Hi All,

after it rains, my floor is always wet just to the left of the brake pedal on the floor. I have checked the sunroof drains and they appear to be clear.

Any suggestions as to where the water is coming in and possible remedy?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

thanks so much,

Iain in (rainy) Vancouver

 

Remove left front outer kick panel. Remove plastic plug and remove any of the rotten adhesive backed foam seal. Apply silicone sealant to opening and back side of plug. Put plug back in and make sure plug is totally sealed.

 

perfect! Thanks so much Ted. Im about to give it a whirl!
Iain

 

Hi Ted (and all)

after spending 3 hours removing panels, peeling back carpet and rain soaking my 940 wagon with the hose, I have failed to find the leak! All drains including the front left and right sunroof drains and air intake drains appear to be clean and clear. After removing the driver's side kick panel and and looking on the inside of the firewall, all vertical surfaces were clean and dry (even a little dusty!). Areas around the driver's side door jam were also dry and clean.
The floor on the driver's side REAR passenger floor however, was very wet. Since I park on a hill facing nose down, I'm thinking the leak must be coming from somewhere in the back of the car and basically draining forward to the driver's floor area. So, I pulled up the rear seat and carpet as far as I could and failed to see any evidence of water flowing "down" from roof to floor. I thoroughly soaked the driver's side rear section of the wagon including around all doors and windows and still failed to see any "live" evidence of water entering the car. The car is wet after being parked during the rain. so I am sure the water is not coming up from the street.

I am just about ready to give up and face the fact that my beloved 940 wagon will always have a wet floor in the winter.

Any further ideas or suggestions will be welcomed and appreciated.

thanks so much everyone.

Standing by.

Iain in Vancouver

 

I don't know the condition of your roof rack but mines in pretty bad shape and water leaks in though there. The headliner doesn't get wet but it still drips down to the floor and pools underneath the rear seats. I can't imagine that would be your problem but if my car was on an incline I'd bet the pooled water would seep down and get the carpet wet.

 

Strange. Has the car been in an accident, ever? Sometimes after bodywork, if a seam is not fixed right, there may be leaks.

 

Thanks guys,

there is no roof rack on my 940, and the car has never been in an accident. It is in great shape except for the wet floor! :-)

Iain

 

Ive now narrowed the leak down to somewhere near the fresh air intake cowling below the windshield. Ive searched forums and figured out how to remove the cowling, but Im still not clear on where the leak would be coming in. Do you think there is a chance the leak is originating at the windshield seal? It all looks pretty solid and well-sealed.

thanks

Iain

 

Doesn't smell like coolant does it?

 

no, it doesnt even taste like coolant! Its definitely rain water, though the location would make coolant more obvious.

Thanks for the help!

Iain

 

Hi All

I finally found and repaired the leak.

The water was getting in at the top of the door seal on the driver's side rear passenger door. The seal was pulled away from the car frame right at the top and in the middle of where the door closes against the car. I siliconed it back on and now no more leaks.

Thanks for all the input!

Iain in Vancouver

 

I hope this doesn't sound stupid but I would have a helper (my wife) run a water hose on the roof while I sat in the car and waited for the water to find its way in then try to narrow it down fom there.

 

I'm new and tend to be a little verbose. Scold me, punish me and train me! I love it.

I have the exact same problem Ian discusses in this thread, with an additional complexity.

When my 95 940 wagon is on an incline - nose up, rain water runs rather prodigiously from above my left rear window and collects in the plastic cargo mat. Lately its been a lot of water and that seems to be a result of the work I did clearing the drain holes at the front of the sun roof and removing the cowl at the bottom of the windshield and cleaning that screen. Are there also rear drain holes on the 940 sun roof?

Unfortunately, I was not instructed properly and was rather aggressive with the front drain hole cleaning, using an electrical wire tape. I am not sure how the drain holes are assembled, but I certainly might have perforated something there, although it does not seem related to the leak.

When examining the sun roof, it does not appear as if there is any water near the head liner, although I do see that the track over the drivers side is wet and I could envision water collecting in the track and overflowing in the direction of the door, then somehow running towards the rear. Also, the area on the floor beneath the door behind the drivers seat gets very wet and my wife is sitting under a continuous drip from the top of the door, when it is raining. Its her car. My '94 940 is dry. So, it won't surprise you that we have temporarily switched cars. Its the man thing.

I am mindful from the replies that there is likely to be a door problem, but I am perplexed to understand how the water moves from there back to the rear of the car.

Also, I am not sure I have understood any of the suggestions for correcting the leak associated with the door gasket. I would like some help on that one too. If I were to undertake that correction without further advise, I would be inclined to loosen the door hinges and set the door to close closer to the frame at the top.

For many years after an accident the passenger side door was leaking air and making considerable noise at high speed, even thought the door had been replaced by a high end professional body shop.

One day, after my wife suggested we toss the car because of this chronic annoying problem, I reset the door on its hinges a little bit tighter to the frame ... problem solved. It took all of 10 minutes.

I think so many times good cars are disposed because a small but annoying problem eventually trumps all the other positive features. That's what these forums are all about, though, isn't it?

Bob Franklin

 

Hey Bob

yeah, I cant really explain how the water got from the top of the rear door all the way to the driver's floor, but it did!

I literally took half a small tube of silicone and re-glued the weatherstripping at the top of the door. No more water!

Recently, I sold the 940 and bought my friends Audi all-road quatrro wagon. :-)

Best

Iain

 

I have an 87 240 wagon, and the same thing happens to me, but I am not parked on any kind of slope, and I have driven in a rain storm and had to hold a towel under the ac vent, it was leaking so close to the fuse box I was getting worried, or if I take through the car wash same thing. I can only think it has something to do with the fresh air intake????