Bulkhead water problem!!

[tb10]

Hi Guys and gals,

I have recently bought MartynR's old Aqua Blue car #790 and it has been full of water since taking ownership

I have stripped out the seats and carpets and have sent the former off to Connolly Leather for a refurb. Meanwhile, whilst taking in the benefits of the recent rain, I sat in the car pondering the water ingress issue. I noticed that water was coming in, quite readily, through a hole in the bulkhead behind the accelerator pedal. Does anyone know why this is happening or even if the hole should actually be there? I hope you can see the water flowing in through the hole and I must add that it was only raining lightly at the time the photo was taken

is this an inner arch off solution or something to do with coolant? It doesn't appear to contain antifreeze and only occurs when its raining so I presume its rainwater. If I blocked the hole off what would be the knock on effect to the chassis (if any)?

Any suggestions would be helpful!

Kind regards


John

[norman lovie]

fix the cause or change the consequence ?
a dry day and a water hose will help to pin point the cause - windscreen seal, door hinge - the bottom clamp plate that holds the A panel outer assembly ( covers the door hinge area) - or maybe the access for the steering column - to find the source of the water getting between the bulkhead and the floor pan
the hole you see is a rot hole in the A frame outrigger assembly - hopefull it's a localised pin prick and hence it would be worth drilling out the crap then getting some rust treatment in there to stop it progressing

[tb10]

Hi Norman

Thanks for your comments but its definitely not a rot hole as I've checked my purple élan and its got the same hole in exactly the same place! I will upload a photo when i get home. It's a drilled hole but on the purple élan it looks like its filled with sealant.

I'll shall have to investigate further.

Regards


John

[epipete]

It's quite interesting, you have very little corrosion in this general area, Norman is correct IMHO about using a hose to see where the water is entering from. The hole is there for Dinatrol treatment I think (there is another one up & to the door) I shouldn't block it off as water will find another route and will cause rust somewhere.

[tb10]

Hi Guys,

This is the bulkhead of my purple Elan showing the hole. I presume all Elan's have a hole here as epipete says for treatment?

I will look at the hose treatment as suggested. Does anyone know if the wheel arch plastic cover goes over this general area before I get cross with rusty screws

Regards


John

[norman lovie]

thanks for the clarification - indeed I also have these holes - which I thought were caused by pin prick rust - having my tub off the car at the moment i,ll use this info to look more closely at where water could get in

getting the A panel covers off - the lower clamp plate bolts are best given a good soak in WD40 - you just need to back them off a few turns and the cover slides out once the top mount is removed - but i,d confirm its not windscreen or otherwise area related first

[epipete]

Logically water of this qty is entering through the wheel arches or the windscreen or is an internal loss of coolant. Since it is worse when it rains it is unlikely to be the coolant (when my heater matrix gave up the ghost I had water in both footwells - apart from overheating you'd know if it was coolant!)

So, I'd start with a hose pipe on the windscreen (or even your washer jets) and see if the water flows in the footwell, if not, then, Wheel off, support car safely and then remove the Wheel Arch covers. A visual inspection followed by more hosing. If still no ingress then its time to inspect underneath the tub and then I would look behind the A post covers

I honestly can't see where else it can be entering from!

Pete