Want pond to go bye-bye

[The Warden]

I know this question has been asked numerous times in the past *lol* so I may as well ask it again.

For the first time since I bought the car, I was able to take it into a car wash (one of those cheap-o ones at a g@$ station; I"m in the middle of moving so I didn't really have time to do it myself). This is the second time it's been in wet conditions since I bought it; last time it was in some torrential west Texas rain. And, as before, the right rear footwell decided to do it's Lake Michigan impression. Fortunately, the floor mats are still out from the last time this happened, so it was a pretty easy clean-up job.

Now, going by what's been said before, it looks like a drain is plugged up (I believe the door insulation's okay although I'm not 100%; also, during the car-wash, I couldn't readily see anything dripping down). Given that it appears that the right side rear footwell is the only one affected, where exactly should I start looking? Thanks in advance!

[omegabenz]

I get a jacuzzi in the back too. I drilled a bigger hole in the floor. I know that to fix them you have to put in a new windshield gasket. That's what I heard. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Austin

Negative, it's not the windshield gasket.

I went through this for years with 123 cars. I tried a number of things. Finally a few years ago when I found mercedesshop.com, I found the glorious answer. It came from a fellow in Sweden who offered the solution as if it were just common knowledge about 123's. Anyway, here goes.

Raise the hood and look at the area directly underneath the hood hinges. At the rear of this area, you will see a sort of dent in the sheet metal which leaves a drain hole between the sheet metal directly below the hood hinge and the firewall. Clean this drain out with a high technology tool called baling wire. For city dwellers, a coat hanger offers an equally high tech substitute tool.

Do this on both sides while you're at it, even though your problem is currently only the right side. Now, you will notice that the vertical piece of sheet metal that separates the hood hinge pocket from the engine compartment has an opening at the bottom allowing overflow from the hood hinge pocket to make it toward the engine compartment. Behind this point which is under the master cylinder on the left side and under the battery on the right side, you will find two more similar drains. Use your high technology, hand crafted tool to clean out these drains. If you are able to locate and clean ALL FOUR of these drains, I will offer my personal guarantee that this problem will disappear, at least until the drains clog up again.

It was worth the effort to find mercedesshop.com just for THIS tip. I bet over the years of driving 123 cars I baled a hundred gallons of water out of the back floorboards before I learned this fix.

Good luck,

[ajb]

AHHH... So there are 2 more drains - the one under the battery & MC. I cleaned out the two by the fenders and they were full of so much junk it took me a while to clean them out - but I still had a big leak on the pass. side like the Warden. So now - it will be "Water be GONE!"

Thanks Larry!

Aivars

[deluvak]

Larry's right about checking the underhood drains first thing. Right after I got my car, I noticed a bunch of water in the right rear floor. Cleaning the drains solved that problem right away. But during heavy rain I was still getting wetness in the front driver's footwell. This problem, unfortunately, did require replacement of the front windshield seal. Heavy rains also brought some water into the trunk. I checked the seals on the taillight units: one was not only torn and brittle, but also not even seated properly; the other was entirely missing! Two new taillight seals helped a lot, but there is still some drippage from what I suspect to be a bad rear windshield seal.

Good luck,
Dan

'85 300D

[thebern]

Guys,
Use the search feature!!!! I have posted my trials of water leaks and many others have too.


Good luck, thebern

[Kyle Blackmore]

Don't forget about the four sunroof pan drains.....

[The Warden]

Larry, thanks! There are some leaves and whatnot on the right side underhood drain; I've been meaning to clean 'em out, but haven't taken the time; figured it wasn't critical (not realizing that it was a drain)...I'll take care of that as quick as I can.

Kyle, how do I get to the sunroof drains?

Thanks all! I think the windshield seal's okay...all the floormats got slightly wet in the Texas downpour, but the front floormats were actually pretty good...

[Kyle Blackmore]

Hi Warden,check theFAQ page about this.They can be cleaned by pushing a wire down into the drains.The fronts are easy to get at but the rears are a bit of a pain,a strong flashlight helps to see.

The sunroof drains should, of course, be kept clear, but the leaking into the rear floor pan is the underhood drains. Believe me.

Good luck,

The drains Larry told you about are a good start. If the problem continues remove the battery tray and look for any holes caused by acid leakage. If you find holes fill them with good ol foam in a can. Doing so will stop 99.9% of your leak problems.

[franklyspeaking]

I cleaned my hood drains out this weekend. I was so confident that my left side passenger leaks would be fixed, I also installed new carpet padding on the same side. Yesterday we got a torrential afternoon downpour at work and I had zero leaks into the passenger compartment.

Thanks for help Larrybible and others....I was trying to repair the weatherstripping (which didn't look that bad). Logic is not nearly as good as experience.

[The Warden]

Originally posted by LarryBible
Believe me.

I do, I do. I also believe in preventative maintenance.

How far down are the under-hood drains? I just want to make sure I'm looking at the right part. I've only had a chance to briefly look to date; been working on moving over the past week...

Thanks

Warden,

Please carefully read my original post explaining where these drains are. If that still doesn't make sense (and my word descriptions often do not) let me know and I will try to post some pictures.

Have a great day,