Water in Passenger Footwell

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DaytonaRS7

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ill add my contribution to this thread...

It rained (downpoured) Monday night.
Drove my car tuesday, no issues
got in the car Wednesday, smelled like wet dog.

a quick touch of the passenger carpet determined it was soaked. nearly puddled. this was concealed under the rubber floor mats.

pulled the cabin filter; dry. ruled out the cowl.
poured water in the sunroof drains; dripped out under the intake vent.
Pulled the under dash panel; AC drain was not clogged.


revisited the sunroof drain and compared drainage speed of the driver vs passenger sides; Passenger was much slower. so even though it was draining, it wasnt draining fast enough. used my air compressor and blew air through from the sunroof end and from the air intake end of the drain hose. test again, drained much faster.

point is....just because you see water dripping out from the hose drainage area, dont assume the drains are working as designed. id add blowing out the lines to a annual maintenance.

I have a feeling the carpet padding has been slowly soaking up water for a while. I vacuumed nearly 1/2 gallon form the carpet and the wire loom channel in the sill....which was completely filled. how I had no wiring issues is beyond me. soaked up another 2 beach towels worth of water from the floor. currently driving with a/c heat on and windows down when parked to try and finish the drying process.

i do wonder though...if my sunroof drain lines are not leaking or broke, how is water getting from the sunroof to my floor? there is no sign of water staining or dampness on the headliner or pillars.
 

npollardtx

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Have you replaced the windshield in that vehicle? The seals around the new windshield was how water got into mine. I ended up trading my LR3 in because of all the water in the sill. The idea that all those wires were sitting in it for god knows how long made me very weary of continuing to own that vehicle.
 

DaytonaRS7

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Have you replaced the windshield in that vehicle? The seals around the new windshield was how water got into mine. I ended up trading my LR3 in because of all the water in the sill. The idea that all those wires were sitting in it for god knows how long made me very weary of continuing to own that vehicle.

the car is new to me for only 5k miles...the first 138k miles of its life were under a previous owner. It does appear the windshield has been replaced at some time though, as it is not Land Rover branded.

There are no plugs in the sill, just straight runs of wire. any plugs are up the pillars or in the side hatch panels. water around a plastic coated wire should be fine. the condition of the metal in the sill was good. no sign of rust (except the plastic sill clips). im not worried.

The chance of a leaking windshield, and the possibility of ongoing water leakage, bothers me though. i hadnt thought of that.
maybe the windshield needs to have an accident and be replaced by insurance. lol.
 

DaytonaRS7

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follow up to my post from last week...
in order to make sure im not overlooking anything, i sealed the cowl to the windshield. there was s small 1/6" gap in a few places. resolved this by using butyl to stick the cowl down. stretched the ribbon to be about 1/8" diameter, used a plastic dash panel removal to gently lift up the cowl and ran a ribbon of the butyl all the way across. pressed the cowl down and made sure no sealant was visible. perfect, strong (but flexible) seal now. and no water can get past.

if anyone is interested, this is they selaant i used.
https://www.amazon.com/3M-Butyl-Ribbon-Sealer-Window-Weld/dp/B075KKJ9MS

I realize the cowl is supposed to be removable, but if and when it has to be removed for a windshield replacement, ill just buy a new cowl. im sure the brittleness of one would have caused it to not make it through a remove/reinstall anyway.
 

Michael Conley

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I ended up having a small leak where the A-pillar met the roof, started noticing wet trim then one day soaked passenger floor board. Had to remove the visor, pop the pillar trim and headboard down, then squirt some silicone to seal it up. No issues so far after some heavy downpours.
 

Adrien

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Hey! I know you said water was draining from the sunroof, but I found that on mine the foam sound deadening material behind the fender air intake was actually preventing water from draining fast enough during rainy days. This in turn caused soaked carpets for me. While water would still drain, even at a fairly good rate, it just wasn't fast enough. Solved by tearing the top of the foam off.

IMG_9349.jpeg


IMG_9350.jpeg
 

Lgibson

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It sounds like the AC condenser drain is never an issue with the LR4. Where does it drain, by the way?
 

bbyer

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It sounds like the AC condenser drain is never an issue with the LR4. Where does it drain, by the way?
The picture in the link shows the AC drains in the LR3. I expect not much changed re the LR4. If you have wet carpets on one or both sides and no recent rain but lots of air conditioner use, the hose has separated from the ducting. It is just a matter of reattaching - a clean hands job. The link has over 1700 views.


Below is a link to the whole HVAC set of files including replacing the blower motor.

 

Lgibson

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I’m struggling with the sunroof drain issue as well. Water poured into the passenger sunroof drain runs down the large wiring harness next to the Apillar and fills the channel where the harness runs. The cabin filter is totally dry and the plenum drains just fine down around the air vent which I was able to pull off. A cable will pass from the sunroof only down to the plenum and no further. The workshop manual seems to show the drain tube passing through some panel below the plenum and there is a valve at the end. Looking up from underneath the wheel house I see no tube inside the A pillar. Does the drain tube terminate into the plenum?
i wish I could locate where the water is leaking out onto the harness!
One side note: i pulled a plastic bag containing water-soaked insulating foam out of the triangular space in the frame below the plenum and behind the air vent. Clearly the bag was leaking.
 

Hermes

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If you're running AC and getting that water there, it could be due to the condensation. There are 2 rubber hoses near the footwells behind the center console trim that go through the floor and direct condensation from the cooling out. Once one of these got clogged and on a drive to Texas in summer I had a pond in the passenger side, fixed it by pushing a metal wire and wiggling it through the hole to loosen it up. This was an lr3 but I'd assume same for LR4.
 

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