Gentlemen,

I could use some help here. We had a pretty good storm last night in Northern Virginia with healthy winds, hail, and over half an inch of rain within an hour and a half. I own a 98 S70 GLT and headed out early this morning to check out the condition of my CV joints in a local parking lot. I've got a a couple of torn boots and am looking at replacing my axles in the near future. Well, that testing ended up being a fail because when I would turn my wheel to the extreme and try to do some accelerated turns from a stop, instead of hearing any creaking or clicking sounds from my front end, I only heard sloshing water from the area of the cowl under my hood.

I opened the hood to inspect and found a few leaves from the tail end of winter and a lot of cherry blossoms and blossoms from oaks and/or other trees in our area that had fallen over the last couple of weeks. There was a little standing water in the cowl. I also found that the well that the supplementary fuse box (attached picture) sits in had quite a bit of water in it, hence I assume the splashing noise. I then discovered that my front passenger floor mat was wet. Makes sense since I was doing left hand turns. No moisture on the driver's side or in the rear. I shop vaced the floor and sucked up less than a cup of water. A good portion of the mat was soaked though.

I'm wondering if there could be more water somewhere. It sounded like there was a lot more than could be sitting in that well where the fuse box is. Seems that with this car, I am a glass half full kind of guy. I looked all over and could not see where any drains for the cowl might be. I could use some assistance in evaluating and fixing this. Where are the drains?

I've got a sunroof, but that is clean and has been checked. No moisture around the headliner. I poured about 24 oz of water in each corner and the sunroof appeared to drain adequately.

Maybe it's nothing but a combination of the heavy rain and my turning exercises. I think we've had at least 4 days with a good bit of rain the last 6 weeks.

Again, I appreciate any insight you folks can offer. Thanks.

Roger

Photos:

The spots are from the dripping mat I removed. Passenger side.



The supp fuse box where I found a lot of water. I'm assuming that screened thing to the right of the wiper arm is a drain. Where do they exit the car?



Water draining from the sunroof.

 

Right atop the fuse box between the hood hinge (on your photo) is the drain, looks brownish on the photo, clean those up, theres on the passenger side too..

 

This is for a V40 but similar to your case
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...hp?f=8&t=26321

 

Might be mistaken, was working on the 850 today, the position of the drains is between the grill and fuse box, at the lowest point (you will see two black drain hoses coming from the cowl)
Got to double check on the S70 ( but i believe is at the same place)
While you are at it, clean the trunk ones too

 

Yes the drains are about a foot in from the edges of the cowl. They get clogged all the time but you still should NOT be getting water in the interior of the car.

Check your cabin filter area. Maybe the water is getting in there. While you're at it, replace the cabin filter if you haven't done it lately.
Cabin air filter replacement - Volvo S70 1998

 

We have gone through 4 days of pretty good rain here in Northern VA. Yesterday, came out to the car to find a good pint or more of water in the front passenger floor well. I'm also hearing water sloshing around somewhere behind the dashboard.

With my last post in April, it turned out my drain plugs in the windshield cowl were plugged with leaves and debris. Cleaned them out and blew pressurized air through them and everything seemed resolved. I had checked my sunroof drains, and found water flowing through them adequately. No moisture in headliner found as well.

This morning found another pint pooled there. My cowl drains are clear and there was no collection of water there as in the previous incident. I'm going out to check my cabin air filter and underneath the cowl to see if I find anything. I'll also check the door seals on the passenger side.

I've done some searching but have had no luck. Can anyone direct me to instructions on how to remove my A-pillars to inspect those lines? I'm assuming that's where the sunroof drain lines pass through. Any other suggestions?

Thanks all!
Roger.

 

There is a chance that your windshield is leaking. Pull the panels from the interior and you should see something wet somewhere. Is it in the front or front and back?

 

I think I found it. Loosened up the cowl and found the well that the cabin air filter sits full of water. Also found a clump of leaves errr... "compost" covering the drain. I don't remember if I caught that or missed it last April. We've had a lot of rain the last 4 days in No. VA. Quite a bit of water wooshed to the ground when I pulled that mess out.

I would still love to know how to get at the sunroof drain tubes, just for precautionary measures. If they're behind the A pillar covers, I can't see how to remove the covers.

Also, with the driver side cowl drain tube. The tube takes about a 120 degree turn heading under the fuse box and behind the strut tower. Where and how far does that go? I think there is some blockage there and tried to clear it with a straightened coat hanger. Had a little luck, but need to try hitting it with my shop vac once the rain here stops.

Thanks.

 

I would hIt them with compressed air..

 

Most shop vacs will work good on wet things. Besides that, try to find something flexible or softer plastic to poke down there. You can also pour water down it to see if it's already clear or not.

 

Oh man I've had this problem with my 1995-850 wagon forever. Drivers floor always soaked.
How do we get the cowl loose and check the cabin air filter...
Sorry a newbie here,
R.

 

You just take the screws out. They're right on top of the cowl screen. You can pry up on the passenger side and do what you need to do without taking the wiper arms off. If you want good access to the whole cowl, or to remove it, you can just take those off.