Many of you have followed my quest to rid my 300td of leaks. The sunroof drains are open and draining OK. Still, if the car sits outside in a hard rain there is a little water in the driver's foot well. It's already starting to corrode the new metal I had welded in!
Window was replaced last year and it's been back a couple of times for re-sealing but primarily up on the corner near the A-pillar.
I feel the carpet to see if it's wet anywhere but it's really not, it's just when I peel it back that I find the wetness.
I suspect that the water is coming in at the bottom of the window, dripping down the firewall near the pedals, and into the footwell?
This is only after rain so I do not suspect the hose which has been discussed on the forum.
Am I on the right track?

To me,

Sounds like a botched windshield installation. There are several little folds of rubber in the seal. I bet if the windshield was pulled out, you'd fine the inner part is pulled under. If this is truely the case, it would take a huge amount of goo between the body/rubber to seal the offending leak.

99% leaks on the floor boards are orginal leaking front window seals, but everyone looks at the sunroof.

You can try pressure washing around the seal to simulate the storm.

Did they put a new seal in ? Was it an MB seal? Was the tech familiar with Benzs?

Michael

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Michael McGuire
83 300d
01 vw A4 TDI
66 Chevy Corsa
68 GMC V6 w/oD
86 300E

shawnster-
This may be a little premature (because I haven't really pulled the front fender off yet,) but I suspect you may be getting water from the front fender area. I have loosened the front fenders on mine (preparing to replace the rusted out ones) and I can see a hole where the rocker panel joins the inner fender. At that point the rocker is flat ( about a 3/4" horizontal surface)and water that gets in there can just as easily go into the front footwell as out the bottom of the fender. I think the source of this water on mine is from the hood hinge area, running down the inside wall of the inner fender then through this hole. I can feel gobs of rust along the inner fender. I expect to get control of this in the next few weeks when I can get my replacements painted. You may want to take the bolts off the bottom of you fender and investigate this area.

Rick

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

shawnster, have you tried some directed water tests to try to determine where it is coming in? We have a leak similiar to what rs899 described. Try removing the kickplate and the side wall (by your feet) and trickling water in to that corner, adn see if you see it coming inside. We still haven't foudn the EXACT spot (I think it's under this little metal ridge), but that's the area. We will have to take the emerg brake out and try to get at it from the inside as it's too buried on the outside/firewall area. If it's not that spot, you could continue to do the 'trickle' test around the windshield, or remove the door liner and watch for water coming in from there.

In the meantime, I do recommend that Dri Eze, or Eze Dri (I forget exact name) stuff. It's a magnesium salt that readily absorbs water. It's comes with this special containter in which teh salt sits on top and the water drips in to a basin below. You have to find some way to secure it as it tips over easily and then you have SALTY water everywhere. Also, have you thought about spraying your new floor boards with something like rustmort? Might help the process from starting.

Good luck!

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Natalie

I'm going to bet you have a rusted out hinge area. This is where my water was coming in. It appears to be a real tough place to patch. I put in some aluminum tape to slow it down and the car stys pretty dry now.