Leaky Blues
 

My mother's '92 240 wagon has a substantial leak someplace(s) under the dash. After even mild showers, the carpets in the drivers AND passenger footwells are noticably damp, and heavy rain can leave inches of standing water. We bought the car about 1 1/2 months ago, and have only recently started having these problems with THIS volvo.

She has owned 2 other Volvo wagons, an older 240, and a '95 850, and ALL 3 now have had leak problems. I am beginning to think we're cursed...

Anyway, the leaks seem to be slightly less pronounced when the wagon is parked with its nose pointed up a hill, I have no idea what that means. I don't know if this is common, but I can also lift up one edge ofthe rubbber flashing around the windshield with a fingernail, but it doesn't whistle at hwy speeds and there's another gasket underneath it, so I don't think the windshield is leaking.

Any help you guys could give me would be most appreciated, I don't know enough about volvos to go ripping into the dash without knowing exactly what/where I should be looking for.

Thanks,
Joseph

RE: Leaky Blues
 

Volvo think of everything. Now running water!!

In the pastI haveseen water ingress through the heater airintake (grille just in front of windscreen). There are two drain tubes from the intake which come through the bulkhead (firewall) into the engine compartment. These should be cleaned out regularly as they canbecome blocked with dirt, dead leaves and other rubbish. Unfortunately, on UK models, they can only be cleaned from the bottom end and I would suspect that US models are the same.

Use a piece of flexible plastic rod to dislodge anything up there. Do not use anything sharp as the majority of the drain is rubber and you don't want to puncture it.

Hope this helps.

RE: Leaky Blues
 

I has a major leak problem with my 740. I any rain storms the floors would have 1/2 inch of water. I thought it was the windshied originally too. But if you remove the lower kick panel trim(the plastic cover next to your feet before the door). You should find a black plastic access panel. On the 740 it has a gasket and some tabs that hold it in place. If you turn on the hose and spray water near the lower coner of the windshield see if water comes out from the bottm of this kick panel. If so remove it and pick up some body seam sealer. Remove the gasket and replace it with the body seam sealer. If this is your problem that will fix it.