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Water in drivers footwell XC90 2013

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Old Jun 21st, 2018, 17:10   #1
daddydaycare
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Default Water in drivers footwell XC90 2013

Volvo xc90 2013 water ingress into drivers footwell (RHD). Has anyone come across this before. Car does not have a sunroof and windscreen drain channel is clear. Water getting in behind fuse box area on side of dash and dripping down to footwell. Some photos attached for info. Volvo garage can't look at car for 3 weeks so would rather get sorted out before then. Any ideas / advice appreciated.
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Last edited by daddydaycare; Jun 21st, 2018 at 17:17.
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Old Jun 21st, 2018, 19:23   #2
AidXC90
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Hi Daddydaycare,

I've just gone through a lot of trouble with a similar scenario in my '55 reg D5. It seems XC90's leak more than Land Rover Discoveries.
I suspect my situation was not identical to yours, but my story might help you in some way. I intend to do a full post on this when I've finished the other stack of work on the car.
My car also has no sunroof, so no drain tubes to worry about but it still had bad leaks on both sides, passenger's and driver's, and I had literally litres of water sloshing under the carpets on both sides, front to back. Mine was a long-standing leak which rusted the parking brake to destruction and the anti-yaw sensor as well.
Youtube yielded a few helpful videos. Under the plastic windscreen scuttle panel is the metal body of the car underneath the windscreen wiper motor and linkages. At either end of the metal panel are the plastic drains for that area. You say yours are not blocked, which is good.
However, according to the Youtube videos, the plastic surrounds around the large apertures in the metal scuttle panel which allow air to pass into the ventilation fan (UK model passenger side) and the wiring loom to the ECM (UK model driver's side,) may not seal properly. I surmise that if, in heavy rain or if the scuttle drains are blocked, water may back up, seep under the plastic surrounds and over the metal lip around the aperture, and get into the car that way. It may run down the wiring loom, over the ECM and towards the fusebox which is roughly underneath the ECM, or at least close to it.
So I removed my surrounds on both ends of the scuttle (passenger's side clips over the metal lip, driver's side is screwed down), thoroughly cleaned the plastic and metal faces and sealed the joins with clear silicone before reinstalling the plastic surrounds. Then I ran a bead of silicone around the joint again. This may help, but sadly it only solved my passenger's side leak.
I still had to remove the carpets, which entails undoing the front and rear seats and removed the amplifier and corroded anti-yaw sensor under the driver's seat, and DVD satnav under the passenger's seat. I discovered the driver's side leak to be coming from an unsealed seam between two metal panels; one forming the driver's footwell from below, the other the bulkhead/ firewall behind the engine from above. They meet and overlap in line with the steering column where it passes through to the engine bay. For some reason I can't attach a photo today but there was a hole between these two panels to the right of the steering column gaiter. It's unlikely yours is leaking here as the fusebox is too far away, but it may be possible that a panel junction seam in your car is leaking closer to the fusebox? I had to seal mine with Grey Stripe seam sealer from Halfords, both inside the car and within the engine bay. It's a pig of a job to access the seam in the engine bay but it has solved the problem. I've tested it with a hose and we've also had torrential rain since then and there was no water in the car.
I hope this is of some help to you.

Please let us know how you get on.

Aidan
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Old Jun 22nd, 2018, 00:07   #3
daddydaycare
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Thanks AIDXC90 for the detailed reply. I plan to have a look at this area over the weekend and hopefully discovery the weak point.
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Old Jun 22nd, 2018, 01:01   #4
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Old Jun 22nd, 2018, 01:48   #5
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Another possibility - have you had the windscreen changed in the last few months. It once happened to me when Autoglass replaced the windscreen it wasnt quite done properly and water was getting in.
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Old Jun 22nd, 2018, 08:01   #6
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Quote:
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Have a read at this... Click
Thanks for the link to Binty's posts, 4X4. I wish I'd seen them before. He's been through exactly what I went through. I now suspect I might only have blocked up the point of entry into the cabin (hole in the seam) so may now have water collecting in the box section via the hole that Binty found. That doesn't sound good. I guess I'll have to deal that hole too, to be sure.

As they say, it never rains but it pours... especially inside an XC90.
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Old Jun 22nd, 2018, 19:47   #7
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OMG - so sorry to hear about this, thank you for sharing - this should not happen on a car such as this
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Old Jun 24th, 2018, 00:38   #8
AidXC90
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Originally Posted by XJSDriver View Post
OMG - so sorry to hear about this, thank you for sharing - this should not happen on a car such as this
Very true. I'm surprised at how many leaks occur in XC90s. As you say, they are supposed to be a premium product and in many ways they are and they are a fine car in general. But the leak situation is quite extreme. I wonder how many owners fixed sunroof drains and still have the leak that Binty and I suffered from, perhaps without even knowing it?
After all, the water remains under the carpets and the carpets rarely if ever show signs of wetness on top. So you could go months or years without knowing you even have a leak depending on the rainfall in your area or how often you wash the car etc. etc. It was only hearing the sound of rushing water when braking, and later having "anti-skid service required" messages showing up that alerted me to the problem.
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Old Jun 24th, 2018, 16:42   #9
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Thanks for the mentions folks, glad to be of help.
Interesting how many of you have the same issue which seems due to shrinkage of the sealing compound with age.
For info I checked my carpet this spring after a very wet winter and pleased to say it is still bone dry.
Once the cause was identified, the fix was easy thanks to a liberal spraying of cavity wax.
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Old Jun 24th, 2018, 17:01   #10
AidXC90
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Quote:
Originally Posted by binty View Post
Thanks for the mentions folks, glad to be of help.
Interesting how many of you have the same issue which seems due to shrinkage of the sealing compound with age.
For info I checked my carpet this spring after a very wet winter and pleased to say it is still bone dry.
Once the cause was identified, the fix was easy thanks to a liberal spraying of cavity wax.
I shall be carrying out the "Binty Wax" procedure once I've done all the mechanical work
I just hope I've not managed to trap water in a box section
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