Water in the rear footwells.

[rover775]

I got a Rover 75 saloon and it seems to be wet in both rear footwells.

Any idea where this could be coming from?

[trikey]

I got a Rover 75 saloon and it seems to be wet in both rear footwells.

Any idea where this could be coming from?


Rear light seals are the best bet mate.

[Singvogel]

Check this thread. Same problem perhaps?

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=90761

[kaiser]

If you have a sunroof, this is most likely the culprit!
Let me know if you get it sorted:

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=95466

[stocktake]

Sorry to say this but if the rear carpets are showing water above the carpets then you have around 5 litres of water under each side. You need to check your plenums NOW if this is the case. if not you risk costly repair bills for a water damaged ecu. :(

[kaiser]

Sorry to say this but if the rear carpets are showing water above the carpets then you have around 5 litres of water under each side. You need to check your plenums NOW if this is the case. if not you risk costly repair bills for a water damaged ecu. :(

This is not likely. It would indeed always be good to check the plenum. But that will normally only cause a problem in front! Not the rear!
The supporting/strengthening bracket behind the front seats stretches right to the propshaft tunnel, and is usually well sealed. For water to reach the rear footwell, it must stand alt least one inch on the floor in order to run over the bracket. That would certainly be noted in front way before being a problem in the rear.
My guess on this is:
The water is coming from the rear. If the poster has a sun roof the answer is in the link above. If he has none, then the clips for the chrome side strip, leaking rear window(s), rear light seals, boot lid hinges or maybe even a leak of the corner of the boot lid.
Check under the rear seat and I bet you will have water there too. It will thus have to run past the rear wheel arches and down.

Very unlikely to be the plenum. But do check them!!

[Canonite]

This is not likely. It would indeed always be good to check the plenum. But that will normally only cause a problem in front! Not the rear!!

Mine did. Flooded plenum and leaky rear lights = waterlogged cabin. I don't have a sunroof either.

[kaiser]

Mine did. Flooded plenum and leaky rear lights = waterlogged cabin. I don't have a sunroof either.

So, in this case you say that the REAR footwells are getting wet from the FRONT plenum.
How does the water get to the rear, without flooding the FRONT footwells??

[stocktake]

Very unlikely to be the plenum.

Absolute and utter rubbish !!! Well known the water show itself at the lowest point of the carpets this being the indentation just behind the seat. I have seen it many many times :( :( :(

Water can enter from front or rear, it fills the complete side but rear light seals will normally also fill the spare wheel well

[trikey]

This is the water ingress from the rear light seals, do not underestimate how much water can come in.

Get the carpets out, bin them, you will never dry them out!!

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm215/v8_trike/Rover%2075/IMG00046.jpg

[kaiser]

Absolute and utter rubbish !!! Well known the water show itself at the lowest point of the carpets this being the indentation just behind the seat. I have seen it many many times :( :( :(

Water can enter from front or rear, it fills the complete side but rear light seals will normally also fill the spare wheel well

Well hold your tea uncle. Let's see what the poster finds.

[Canonite]

So, in this case you say that the REAR footwells are getting wet from the FRONT plenum.
How does the water get to the rear, without flooding the FRONT footwells??

Not once did I mention the FRONT footwells were dry. If you read my thread it's pretty specific about a 'waterlogged cabin' and that I parked on a very steep incline to allow the majority of the water to run to the rear, in order to drain it with an aquavac.

[kaiser]

I was not specifically referring to you. The original poster complained about wet foot wells in the rear.

In spite of all this excitement there are a couple of issues that seems to have gone out the window.

Behind the front seats, there are strengthening support structures that join the floor board, the outer sill and the propshaft tunnel. It is spotwelded to the body, and in my car, it is treated with a sealing compound. It effectively seals the front and the rear floor area into separate entities.

The effect of that is, that leaks from the front will tend to wet the front of the car, and leaks from the rear, the rear. I am sorry, but that is just how it is in my car, so Stocktake pop a pill!

It is only possible to get a uniformly wet floor, if your water level either exceeds the threshold of this strengthening section, OR if the sealing of this section is not in order.

I cannot speak on behalf of you car, but on mine, it forms a barrier.

I have had wet footwells in the rear, and since I have a tourer, rear light seals was not an option. Since I have a barrier behind my front seats, and my front was dry AND I had water under my rear seat cushion, there was no physical way that the plenums could be responsible.

Since all your advice was known and did not cure the problem, I found what caused the problem in my car. And it was the sun-roof.

I really feel sorry that my car might not have lived up to your expectation:D. but I take it, since the original poster asked for any ideas, I would rather give him mine, because when I originally posed the problem, there was no known solution.

Now there is!

This detracts nothing from your suggestions.

[Jules]

The water from the blocked plenums can easily end up in the rear footwells.
Try parking up hill ......water always will find the lowest point
Other way is water enters heater ducts and will fill all 4 footwells in no time!


Carpets can be dried but it takes approx 3 days:smilie_re:
See here from 2007
http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4661

[Jules]

And from this picture, both front and rear footwells are in fact the same area (to water!)

The Box sections have small slots at the base of them.
These allow any water present to easily flow from front to rear or vice versa.
Hope that makes things a little clearer

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/81146158b8ec8614.jpg

[kaiser]

You need quite a bit of water sloshing around to be able to get into the heater channel and run over the strengthening section behind the front seats. That should be clear also from your excellent photo.

As the car is equally likely to be parked on a steep incline with the nose either up or down, you would complain of wet front footwells the one day and wet rear footwells the next.

In order to get water under the rear seat cushion, you would almost have to hang the car out on the wash line, in order to get sufficient elevation.

My car was dry in the front, wet in the back, wet under the rear seat cushion.

In that case you would have to be mentally disturbed and devoid of any logical sense to insist it came from the plenum. I know that might not seem illogical to some, but I assure you, it is.

The water in my case came from my sun roof rear drains, and this was something nobody have ever suggested, so I had to find out the hard way. It may or may not be the case with the the op's car, I don't know. But if he has a sun roof, and if his front wells are dry, and if he has a rear seat full of water underneath I bet you a beer, there is a good chance it does. There are additional spots around the boot area for the sedan that will give same symptoms.

If the op addresses all these suggestions, he has got the full monty something only years of experience would be able to get him if he had to sort it himself.

And/but, maybe we can agree on this, we have all found a source of the Nile, and, as they say denial is not just a river in Africa.:D

[stocktake]

I refer you to my previous post and the contributory one from equally if not more experienced Jules who, like me, has also worked on many cars, not just his own.

I need not to take a pill Kaiser, I just need to be sure of the facts, in this case I am. I feel the OP has enough information now to carry out investigations and locate the source of his leak, be it from the front or the rear. As such I see no need to post further on this thread in effect cluttering it up.

[Jules]

Please please Dave just one more post:drool4:
Kaiser will you send me a create of beer if I explain to you how the front plenums can flood the rear footwells but the front carpet appears dry?!!

[kaiser]

No, because I do know the answer to that one. The carpets appear to be dry until the foam on the back is saturated.

But I will give you a crate when you explain how the water comes from the plenum and ends up under the rear seat cushion.! That would be worth it!:p:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyuepxBXsDI