tonytaylor

My 1990 C2 is leaking.The sound proofing under the carpets is soaking.The archives suggest that the door seals may be at fault.Are these cheap (I know,highly unlikely) and easy to do or should I just throw away the foam and buy a cover?
My alarm has immobilised my car and won`t let me overide it - this may be connected to the above.

A red blur..

tony,

Unlikey question, but is your car air conditioned? If the outlet hose from the condensor is blocked water will leak into the footwell when you run the A/C.

good luck.

tonytaylor

[quote]A red blur.. <hr></blockquote>

I don`t have aircon so it can`t be that. Thanks anyway.

Adrian

Dear Tony,
The problem you have outlined is quite common. Very common in areas of high rainfall. The soundproofing is the best absorbant sponge in the world. It is brilliant. On my C4 (all in the archives by the way, the whole story) I removed the soundproofing and set about finding the leak. Took me ages. Now please remember this was my problem. I do not know if is yours as well. The door seals (yes they should have holes in them) compress and leak. However after a lot of detective work I found that the water was running from the rear of the door (water coming in by the window and going down), was running along the door sill and then through a compressed section of the door seal running down behind the carpet just where the carpet join is right by the end of the door joining the footwell area carpet to the door frame inside carpet. I used some sponge seal strip to dam up the very rear of the door sill and placed some additional seal under the plastic strip running along the top of the carpet along the length of the inside section of the door sill. Since I did this my interior running water on tap problems have been solved.
On the problem with your immobilser. I doubt this has anything to do with it. You are in the UK so I have no idea what alarm system you have fitted. These are UK dealer or aftermarket installed systems. Nothing to do with the factory. I would recommend you disable the alarm system for the time being. Remove power sources including the back up battery if installed. No in thinking about it, check behind what is your drivers seat. Check the carpet and see if it is also wet. I bet it is. I know on some UK 964s they installed alarm systems under the drivers seat and behind the drivers seats. Similar to the 928. Check if you have a panel under the carpet behind the seats. It may well be full of water. I bet your rear soundproofing is soaked as well.
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4

PS: As I said this is a very common problem. I also dream of my airconditioning system dripping water. This means it is working. "Dream On"

Kevin Asbridge

I also have this problem and am investigating. I had this problem with another car and it was the plastic membrane behind the door trim that had failed allowing water to leak into the car instead of running out through the drain holes.
The remedy was to reseal the memebrane to the doorframe ensuring that water passing the window seals (they are not designed to stop all water) was channeled through the drain holes and not into the car and onto the carpets.

Adrian

Dear Kevin,
I am sure you are aware that the drain holes in a 964 door are quite large. However if you feel this area might be your problem it is fairly easy to check. First open the door and run your finger along the bottom of the inside door trim. Is it wet. If yes this means water is coming down the wrong sideof the membrane. To confirm just open the side pocket. E,pty out the contents and see if it is wet. If wet you are well on your way. However I then recommend you fix it urngently because water and electricity do not mix and there is quite a bit of electricity floating around in the doors. I agree the window seals do allow water in over time. My door drains were blocked by the way on one side. I did for a short time celebrate that I had found the problem. Sadly it was not quite that easy.
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4

tonytaylor

Thanks Adrian for your comprehensive reply. I had checked the archives and have removed the sound proofing (reducing the cars weight by about 5 kilos in the process) and dried the footwell. It hasn`t rained today so I haven`t been able to test were the leak originates (although I suppose I can use a hosepipe)
The alarm is under warranty as I paid to have it fitted as a condition of my insurance policy ( personaly I`d rather run the risk of someone stealing the car - if the alarms haven`t flattened the battery they malfunction and prevent driving - no wonder insurance companies like them as they keep stop the car from being driven by it`s owner, let alone criminals.)The alarm people gave me information, over the phone, on how to disable the alarm and reset it, so it`s mobile again.
ps.It`s probably been leaking for a long time as I have always had a problem with misting windows. If you have a misting up problem check under the carpets as I was unaware that I had a leak until I went looking for the alarm and found gallons of water in the sound proofing .The carpet itself was pretty dry.

Ruairidh

Tony, Is that Manchester England (as opposed to Manchester New Hampshire etc)? The non-Brits amongst us may need to know it rains a heck of a lot there <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

tonytaylor

Ruairidh
It`s Manchester, England - it does rain fairly often.