An Old Favourite....Water Ingress

[rizla]

Hello Everyone. I have read and read and read with great interest issues with water in the footwells. Well, despite having spent the best part of £600 on getting the A-Pillar seals fitted properly (curing wet leg syndrome) it has not cured the soaking wet driver and passenger footwell issues. Both are saturated. I got my son to hose the car with me inside it this afternoon, but couldn't see any water coming through. I would really like some help to at least reduce the water volume carried in the footwells. There is an issue with ingress behind the passenger seat too but that is a secondary issue at the moment. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[MattDon]

there are several pages in the manual about water ingress, i dont know them off the top of my head but i do suffer the same problem, one way in which water can get in is over the door sills, i know there was a revision in later SE's that have a slightly taller lip along the sill, so im guessing its a problem area, if the cars not on a level it can get in there even with decent seals, or so im told.

[John_W]

Rizla,
I suggest your problem may be the door seals / sills, or the foam seal joint in the air inlet ducting which has perished, allowing rain and spray water into the air duct and then to the passenger footwell.

On the SE there is a very small lip on the plastic door sill - S2s have a much taller lip. It's to stop the water which runs down the A-pillar seals or B-pillar pouring into the car instead of out under the door. There may also be a couple of cuts in your door seal at the bottom to let the water drain out.

There is a heap of "leak stopping" info in The Service Notes manual Addendum no 1 "Water Ingress; areas of attention" pp 55-73. It's quite comprehensive. Too comprehensive actually - I don't think you need to do it all. About all they missed is adding extra foam seal (or silicon sealant) to the top of the windscreen to prevent water getting in past the header seal and dripping down at the A-pillar. This is a better solution than the "drain tube" method in my opinion, as it treats the cause (water getting past the seal, not the effect (water dripping onto your knees).

The other thing it misses is the foam seal in the air inlet. It's under the wheel arch liner and if it has perished you'll get water soaking the passenger footwell on the move (not at rest).

John
edit: I see Matt types faster than me.

[rizla]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the tips. I heard about taking a nick out of the bottom of the seal on the door to let the water out. Have either of you done that? If so where do you take the section out from? Yes I agree the lip is very small indeed and my car is parked nose downhill most of the time. It appears that the issues are when it is stood still, but I cannot confirm. P

[rip]

That may not be your only problem.
When Nitron fitted my new suspension last week, one of the jacking points gave way a little (the near side front one). It was noticed early enough to prevent any visible damage, but it does suggest that the same leak which makes the carpet wet also sits on the outriggers & causes them to corrode.
Because these are hidden from view, who will notice them? That being the case, how many Elans are out there with their outriggers silently rusting away?

I've not looked into getting this repaired yet, but I imagine it will be difficult & expensive.

[tomac1975]

Hi,

I have that problem too, which i am in the process of trying to solve. I have found a handy way of drying the carpet though.
Homebase sell these moisture absorbers used in laundries etc 2 for a £5 i think. after using newspaper to soak up the worst i left 1 in each footwell for a couple of days and they were bone dry. I now leave in in the car each night. They don't stop the water coming in but makes it easy helping to dry it.

Tom

[John_W]

... where do you take the section out from?

Rizla,
See here for the instructions. They're a bit brief.

Also see here for the waterproofing addendum I referred to above.

John

PS: I see I did Lotus a disservice - they do indeed include the heater duct leak fix in the Addendum.

[tonny006]

I had a water leak which i couldn't find at first.
I removed the carpets and drove it around like that and hung the carpets in the garage to dry.
It is easy to see where the water runs in without the carpets there.
My leak was the fuel cap well drain pipe split,
I would have never found that if i left them in.
Good luck
Tony

[MattDon]

i did take a notch out of the door seals, but i still get alot of water in so cant say if it helped or not, in theroy it seems like a good idea.

[paulrwebster]

I bunged a second set of door sills over the top of the first and drilled a hole in the top set. The water dribbles through and out of the car. Works a treat.

[ratman]

I bunged a second set of door sills over the top of the first and drilled a hole in the top set. The water dribbles through and out of the car. Works a treat.

could you post pics, please? thanks!