Water in drivers footwell

[rowdy]

Got in my car this afternoon leaving work and noticed the drivers floormat was soaked. Had a feel around the bulkhead and bottom of the dashboard and noticed that the bottom of the dashboard near the bonnet release catch was wet.

The car is an 05 V50 dSE. It has a sunroof. I am aware of the recall for the washer fluid bottle leak and wondered if it could be this, as the last couple of times I've filled it up I have had the fluid low warning when I haven't really used the washers that much, but upon reading the forum today it appears that it could be the sunroof drain channel blocked.

Any ideas anyone?

[jbswagger]

I take it you do have a sunroof?

If so then it could be the sunroof drain at the bottom of the A pillar has come apart. If you pour water into the front sunroof drains, does it come out at the back of the front wheel arches? If not then there is a problem.

Have a look on this thread for more info.

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=132679

[rowdy]

Thanks, yes as stated above got the dreaded sunroof.
Have read through the link, did you take the A pillar trim off yourself?
Was it easy enough to remove, what needs to be done to do this?

[jbswagger]

The A pillar isn't hard to get off but the clips holding it on can be brittle and break. Do you have a Haynes manual as there is a description there?

Have you tried pouring water into the front sunroof drains and seeing if it comes out?,

[nofinchance]

My s40 was like this when I viewed it at the dealer in June.Soaked drivers side mats due to our lovely summer! The dealer told me not to worry and he would sort it before I collected the car.The first time it rained I had an indoor shower from the overhead console.I took the car back and we had a nice conversation about truth and warranty! Anyway long story short, for the dealer to mend it properly (not under warranty thats another story) it would cost £150 if they did not need to strip anything down.I went away and thought about it.First off what are they going to do without stripping anything down? I thought the only answer was to blow some air down the tubes to clear the blockage.Secondly if it was apart at a join somewhere what had I got to loose by trying blowing an airline down the tube? I was looking at a £150 bill anyway so cant make it any worse if it is apart somewhere.So I got the mechanic at work to have a look.He first fed some small diameter tube down the sunroof drain holes until it came to a stop.Then he attached an airline to the tube and blew.The right side made a massive bang and I thought "oh **** the drain tube has blown apart" But it was just a ball of crud hitting the floor after passing out of the front wheelarch.At least 1/2 litre of stagnant pond water then ran out after it.The left side was almost as bad and I can report I have had no problems since.All the job cost me was 20 fags

[rowdy]

Does anyone know how to access the lower section of the drain pipe from the elbow at the base of the windscreen down?

I removed the A pillar trim and found that the upper section of pipe was not seated in the rubber elbow correctly.
There was also water around this section indicating that was where the leak was coming from.
I unclipped the pipe from the A pillar and hung it out of the door, so that I could pour some water down the drain hole and check for blockage.
It was all clear so I attempted to fit the pipe back into the rubber elbow.
This proved tricky, as there isn't enough pipe length for it to seat securely into the rubber elbow, so I carefully applied a little instant gasket sealer to the outside of the pipe and carefully slotted it into position, making sure that I didn't block the pipe or elbow with the gasket sealant.
I then left it for a few days to make sure the pipe had stuck to the elbow, that there were no leaks and that I wouldn't seperate the two parts by accident when I clipped the A pillar trim back on.

However, after some rain last night there appears to be a few drops of water on my drivers floormat.
I have tried pouring more water down the rain channel but it doesn't appear to be coming out of the driver side front wheel arch.

[jbswagger]

Originally Posted by rowdy

Does anyone know how to access the lower section of the drain pipe from the elbow at the base of the windscreen down?

I removed the A pillar trim and found that the upper section of pipe was not seated in the rubber elbow correctly.
There was also water around this section indicating that was where the leak was coming from.
I unclipped the pipe from the A pillar and hung it out of the door, so that I could pour some water down the drain hole and check for blockage.
It was all clear so I attempted to fit the pipe back into the rubber elbow.
This proved tricky, as there isn't enough pipe length for it to seat securely into the rubber elbow, so I carefully applied a little instant gasket sealer to the outside of the pipe and carefully slotted it into position, making sure that I didn't block the pipe or elbow with the gasket sealant.
I then left it for a few days to make sure the pipe had stuck to the elbow, that there were no leaks and that I wouldn't seperate the two parts by accident when I clipped the A pillar trim back on.

However, after some rain last night there appears to be a few drops of water on my drivers floormat.
I have tried pouring more water down the rain channel but it doesn't appear to be coming out of the driver side front wheel arch.

Afraid I don't know how to access the lower part of the drain under the dashboard.

The drain does exit into the wheel arch (you remove the wheel arch liner) You could try from that end?