cb944

Hi all,

I am getting the weirdest noises coming from around my car. It started about a month ago - I could hear water sloshing around under medium/hard acceleration - it sounded to be coming from the back, near the fuel tank, and I initially dismissed it as just fuel. But, when I thought about it a bit more, I realised that I can't normally hear anything from the fuel tank.

I inspected the rear cubby holes under the boot carpet - the right-hand-side one was filling up with water. I cleared it all out and, no more water as come back there.

Some time later the water noise resurfaced again. This time I checked the sunroof drains, they seem to be fine. Then I noticed that the LHS C-pillar was soaking wet behind the rear vinyl trim, and that a very small pool of water had collected under the LHS rear seat (I pulled the seat out to check).

So last night it tipped it down with rain, I went outside in the rain and checked again - more water on the C-pillar, I checked around the top of the boot seal and it all feels dry.

This morning, I'm getting weird sloshing noises from the front and rear of the car! It sounds like I have water actually IN my sills and the water is rushing around from front-to-back! Is that possible?! Where is this water coming from??

Anyone have any ideas? I just can't find a leak but there's water in my car somewhere

Cheers,

Chris.

Nick_944

I get water filling up in my driver and passenger doors sometimes when it rains and i am parked on a slope. there should be a drain hole on each.
Also check the 2 cavities in the rear trunk and the spare tyre hole. Can't think of anywhere else it could be hiding.
Hope you find it, nothing more unnatural then hearing water sloshing in a car.

odurandina

there are like a total of 5-7 drainholes on the cars, including like, maybe 3 actual gutter tubes, including even 1 for the roof.... your drains are clogged with leaf/pollen/sediment, etc..... i'm sure one of the guys will post about where to go to unclog your leaks in 3-2-1......... and then i can delete this semi-useless post.

pnbell

The drain tubes attached to the bottom of the latch for the Hatch Pins got clogged on mine last week and cause water in my trunk... I just blew through them to remove the clog.. I would check them if you have not already...

cb944

The doors? I hadn't considered them as I just thought there'd be enough holes in them that the water would run out easily... but I haven't checked the drain holes. I'll have a look tonight.

The two cavities - yes I checked those.. (I called them cubby holes) - bit of an odd setup back there as it seems like water can collect in a certain section even if the drain holes are clear. I had water there once but it doesn't seem to have come back since.

pnbell - do you mean the drain holes through the rear spoiler? Or is there another drain somewhere? My drain holes are clear, but I did recently change the hatch pins. I could've disturbed something back there I suppose, but I now think I'm getting water in a different place, or it's literally coming in just about everywhere!

Thanks for the other pointers, I'll see if I can dig out some posts about drain holes, was just searching for 'water in car' and variations of that.. and yeah, it is really really horrible, it sounds like I'm sitting in water when I start and stop but the interior is dry!

Cheers,

Chris.

lovemyp-car

i'd say get someone to help you rock the car back and forth and then check for drips around the car...open the doors and the hatch, look where there should be drains, i believe there's one in each fender well behind the wheel....not sure exactly where but i had a problem with one of these that clogged up with leaves and left me with wet feet every time it rained

cb944

Is that the front wheels? It reminds me that a couple of weeks back I could hear the noise, I stopped suddenly on a slight downhill gradient and then I could literally hear the water draining away. Unfortunately I was in traffic so I couldn't get out and look.

lovemyp-car

yeah...there should be a drain at the front of the battery tray (and maybe one at the front of the fuse block tray), and then i believe there's one at the back of each of those two trays (battery and fuseblock) that drains into the inner fender well...i had one or both of those clogged on my car, and i ended up getting water coming down around the blower motor onto my feet...not fun!

JohnKoaWood

The drains in the front fenders are on both sides, and offten become clogged, if you look to the outboard side of the fuse block, you will see a opening a few inches in front of the firewall, I use a garden hose to blast mine out on both cars each time I wash them, keeps water from collecting in the wells up front, and from causing rot in the metal..

if the sunroof seals are old, you will get water draining INTO the car every time it rains, even if the drains are clear... check BOTH sunroof seals.

The rear hatch are actually has multiple drains, 1 for each hatch pin, the holes in the spoiler, and the drains from the sunroof drain there too, if the hatch seal is worn, it will permit water into the hatch area even if all the drains are secure and intact.. the drain lines from the hatch pins should extend to grommets in the bottom of the cubbies in the rear, and end outside the car underneath, if then end in the cubbises they are dumpint water IN the car...

the door drains are in the bottom of the door, and can be clogged with debris.. remember there is a good chance the door internals have not been seen by human eyes in over 20 years, clean all your drains, make sure the seals are serviceale, and you should have little to no issues with water intrusion into the car!

cb944

Thanks! That gives me quite a few extra things to check.. I'll have a look and see how I get on.

Chris.

odurandina

and in every one of the places mentioned above, eventually rot out.

Geldfalle 944

I used compressed air and a garden hose to clear out my fender drains. I blew out, I kid you not, about 15 pounds of sand on each fender. I swear there is a black hole where it collects somewhere in that space.

sweetskillsrk

Compressed air or water is aight for the engine bay drains but for the interior drains you have the possibility of blowing the drain tube off the fitting, and then you really have a problem! At low pressure you should be fine but I would suggest getting some long weed eater line and feeding it down each drain tube all the way to the other end. Honestly, some else on Rennlist came up with this idea so I don't want to take credit, it works great though. After you pull the line out pour some water down each drain to make sure it drains properly. Also, as the others have said your sunroof probably plays a big part in the leakage. You wouldn't think to look at the seal, it probably looks fine, my car still has leakage around the sunroof even though the seal looks good. I would make sure all the drains are clear then check the sunroof for leaks again, you may need a new seal, in fact I'm probably gonna replace mine soon. Hope that helps man.

elf89

+1 on the weedeater line.

The right rear sunroof drain line has a T in it so the gas filler drain line feeds into it. I had to pull up the hatch liner to get at a sunroof screw that had gone down there.

Also (this wouldn't be your problem since it's related to rain) the airconditioner has a drain behind the radio that needs to be unclogged sometimes too. If anyone finds this post on a search and is getting splashed in the legs going around corners, that is what to check.

till_that_day

Take it thru a touchless car wash one time! (and have towels handy) This is how I found all the leaks in mine