90 500SL Waterlogged right rear floor panel..

I posted this same problem on the tech side, but thought I'd repeat it here for the SL crowd:
After popping the hard top for the first time this season, was able to drive with soft top for first time since purchase, September 1990. Easter sunday took a two hour drive through rain, and ended the journey with the passenger seat making a series of its own adjustments......my wife thinks the car is possessed! It went into a full upright position, despite her trying to make corrections using the door panel controls......then I felt the floor behind her seat, and it was wet, so I assume the electric motors were shorting out and "self-adjusting". I tried to dry out the area with towels.......and that seemed to help.....next day, it was sopping wet again, and the seat would make its own adjustments, at intervals......It's now four days later, and the seat has stopped "self-adjusting", but the floor continues to be wet.

Am I collecting water off the soft top and into some internal area, like the rocker panel, then seeping into the floor area? Only seems to be the area behind the passenger seat........

Am scheduled for a shop visit next Wednesday, but would like to suggest some fixes, rather than have them charge me for their investigation. Did NOT have this problem until I took off the hard-top......and, ironically, the hard top had minor leaks in rain on both sides, at the A pillar.....which is inconsequential compared to this problem...

Any help???? Hope the seat adjuster motors aren't ruined....

[MBenzNL]

I definitely would take out the front passenger seat and get the seat motors cleaned and the floor properly dried.

It is common in Volkswagens (I know, but who knows) to have wet floors as a result of the door anti-water plastic (behind the door panel) being loose and water outlets under in the door are constipated by dirt.

The soft-top compartment has water outlets at each side as well. When the system functions properly, it should water out under the car...maybe you can try to poor some water through the outlet and see were it will go...

The area behind the passenger seat...is that the area under the seat or under the rear deck behind the seats?

greetingz,

The floor "behind" the passenger seat probably includes the area under the seat itself, but there is almost no clearance "under" the seat, because of the mechanism and motors.....the space is that between the seat and the storage compartments which comprise the jump seat area. The storage compartments appear dry. I have not tried to put the soft top down. If I did, I suppose I could stop the mechanism in mid-process, and look down into the top's storage boot area......this might expose a possible location for water build up. I assume this area is open to the inside of the body panels....I conjecture that water dripping off the soft-top once it saturates with water could work its way down into that area, even from the rear edge of the top, near the rear deck lid.......There appears to be no water in the trunk area, however....

[DALE DORIA]

You DEFINATLY need to remove the front seats and check to see how wet it is under there.......You my find further damage if the water has been collecting since your previous knowlede of the A pillar leak!! Keep us posted asto what the dealership has diagnosed....Good Luck......

[MBenzNL]

wrotella,

There is no way that water in the trunk can make it to the front compartment and the floor underneath the seat.
If you open or close your soft top, you can stop the process wherever you like and you can even turn of the engine in the middle of the folding process.
Check the soft-top compartment! Water in here will be lead through outlets inside the body panels. If everything works as is engineered, the water will come out underneath the car, if something is wrong...

good luck & greetingz,

[Eddie Gilmartin]

I know it's over a year since this post began, but I used the search facility and found it. I have exactly the same problem in a '90 500SL. Waterlogged carpet behind the passenger seat, seat on autopilot sometimes. Whats different is mine is right-hand-drive, so we're talking about the left side seat. Is there any chance that a drainpipe is disconnected? Checked all the drain holes from underneath the car and all are clear. Did you find a solution??

[Eddie Gilmartin]

I've been thinking. If the same problem arises in left-hand-drive and right-hand-drive, it is unlikely related to the roof. More likely to be the A-pillar drainage? Is there any known fault with passenger side A-pillar drainage?

[Dennis D]

Thanks to google I have been able to locate my water leak (rear passenger floor) on my 1982 E230. Thought I would share it for those who still have trouble locating theirs. I removed the battery and found that part of the tray had been rusted away. Noticed a small hole, size of a pinky nail which lead into the car. Poured some water and the water travelled down a channel to the rear floor.
I sealed that hole and poured water all around....no more leak!!!
Will need to wait for a good downpour but I am optimistic that this is the cause. Worth checking out, if you have the same problem

[LONDON]

Hi

I had the same problem of water behind the driver seat. This was caused by a blocked drain. The drain starts in the soft top storage compartment beside the main lift ram. Mine was blocked, water was collecting in the soft top compartment and was then finding its way into the car through part of the vertical carpet by the door and then onto the rear carpet. Got the drain cleared and problem solved.

Hope that helps