CLC220D water in passenger footwell and other questions

[Leggy92]

Hi all,

I'm new here and new to MB ownership. I have the CLC 220D 2008 and enjoying it so far.

I'm sure this is very common, but any knowledge and assistance would be great. I have just noticed the passenger footwell carpet is wet. I've checked the drain holes and they appear to be clear and on inspection I can see water coming in from the left hand side of the glove compartment. Is there something around there I should check and would this be a case of removing the glove box itself etc?

Also, out of curiosity, when I sit in the car (without it running) I can hear a noise like a small motor running constantly and I believe it's behind or is the headunit. I'm worried that it'll be taking a bit of power and if left for a few days the battery will be dead. I'm an on call firefighter so need to be confident that the car will start when I need it to.

Thanks everyone,
Matt

 

[DSM10000]

Matt

Welcome to the Forum!

From memory the Cabin air filter housing is in the engine bay mounted on the bulkhead the other side of the glove box. That may be a good place to start the investigation.

Some systems start to power up when the vehicle is unlocked. Try sitting in the car and lock it (with key to hand ) to see if the motor power down.

If you are worried about a battery issue (how old is the battery that's fitted?) get yourself an emergency jump pack

David

 

[Leggy92]

Matt

Welcome to the Forum!

From memory the Cabin air filter housing is in the engine bay mounted on the bulkhead the other side of the glove box. That may be a good place to start the investigation.

Some systems start to power up when the vehicle is unlocked. Try sitting in the car and lock it (with key to hand ) to see if the motor power down.

If you are worried about a battery issue (how old is the battery that's fitted?) get yourself an emergency jump pack

David

Thanks David, I'll check out the cabin filter housing although did have a quick look earlier and all seems to be dry there which was confusing. There does seem to be water underneath the car near where the wheel arch starts (from the bottom) so I'll have a look around all those areas tomorrow too.

Thank you, I'll look into that too. The key fob doesn't work on the car and due to having less than a minute to be out the house and in the car it's generally unlocked anyway. So the noise is there every time I get in the car.
For the same reason the battery jump pack is a must but also won't work longer term for getting to the station etc. Not sure when the battery was replaced although looks relatively new. My biggest issue at the moment is the water anyway, the rest I can look into in time.

Cheers

 

[markjay]

Welcome.

The CL203 CLC 220 CDI is a great car.

I am assuming that the water ingress issue only occurs when it's raining?

If so, then I suggest that you check that the scuttle is clean of leaves and debris and that the scuttle drain holes are not blocked. If your CL203 has the same set up as the W203 that I used to have, then one of the centre drain holes can be particularly troublesome due to a 90⁰ bend in the pipe underneath it that gets blocked easily.

Next check that the pipes under the drain holes are connected and tight, and carry the rainwater all the way to the bottom of the engine bay.

Then, as DSM1000 pointed out, the water ingress might be from the cabin filter area in the engine bay. Check that the cabin filter (aka pollen filter, aka dust filter) is secure and tight - a wrong size, or loose fitted filter, can allow water to be drawn in.

The other option is that you have a leak from the cabin heating matrix or its hoses, but in this case the damp area will have a distinct coolant odour.

 

[Leggy92]

Welcome.

The CL203 CLC 220 CDI is a great car.

I am assuming that the water ingress issue only occurs when it's raining?

If so, then I suggest that you check that the scuttle is clean of leaves and debris and that the scuttle drain holes are not blocked. If your CL203 has the same set up as the W203 that I used to have, then one of the centre drain holes can be particularly troublesome due to a 90⁰ bend in the pipe underneath it that gets blocked easily.

Next check that the pipes under the drain holes are connected and tight, and carry the rainwater all the way to the bottom of the engine bay.

Then, as DSM1000 pointed out, the water ingress might be from the cabin filter area in the engine bay. Check that the cabin filter (aka pollen filter, aka dust filter) is secure and tight - a wrong size, or loose fitted filter, can allow water to be drawn in.

The other option is that you have a leak from the cabin heating matrix or its hoses, but in this case the damp area will have a distinct coolant odour.

Thank you so much for the message. This was useful!

Today, I checked out all the drain holes again and as it wasn't raining today I poured some water over each hole individual and it does appear as one of the middle ones draining away very slowly. This is the one with a 90° bend. It looked clear but I did manage to get an air pump on it and seem to have sorted it. Although I guess I'll find out when it rains again.

Because of this, I then dried out the interior of the car and moved back the carpet from the deepest point of the footwell which was wet underneath. I'm going to keep an eye on it over the next few days and I hope I've fixed it!

Thank you to you and everyone else on this forum