Daughter got in the back today for a trip out and to my absolute horror I noticed a patch of soaked carpet just behind the L/H runner of the passenger seat - about 4" x 4" square, when the back of the front passenger seat was tilted forward. The rest of the carpet in the footwell seemed ok but not 100% sure if really totally bone dry.


Unfortunately my garage isn't large enough for me to get the cat indoors when not in use, so out on the drive she proudly sits but its been hammering it down for days recently - nothing new tho.


There's nothing obvious anywhere else inside the car - ie passenger front footwell or anything on the driver's side. The only change recently is parking it nose down on a few degree slope on the driveway.


Any offers of help greatly appreciated.

 

Pricey but well worth it.

 

As the wet patch seems to be in one area try and take a look underneath near where the problem is, one of the drainage plugs may of come off, not uncommon, worst case scenario you have the rusted footwell problem but I would of thought you would of noticed a soggy carpet much closer to the front..... I have plenty of pictures of cars with the carpet removed to give you an idea where the plugs are, I also keep stock and they only cost pennies, give me a call on Monday if you want more clarification

 

Thanks. Will do.


As an update, shut all the vents today and put the A/C on full blast, and heard what sounded like a load of v small stone/bits fall from something near the front passenger footwell. Maybe totally unconnected but maybe had an A/C drain pipe blocked.

 

Have just had the same problem.

Had already removed passenger seat to fit new (myrtle) headlining and because of the holiday season was left. Luckily (?) also had to remove centre console to repair cupholder.

Was surprised that when I peeled back the soggy carpet (probably a 5"x5" patch there were no bungs on loose and no wetness on the actual metal. So in my case believe it is more a passenger door seal issue as there was superficial rust under there (now treated).

Ran the AC for 20 mins with vents closed but didn't hear anything untoward.

Anyone know where the AC vents under the car?

One possibility is that I had new sills and front footwells done 12 months ago so it could be possible that they didn't put something back properly

ATB

 

Youre ac drain is plugged and the water is running from front to rear underneath. There are writeup on closing vents or you can fix properly by replacing the ac drain that gets skuz in it and seals closed. At this point you may also soon need a blower motor too

 

Was keen to see if there was any further pooling after another monsoon overnight, and heres what I saw... (excuse the bits - not had time to vacuum!)





Looks like the source of the Nile is from the door and there is clearly a line of water coming down from the carpet under the door, ending up with the pooling in the footwell. At least its not the dreaded floor pan rusting (I hope!).

Checked the bottom of the passenger door and its quite wet, but where is the water coming from to get there in the first place?? Door handle? Window? Vertical door seem?

 

Check to see if the door drains are clear at the bottom. Also look at the bottom seal of the rear quarter window.

 

Will discount Brutals guess in favour of seals and bunged drain holes which I#ll check tomorrow.

 

Take a look at the bottom of the windscreen A pillar, top of the door, the pic explains it, if that seal has been taken off for some reason or has come unstuck that will cause a leak.

And these pics are of the US XK I am doing



Left unchecked the floor issue will be the least of your probs, the water has been seeping in for a while, I had to hang the carper for 3 days to drip dry, the result is below, ironically the usual culprit being the strengthening plate is still reasonably intact



And now the size of the hole I cut



There is also a hole in the rear footwell..... Not pretty but I will make good.... Just remember if that seal has come away stick it back on!!

 

XK that's certainly a tale of woe, very similar to when I had my windscreen replaced a few years back and they didn't reconnect the drain on the passenger side of the scuttle. Easily remdied and in my case no rust caused.

In the case of Red/I th front of the footwell is bone dry.

Great pics though and am sure you'll have yours looking gorgeous in no time!

On my way to battle mine with some wooden bbq skewers now!

 

PS: Where are the darned drain holes? Are they the square ones on the outside edge of the door?

 

Another day of torrential rain and in my case it's the door seal nearest the rear pillar.

No obvious signs of detioration but the felt type material that runs down the car body is damp and quite sodden at the botton curve.

Am thinking that it's just age so will try to treat it with something to plump it up..failing that will replace the door seal (I have a complete one bought of ebay a few years back)

Am guessing that type of compression of the seal is to be expected on a car now over 17yrs old

 

I'm also of the opinion my problem is the seal somewhere on the rear off the door (or even from behind the door), as how would the water come back up the car from the front - as it is on a light downward incline (nose pointing down).





But what I'm stuck on is where, as all seal look intact and everything appears firm and stuck well. If it was the door drains wouldn't the water dribble over the TOP of the plastic on to the carpet? How can it be getting in to the floor of the car via the under side of the plastic trim if it was a leak from the door? Could it be from the rear window somewhere? Everything looks and feels spot on there too!

 

I have had a similar problem with my S-Type, there the water gets inside the door through the glass seal and drains out of the door at the bottom, as designed. The problem was that the water gets stuck between the inner and outer seals, on the doorstep, and then flows inside.

The factory repair instruction is to drill a hole on the doorstep in the S-Type :-))

I would suspect the XK8 has a designed route for the water to drain out and now it is stuck.

Jouko

 

Red like you my seals all seem fine, the damp to the felt like material I'd guess comes from the outside seal of my rear quarter window, which seems to have some 'give' and when pushed inwards the foam backing squelches water.

Appreciate that a year ago I had a full bare metal respray.

Luckily I have two rear quarter window trims spare (ebay's a wonderful thing!) so if I can figure out how it comes off I can bond a the new one on properly

 

Those trims are not meant to seal the window from the outside elements, they are as they say a trim and that is it, they come off easy enough just depends how good your clips are.....

None of the window trims, this includes the front and rear act as a "seal" they are just a finisher, the glass is bonded into the body/shell......