Water Leak In Rear Footwell

[BenRM]

Hi...

I'm aware there's a known problem with water leaking into the front passenger footwell... but my water leak is directly behind, in the rear footwell. The car's a 2007 Rav 4, XT4, 16,000 on the clock. I've had it since Jan, bought from a main dealer.

The water's gathering in those small pockets (the lowest part of the floor) directly in front of the rails the rear seat runs along. Sometimes there's so much water in there it's possible to scoop it out.

I'm pretty confident the water's coming up from below. There's never any water on the seats or anywhere else. And I've a mat directly above.

I've had the car back to the dealer twice... they admit they're at a loss. It's due back on Wednesday... a real pain because it's a long drive.

Anybody want to help them out?!

All help, much appreciated.

Thanks.

[anchorman]

Welcome to the club mate.

Apart from the front passenger well I have never heard of any water leaks on these things so I would want to know if the car has had any accessories fitted or is there any evidence of an accident - especailly around the rear wheel arch.

The can be real swine to find and sometimes the only way is to remove the whole carpet and trim. You want new underlay fitted under warranty as it won't recover.

Regards

[BenRM]

Thanks Anchorman,

No accessories, no evidence of an accident.

The dealership told me they'd removed the carpet and underlay to try to find the leak (they had the car for 3 days). I will broach the subject of new underlay (thanks for the warning)... but I want to make sure the leak's fixed first.

They gave the car back to me dry. After driving for 20 minutes there was a visible water level in those floor indents I mentioned above. It wasn't that they were damp; they were full of water. Can't work it out.

Cheers for responding, though.

[bothwell_buyer]

get the local fire brigade to fill the car with water (a la Top Gear) and see where its leaking out. If this doesn't help, gently lower the car into a swimming pool and look for incoming water.

A power washer with a good flow might even help to identify it....but I doubt a dealer would have any of these methods I have mentioned available to them. Water is uncanny at tracking quite far before coming to a rest so look around for signs of ingress elsewhere.

It took me 2 years to track down a leak and it was due to the windscreen being replaced with insufficient bonding/sealant. It then ran down behind plastic panels, and along a cable harness before dropping through a fuse box and into the passenger footwell. I had to replace the carpet and the underlay as, a-m says, it doesn't recover - just smells.

[anchorman]

Just a thought.

There should be rubber plugs in the chassis runners just on the inside of the cills. I don't know if they would let water in but it's worth checking that they are fitted. This is a photo of the rear offside one;

They cover the anchor points from where the car is anchored to the ship during transit from Japan and should be fitted with the supplied plugs at the import centre.

If your nearside one is missing it might be the answer and you can get some of Mr T or let me know as I have some spare ones.

[BenRM]

Thanks, Anchorman,

Had a look underneath... no sign of accident damage or a missing plug.

The car's with the dealership now... and, finally, they think they've found the problem. Can't tell you exactly what it is yet - the man who makes the calls isn't the one who fixes the cars - but they've parts on order... floorpan-related I gather. While the car's there, I've asked them to deal with a few other niggling faults while it's still under warranty. (Back seat quick release handles have never worked, filler flap doesn't lock, evidence of clunk when turning steering wheel at low speed.)

When I get the car and the paperwork back, I'll post what part was needed re. the leak, in case it's of any help to anybody else.

Thanks again.

[gunner1]

Hi BenRM

Is that the SW****N dealer,or shouldn`t I ask that question ?

[BenRM]

No, somewhere else. I've PM'd you just in case there's a forum policy about mentioning businesses by name (I'm new around here). As I mentioned in the PM, though... I've no complaints with them... assuming it's not still leaking this time next week.