Water Leak inside P6

Ban306

Active Member
Hi all,
My car has been sitting around for a bit and as I started work to get some of the little jobs out of the way before her mot they have all turned in to big jobs along the way.

I noticed the drivers side floor is very wet

I am not sure if this is coming from the screen or not could it be coming from the heater box ? or both ? can rain filter down from the heater box grill ?

I did buy a brand new screen rubber about two years ago with some screen sealant but never got round to fitting it, the old rubber has shrunk around the corners.

I have been reluctant in fitting a new screen rubber as with door rubbers I abandoned the job for another day as I just could not get the new rubber to fit in the channel correctly so would you suggest using the old rubber but with fresh sealant.

So today I started stripping ready to remove the glass I am also going to recondition the wiper motor and linkage wile its out excellent thread I have already seen on here on how to do that I also want to give the heater box some attention as well is there anything I need to look out for like rain drain holes or anything else.

Best wishes Bob
 

Attachments

  • floor 1.jpg
    floor 1.jpg
    802 KB · Views: 77
  • window2.jpg
    window2.jpg
    507.9 KB · Views: 73
  • glass3.jpg
    glass3.jpg
    504 KB · Views: 74
There are quite literally umpteen ways for water to get into your car. I'm currently dealing with one of the more bizarre routes, which is water getting between the window frame and rubber on the rear door, running into the rail that holds the headlining in place and onto the rear parcel shelf and seat back :( I reckon I've sorted it now but I need it to rain rather than snow, which it has been doing today.

I guess if the car hasn't moved for a while then you have to assume the water is coming in from above. The best way to determine where the water is coming from is to remove any carpet and underlay. Dry the floor as much as you can then sprinkle some talcum powder onto the floor and spray water onto the top of the car just like it was raining. The water will leave a wet track in the talc and give you an idea of the general area to concentrate on. Once you get to that stage you'll know how much more you need to strip out to find the hole.

Good luck

Dave
 
Had the same problem. Colin and Dave are right, but when I´m looking on your photos, I can only tell you :
take out the front screen, check the body parts behind, with this old and shrunken seal you will get water behind. That´s not the problem, but where´s water and mud, there will be rust. The P6 has an ingenious simple way to get the screen out and in. And never use this old rubber seal again. Your new rubber will also not fit perfectly to the upper edges of the stainless steel panels, but they must fit much better than the ones on your photo. Plug the new seal onto the screen and "lubricate" it with some water/detergent to make it slippery. My car did not have the support channel at the bottom of the screen and so not the rubber seal between screen and the support channel. On your photo I can see the support channel, but no rubber seal, or there´s a minor rest of it. Without the lip seal here all water from the screen goes directly down onto the bulkhead area. For "normal" cars with a vertical bulkhead no problem, but the P6 has a vertical plus a (bottom) horizontal bulkhead, fine for water...
You will find a lot of mud behind your screen, so take it out.
Your drain hoses for the heater box l.h and r.h. are a piece of deformed rubber and mud, so I think, no water can pass these hoses anymore. Mine looked the same. Finally I took out the heater box,
it´s not a big problem (except the air lever inside...). Just see my thread "it started with a front screen seal.." on member´s projects. You will find a rotten seal on the bottom of the heater.
This information is from another guy who informed me in my thread : if water goes through the heater (what´s normal) with the airflap open, the water will be drained by the central drain hose of the heater which looks to your engine and for sure, the two side hoses. This works only, when the bottom part of your heater is not rotten. If there are rust holes, the drain hose at the bottom cannot work.
Or when you say, no, I do not want to take out the heater box at the moment, so just take out both glove boxes, crawl into your car on both sides and have a look at the openings for the air from the heater. If it´s not rusty, you could leave the heater as it is, but time will come.
Personally I would not do one thing only, take out the screen and heater (and the wiper motor), so you can inspect, clean everything and have a rust prevention. The risk is, you can see something, what you do not want to see :confused:
By the way, the bottom seal for the heater (heater to lower bulkhead) will be offered at the moment only here :
rover p6 2000. 2200 3500 s heater box seal kit
 
Try checking the upper part of the 'A' posts behind the stainless trim in the door shuts.

Colin
This is a bit of a faf (you've got to carefully drill the rivets out) but probably the first point of call. I bet there are rusted holes round the rivets fastening the trim to the back of the windscreen pillar :(

The gap between your windscreen rubber & the stainless trim is a red herring based on my experience.
 
I have a similar problem. Drivers side and rear floor very wet. And in the boot too. I noticed that the rubbers at the galss to door are old and split. Would new boot seals be the answer or could it in somewhere else? It all comes in when the car is parked outside. I only put the cover on when the rain has stopped! I've had the heater out a while ago and it all seems ok under there (heater still doesn't work though. The notorious top flap spline thing. Oh the joys of old cars, But it's SO nice to drive........
 
Totally agree with everyone saying to drill out and remove the stainless trim on the A-posts. See what condition everything is in underneath.

As for your windscreen rubber; it looks rather old and split, so replacing that is a good idea. Don't, however, use sealant. They're not designed for it. Some nice bubbly water when fitting to help slide things around should be all you need.
 
Sealant is required. But it has to be non-hardening, i.e. butyl sealant not polyurethane or polysulfide.

Yours
Vern
 

Attachments

  • Screen Sealant.jpg
    Screen Sealant.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 21
I had a 2200 that let in water on the drivers side. Turned out the inner sill had rotted & was packed with filler. Filler is porous so the water was leeching through there. We had to cut the rear seat mount out to weld it. :rolleyes:
 
Back
Top