Water In Footwells

[bradburyss]

Hi everyone, I've been a lurker on here for quite some time, had my 2009 iQ3 for over a year now and love it! Unfortunately in the past couple of weeks it's decided to add an extra feature that I'm not keen on. I noticed the passenger mat was wet, didn't think too much of it initially, but pulled that up to find the carpet underneath was wetter. I pulled the carpet up and the soundproofing underneath was totally drenched with water. It was the same on the driver's side but not to the same extent. I took the carpets up, removed the sound proofing and dried everything out. Tried googling to see if anyone else has had the same problem but couldn't find anything.

I sat in the car with the majority of the lower dash off, with a hose pointed at the front all over and couldn't see anything coming in (that's not to say it isn't just from the amount I would expect it to be flowing in reasonably quickly). Have checked to see if any drain points are blocked, pollen filter etc. but can't see anything obvious.

So a week after drying it out the water is back again...

I'm wondering if the air con drain pipe is blocked but can't seem to find a reference or diagram showing where it is. Have taken the dash off again this morning but can't see anything obvious. Would any of you lovely people know where it is or have any other suggestions to where it could be coming in?

I'm reluctant to take it to a garage initially as I know how notoriously difficult it is to trace a water leak so want to rule out anything obvious myself first.

Thanks, Steve

[aaronfife]

Of where you describe the area in which the water seems to be coming from, I would get it up on ramps and check everything out. If the water is coming in from both drive and passenger side then I would be worried where it's coming from, best bet is to get it up on ramps and visually have a look to see if your floor pan is actually still there!! Sounds like a LOT of water so maybe something under the car has given in? Have you been driving off road recently or rallied over any large speedramps that might have caused something to leak or sheer off?

Just a thought as seems very strange such large amounts of water are coming in. I wouldn't have thought it could be your air con as that's more to the centre/front of your car, but I'm no rocket scientist.

If I were you, I'd check everything from underneath your car, sounds obvious but even a small crack or hole could bring in a vast amount of water into the cabin. Could you see anything from when you lifted the carpets? Any rubber gromlets perished?

Hope you get to the bottom of it and sorry I couldn't be more of help on the technical side of things! :)

[Soeley]

Not heard of anything like that with the iQ.

Could it be the windscreen that is leaking, has it been replaced?

I would be tempted to remove the carpets and soundproofing and drive round like that for a while to see it you can spot where it is coming in. One tip is to powder the the inside with chalk, as in the blue chalk used for chalk lines. That way any water running down will wash the chalk away and leave a visible trail the water has run down.

[johnan]

_{Sorry to hear about your problem Steve.}

_{I have heard that the rubber grommets through which the wiper spindles pass can become perished and leak, so that may be somewhere to look, apart from what has already been suggested.}

_John

[bradburyss]

Thanks Soeley, John, I spent some more time looking this afternoon. The air con seems to be the culprit! With it on water is leaking in through one of the sealed joints on the floor. It's also dripping underneath at multiple points. Going to put it up on axle stands tomorrow and see what's going on underneath.

[johnan]

Would it be possible to take pictures, if you find the real culprit?

I am sure others will have the same problem and a picture or two might be easier to understand what is going on!

I am a bit vague at the moment, in my understanding of how the A/C is involved with a floor seam/sealed joint.

John

[craggle]

Just looking at the workshop manual here. As you have no doubt found the air con cooler, radiator thing is indeed inside the car in the big plastic clip together box behind the dash.

I can't see any mention of a drain from the unit but there must be one and it is probably blocked as you guessed.

While your there in the footwell area pull the pollen filter out the case in the left hand footwell and see what state that's in, they quite often get blocked solid.

Keep us posted.

Craig.

[bradburyss]

Thanks Craig, I replaced the filter a few months back. Took it out and it was fine. Managed to find the drain tube, it's a spout in the engine compartment roughly in the middle at the bottom of the bulkhead. Could just about see it by looking diagonally down to the left from the Battery. Tried to take a photo of it but couldnt get it to show up.

I jacked the car up on the passenger side and there was water dripping out of the spout. Thought (hoped!) jacking it up may have sorted the problem but it didn't, the water was flowing into the drivers footwell instead. Going to have to take a trip to the garage to see what they say.

[johnan]

Is the water that you mention, Steve, rain water coming down from the intake grille in front of the screen and instead of being dumped out of the drain spout, it is going inside the car as if the spout has become detached at the bottom of the A/C unit?

Or is water actually the A/C refrigerant liquid coming out of the unit, which I doubt.

I hope the garage are helpful, I wonder if this is a one off problem.

