Water in driver footwell

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ItalianTuneUp

MB Enthusiast
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Nov 20, 2013
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Location
Hampshire
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S320CDI
Jumped in motor today and discovered water under the driver's rubber mat, carpet soaked.

We had heavy rain last couple of days but this never happened before. Any ideas for why this could have happened? No windows or sunroof had been left open.
 
ItalianTuneUp said:
Jumped in motor today and discovered water under the driver's rubber mat, carpet soaked. We had heavy rain last couple of days but this never happened before. Any ideas for why this could have happened? No windows or sunroof had been left open.

Are you sure you didn't have a little accident :)
 
Blocked scuttle drains under the outside of your windscreen below the wipers. Lift bonnet, remove leaves and crud. You may have to blast a hose pipe into the drains.

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK
 
Blocked scuttle drains under the outside of your windscreen below the wipers. Lift bonnet, remove leaves and crud. You may have to blast a hose pipe into the drains.

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK

Thanks, I will take a look tomorrow.

It's strange as I cleared out a load of leaves and debris from the bonnet area a couple of weeks ago. So I thought that I had already cleared all the junk out. :confused:
 
Have a look in front of the firewall. You may see the drain pipes? On a 203 You can simply pull them off the scuttle and clean them out.

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Oh sh*t, more rain tonight, so I should have a swimming pool in the car tomorrow morning! :eek: :wallbash:
 
It doesn't sound very smart allowing water to flood the interior of the car! I suppose there's a reason it has to be this way though, otherwise it would be designed differently.
 
Also, how to get the carpets/under carpets bone dry to prevent mould/rust? I think mine is galvanised, but perhaps not on the inner side of the metal?

Do the carpets come out easily?
 
They do , but the insulation on the back is about 5 inches thick , each carpet holds about a gallon of water , trust me I know.

I had to leave mine in the garage and then the airing cupboard for the best part of a month and have blue tissue stuffed in the foot well at all times , with fan heaters whenever practical.

Make sure the water hasn't got into the cable trays.

It's a proper pain
 
I took some photos under the bonnet today. This looks like where the rain pours in - is it part of the aircon intake?

Note in the second picture - the round grommet on the sidewall. When I looked down into this grille, there appeared to be no water within the chamber.
 

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And I presume the rain runs down the windscreen and then the rain falls down into the two parallel lines of small holes shown here?
 

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And at the edge of this cover attached to the underside of the bonnet, I noticed a rubber flap which looks like it can be opened. What is it's purpose...to let overflow rain out?
 

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And finally this is taken looking up from the driver's footwell towards the underside of the dashboard. There appears to be three two-slot air holes where the air conditioning system blows air out from.

I assume these are the holes that the water leaked out from.

I cannot see where I need to clean debris from in any of the pictures above, so any help would be appreciated.
 

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The link that Howard gave deals with the passenger side footwell / leaking, whereas the leaking in my case occurred on the driver's side footwell.

Which place do I need to look for dirt / debris blockage?
 
I have a W203. They are renowned for blocked scuttle drains. Water then gets in via the windscreen through the bonding. Is the water on your screen draining straight out from the scuttle? If yes then it could be a case of trying with a hose until you find the hole.

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK
 
To be honest, I have no idea where the offending water came from. I presume it's from the scuttle/cowl drain.

Here is a how-to showing how to clean out the drain, for anyone else that suspects a blocked drain:

W220 Plenum chamber unblocking pictures - Mercedes-Benz Owners' Forums
 

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