Water leak around front seat mounts?

[hab5000]

I have water ingress that is soaking the carpet around the 2 rear mounting points (where the seat bolts to the floor) of the right hand (drivers) seat of my '92 300TE-24.

The mount areas are recessed, so I'm getting two nice little ponds forming. The left hand side is dry.

The rest of the carpet is also dry, including the area between the rear mounts where the heater outlet is located. and it only seems to happen when the car is moving?


I've done a search, but can't seem to come up with anything.

 

[bolide]

Check the sunroof drains down the B pillars - if you pull the seatbelt out is it damp or mildewed? Also check the membranes on the rear doors



Nick Froome

 

[hab5000]

Thanks Nick. I'll check the sunroof drains.

Seat belt area is totally dry. I know this because I had the trim off recently to silicone lubricant the belt mechanism.

Is there any chance it could be coming up through the floor? ie where the threaded studs for the seat mountings are located?

 

[hab5000]

Quick update - lifted the front footwell carpets. Right hand side is soaking wet. The foam backing of the carpet holds a lot of water!

Left hand side is dry.

I cleared the front sunroof drains with some plastic tubing, quite a lot of leaves/ debris removed, so I'm hoping this was the issue

Any suggestions as to other likely place (s) for water ingress would be greatly appreciated!

Is there a diagram/info on drain holes for the T model 124's available anywhere?

 

[millo777]

Are there in fact rear water drains for the sunroof that run down the B pillars? the WIS document about clearing water drains only mentions the ones at the front. I've taken the B pillar trim off on my car and never found any tubing for a water drain.

@hab5000, of you do a search there are plenty of threads regarding leaky w124 estates and Bolide has made many posts on the subject which cover the usual suspects. The normal leaks are from the side windows in the cargo area, or from blocked water drains from the bottom corners of the windscreen.

Another Bolide suggestion that works is to take the front carpets out and park the car nose down on a hill. You'd be suprised how much water ends up in the foot wheels over night.

You might also want to lift the rear seats to check for moisture. Same thing with the fold away seats in the cargo area.

 

[hab5000]

Milllo - Front carpets are out!

You say there are water drains at the bottom corners of the windscreen - any more info on that?

I've done the front sunroof drains, that run down the A pillar, and quite a bit of debris came out. Hopefully that's helped.

I've noticed there's rubber drain nipples near the rear wheelarches, any one got any info on where they start? (not the fuel filler one btw)

 

[millo777]

The drains near the rear wheel arches are probably from the spare wheel area, and the corresponding place on the other side, where the tool kit and rear washer bottle are.

It would be worth checking for leaks around the grommet for the electric aerial as thats a common place for rust to start.

To find the drains on the bottom of the windscreen, lift the bonnet and you'll see them in the extreme bottom corners of the windscreen beneath the bonnet hinges, usually gunged up with leaves and other organic matter. Mine were totally full when i got the car, I got about 1kg of compost out of them. Although it didn't cure the leak....

I also have the front carpets out and without driving the car for a day can collect around 100-200ml a day of water from the passenger side foot well if it's been raining, which it always has. On mine it's clearly coming from the rear of the car as I can see the path the water has taken, originating under the front passenger seat. I haven't traced further back than that yet.

I'm fairly certain my leak is from the rear side windows and just needs some new seals, but I need a dry weekend to get under the car and check all the drains in the sills etc are clear. It would also be useful to take the rear carpet out to confirm and dry it out properly.

In the mean time, these are helping a lot!

2 x AIRDRY DEHUMIDIFIER SACK BAGS MOISTURE ABSORBER | eBay

 

[hab5000]

Great info, millo - Thanks.

I've done the spare wheel well drain and the one on the opposite side. The aerial grommet is knackered and leaking and I've ordered a new one to fit. I'll have a dig for the windscreen area drains tomorrow.

There are still a couple of rubber drain nipples in front of the rear wheelarches on the underside - one each side (If I remember correctly) under the rear doors?

 

[219]

The sunroof drains down the A pillars at the front and the C pillars at the rear - I know this because I've had leaks in the rear drains on both of my 124 estates .

Incidentally , I've had rust along the bottom edges of the load bay windows , and where the wheel arches joined the rear wings on one of my estates - possible water ingress points .

The front drains mentioned by others are below the bonnet hinges .

 

[hab5000]

Quick update - I've been trying to eliminate more possible areas of water ingress, and discovered this today. (See pic below) The rubber bung is missing from the right hand (drivers) front wheel arch inner panel.

The opposite side has the same hole but the bung/stopper is present. This panel is quite close to the drivers footwell area. Water kicked up from the tyre must be getting into this hole. Luckily I had a spare bung of the correct size. Anyone know if this might be connected to the damp carpet in the footwell?

 

[millo777]

I doubt that bung was the source of your damp in the foot well, but it may well have caused some rust on the inner wing. It might be worth taking the wheel arch liner out and having a poke aorund.

I've found the source of my leak, which is the n/s cargo area side window as suspected. Pic below. Fyi, it wasn't visible until I'd removed the c pillar trim, and then the I needed to move the carpet piece in order to treat it.

Lifting up the rear foot well carpet it's easy to see how the water ends up in the footwells. Fortunately mine is totally dried out. As per Bolide's many posts, parking nose down with the front carpet removed is the best way to get the majority fo the water out.

As per Pontoneer's post, the rear sunroof drains do indeed run down the c pillars. On my car, the n/s is the rigid black pipe int he pic, whereas on the other side it's a hose, so it must have been a problem that was fixed by a previous owner.

Anyway, as a stop gap I've put a load of rust converter on the affected area, and when that dried used some sealant to prevent further ingress. In the summer it will need to be treated properly with the window out.

As an aside, I found an interesting sealant in a local Yacht supply shop which goes by the wonderful name of "Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure" which apparently is thinner than water and uses capillary action to find gaps and seal them. I've added this under the seals inside and out on both sides of the car.

http://www.captaintolley.com/index.html