John

[bradburyss]

I think it's the condensation from the a/c unit John. It only happens when the a/c is switched on. I've not found anyone else who's had the same problem on any internet searches. Looks like a one off, fortunate for everyone else, not so much for me.

[johnan]

I can't believe you are the only one!

Let's hope it is simple to solve, keep us informed.

John

[bobkneale]

I understand that one of the "innovative" features of the IQ is the small size of the aircon unit they have designed, lets hope it's not another IQ fault / problem waiting to happen ! I will stay positive even though I do not believe much in "one off's" !

[VitO]

I'm in same situation, I think that water is from AC condensate, but I don't know how to solve this problem... If someone solve something similar please post the solution

[sweet-dentist]

I think for shure, that behind the knob of the airco aeria and under the CD intake... there is a plastic pipe, that drains the airco fluids (condensation).

Has anyone (garage?) removed this part of your car, for any reasons...? Could be that by accident this plastic pipe / ribbled tube, has been disconected when the front panel was taken off...

I will look at a picture of this situation and post it:

Here: I think for shure, that behind the knob of the airco aeria and under the CD intake... there is a plastic pipe, that drains the airco fluids (condensation).

Has anyone (garage?) removed this part of your car, for any reasons...? Could be that by accident this plastic pipe / ribbled tube, has been disconected when the front panel was taken off...

I will look at a picture of this situation and post it... Not shure if it is the airco tubing...

When you click on a picture...you can see the whole series of pictures.... :-D

Here:

[brucey034]

We recently purchased our 2009 IQ2 1.0 and we are loving it, but we have discovered after the recent heavy rain that our passenger foot well is wet.

I have had a look for drainage holes in the engine compartment but I am struggling to find them, does anyone know where the drainage holes are located on the IQ ?

Many thanks

Paul.

[sweet-dentist]

Number one place for this probelm is the door rubbers... they can leak..

Engine compartement is not first t look at..

Succes...

[brucey034]

Thank's for the quick reply John.

I had a very quick look at the passenger door rubber but I couldn't see any wetness, I will have a more detailed look tomorrow, I know that tracking down water leaks can be a challenge.

Thanks.

Paul.

[sweet-dentist]

"Thank's for the quick reply John."

LOL.... Who's John... :-)

[brucey034]

Think I meant Peter lol sorry.

[brucey034]

Had a really good look at the door seal today and couldn't see anything amiss.

Yesterday I put a towel underneath the mats to try and soak up some of the water, which it has done, the floor is now damp and not wet.

Funny thing is it absolutely hammered it down with rain last night, yet today there was no extra water in the foot well.

I am starting to wonder if the water has some how got in when driving along in the wet.

[sweet-dentist]

Test 1:

If it's the airco... try running the car some time, on the drive way with the airco on it's coldest...

If it is damp outside...maybe it ill leak water inside...

Test 2:

Have the car on the drive way and soak it with the garden-hose... Have somebody else do it, while you are sitting inside. If water comes in you will notice... (front windshield / door rubbers / rear-window/and rubbers.

Test 3:

Open the engine compartement and take the garden-hose and spray inside at the corners, where the doors are. Also do the wheel-casings.. Try to get the water forced inside. See what happens.

Test 4:

Get unprinted newspaper-paper (local arts shop) and put it all over the floor... for a while and see if this gives a hint where it is coming from...

Pff... well.. got no more ideas than this...

Good luck...

[brucey034]

A quick update, after a few checks, ie air con, wind screen, and door rubbers I was unable to locate the leak.

But the one thing I have done which appears to hopefully have solved the problem was to remove and clean the pollen filter, when I took it out the amount of leaves that came out with it was quite alarming.

I have no idea how that is related to water coming into the passenger foot well, but so far so good, thank you for your help, I will update if the problem returns.

Regards.

Paul.

[Soeley]

Seems a strange connection but fingers crossed it stays dry for you ;)

[brucey034]

It doesn't make any sense, when I tested the aircon I set it on cold and left the car running for 20 minutes with the carpet up, nothing, checked underneath the car and water was dripping down near the centre at the front so I presumed the aircon drain pipe wasn't blocked.

Had a hose pipe aimed at the windscreen and the front wing and door and again nothing.

I only decided to remove the pollen filter by chance, it was filthy and in all honesty I should replace it, but the amount of leaves that came out when I pulled out the filter was a surprise.

I have wondered if the leaves were some how blocking something.

Does anyone know roughly how much a genuine aircon/pollen filter is ?

[Soeley]

I think normal price is around £39, just had mine changed at service. They were on offer at £29.