1" of water in driver's footwell after heavy rain

[paulmansfield]

Volvo S40 2004.
There is 1" of water in driver's footwell after heavy rain. Can anyone point me to the possible source?

[paulmansfield]

OK I have found a fix. The sunroof drain tubing pulled out with no resistance at he bottom of the A pillar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpR28_VT0CY

[AndrasL]

Lets hope that was it. I had to replace my windscreen because the seal gave up.

[paulmansfield]

I fixed it this morning. I undid the drain pipe at the sunroof end and blew down it until the blockage gave way, a very satisfying moment. At first it didn't go no matter how hard I blew, so I got a mouthfull of water and blasted that down, still didn't go. But the water must have softend something up or lubricated it because I blew again and it dislodged. I had to unscrew the sun visor to get to the top end of the pipe. At the dashboard end the pipe comes out very easily so make sure it is pushed in first.

[Thekilt]

Originally Posted by paulmansfield

I fixed it this morning. I undid the drain pipe at the sunroof end and blew down it until the blockage gave way, a very satisfying moment. At first it didn't go no matter how hard I blew, so I got a mouthfull of water and blasted that down, still didn't go. But the water must have softend something up or lubricated it because I blew again and it dislodged. I had to unscrew the sun visor to get to the top end of the pipe. At the dashboard end the pipe comes out very easily so make sure it is pushed in first.

I recently sorted the drains out. the issue is the bottom of the black connections which go into the dash, it uses a crude form of "non return valve" with the 4 crimped edges. It was recommended to cut this section off, and re-insert and mine drains a lot better now. don’t know if there are to be any repercussions for doing this though?

[iainmd]

Exactly what I did on my old 2004 S40. I removed both "sound traps" as Volvo call them by removing the a-pillar trim. They were easy to get out but a b*tch to get back in. Spraying them with WD40 made them slot back in more easily. While they were out I cut a few mm off the pinched end to create a hole for debris to exit instead of collect.

The other thing I did was put pipe connectors in the join between the pipe and the sound trap at the bottom as the overlap was pathetic and I had no confidence the pipes would stay in. I used these...

12mm - 8mm Stright Pipe Reducer

[Thekilt]

Originally Posted by iainmd

Exactly what I did on my old 2004 S40. I removed both "sound traps" as Volvo call them by removing the a-pillar trim. They were easy to get out but a b*tch to get back in. Spraying them with WD40 made them slot back in more easily. While they were out I cut a few mm off the pinched end to create a hole for debris to exit instead of collect.

The other thing I did was put pipe connectors in the join between the pipe and the sound trap at the bottom as the overlap was pathetic and I had no confidence the pipes would stay in. I used these...

12mm - 8mm Stright Pipe Reducer

That is one thing i noticed. The Drivers side slotted over the black "Sound trap" however the passenger side was onl a few mm. Im going to check it today after this rain, see if its wet on the floor. If so good idea with the connector, i will look into that.

[eric19371]

I bought an S40 a few years ago with a flooded interior that was caused by this (10 years old, 65k miles, only £1.6k!!). I removed the sound traps, cut the final cm off the bottom and then replaced (included lots of bad language solved by using a lubricant to get them back in the hole). I also noticed that the pipes had gone hard and shrunk slightly with both of them barely fitting inside the sound traps (this is where the water leaked out of the system) and replaced the final few inches with new pipe. Car still nice and dry inside.

Bought a V50 last year and while not flooded the foam was very damp under the carpet (same issue) so removed sound traps and replaced all the pipe up to the sunroof leaving it sticking out of the hole where the sound trap was. Whole process only took half an hour including removing the front section of headliner. Didn't bother replacing sound traps leaving pipe longer to complete route and not had any issue with water since.

[Paddy94]

Figured I'd try my luck in here as I'm having a similar issue! Sound traps got filled full of gunk and debri, causing the drain pipes to fill up and leak into the car! Now luckily enough, I seemed to have caught both sides just as they started to leak, so no huge puddles (Yet...)

I've opted to do away with the sound traps and just run new pipe and connectors onto the old drain pipes. Only issue I'm having is actually getting the new pipe through the hole in the corner of the dash and out through the firewall! I thought I'd got it in at one point, with the pipe finally going into the hole in the corner of the dash, only for it to NOT come out under the scuttle panel. I think this is due to the angle it goes at.

Anyone any tips, tricks, magic spells to make this living nightmare easier?

[paulmansfield]

You can stretch the pipe by hand to gain an extra inch, it is not necessary to buy a piece of extension pipe. Get some bicycle brake inner wire from Wilko and ram that down, thicker wire if you've got it. Also blow hot water down there, and suck, to soften any blockage.