covered under mobilolife (mobilolife? an 8 year life for a "prestige" car?), so I asked them about a goodwill gesture and told them about all of the stuff I'd seen on these forums. They said they'd get back to me, but never did so I just dropped it. You'd guess that perforation corrosion in an area near the engine bulkhead and door sills would be covered, but I'm not certain this is the case. I would not be surprised if they say that paint work/corrosion protection of any kind is only covered in the first 8 years.

I'll give it a stab anyway. It's not as if I have anything to lose so I'll let you know the outcome.

I thought it was longer than 8 years, for some reason 30 springs to mind.
 

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