GQ Water Leakage

[azzad]

A few days after the last trip to Loveday, the missus started complaining about a damp smell in the 4wd.

Investigated and found all the underlay to be saturated with what appeared to be the grey water from the water crossing near the electric fence.

Now I had no problems getting through this hole, meaning that I wasnt stuck sitting in there, but still seem to have had a substantial amount of water ingress.

Wondering if there is an inherent issue with door seals? or any other areas I should be looking at?

I have had a look for obvious things and havent seen anything yet, I did wash it down at the car place and I guess its possible I pushed it past the seal with the pressure cleaner but the car wash ones arent that great and I would have thought youd have to be pretty direct with it to get into the door seal in the first place.

Any suggestions greatfully appreciated.

Dazza

[Peter @ Aawen4x4]

You may well have one of the rubber bungs underneath either out of place and open, or gone entirely leaving the hole open! Normally you wouldn't get water in past door seals unless you stopped IN the water, but who knows, a bit of speed, a slightly off angle and the stuff's spraying right into one of the seals, it probly won't even slow the water/muck down too much as it sprays inside!

And re the pressure sprayers underneath, while they make life nice and easy, if there is a bung out of place, or a seal that's the slightest bit off, then you stand a good chance of having problems! You'd normally not use anything with more pressure than a non air boosted Maso-jet! The presssure sprayers play havoc with oil seals too! That can lead to early failures, and usually just after you've got it all covered in the smelliest goo known to mankind!

So your best bet right now would be to get the thing up on ramps or axle stands, and slide in underneath with a fairly bright torch or lantern/work light! Check every rubber bung by hand, physically feeling to make sure that it is in place and not letting water in! Once they are all confirmed, if the underside of the body is clean, it often helps to stick some flashtak or similar over the top (or in this case, under the bottom!) of every rubber/plastick bung so that the edges of the bung aren't ever exposed again!

Then go around the doors, with that bright light again, but you might need an offsider for this. Get the vehicle into as dark a space as you can (or wait til dark) then with the offsider and torch inside, shining the torch all around the edges of door; you crawl around on your hands and knees outside making sure that you can't see light anywhere! Good idea to clean off the seal area, body sections first then the car door sides. Make sure that you put a pencil mark anywhere that it looks like it's been letting goo pin! Concentrate on that area with the light, you really don't want goo pinning anywhere inside the car! You'll NEVER get that out!

Happy hunting, I hope you find and resolve the leak!

Oh, just another quick thought, people often find that after a day playing in the wet stuff, all the seals on the firewall have been pushed into the cabin, letting in lotsa water or goop every time you drove thru fast enough to get a spray on the firewall!! Then when you cleaned the car, the very same seals were still not in the right place, so you added some nice high pressure water to the highly concentrated goop that you prepared earlier!! Just sitting there waiting for some water to make it all whole again, so it can start generating that marsh gas smell that it's so good at!

[azzad]

Ive had a pretty good look around and fixed one possible problem but I havent tried the bright light thing. Seen as the missus has gone to bed I will have to wait until 2morrow nite now and give it a go.

It does seem to be the drivers side that is wet and not the passenger side so Im hoping I do find a bung missing or something on further inspection or maybe Ive already fixed it.

Dazza

[rovman]

I had the floor crack around the locking bar of the R/H rear seat. Had a lot of water and mud enter as the floor pushed down creating a nice scoop to pick up with. From memory there is nothing stopping the water fom ending up in the drivers foot well. could be worth a look.

[azzad]

Thanx rovman, it definately is only the drivers side and the back is just as wet as the front so it certainly worth a look.

Dazza

[Anjitago]

yeah i found a similar problem, bit of grey water on the floor down both sides of the rear passenger doors

guess i should get around to looking into it

It appears to have been door seals at a guess without looking too hard

[Patrolling Paddy]

How deep was the water and how slow were you going?
I have had the drain holes in the doors allow water in untill they fill far enough to come through the door panel and not through the seals. Check all the rubber plugs/boots/gromets on the fire wall particulaly around any aftermarket wiring. Check the rubber boot around the gear shifter as when they are perished they will allow water in too. Also check any floor panel seems for signs that the join has separated, and as Peter said check the floor drain plugs/bungs.
I'm out of idea's at the mo but good luck.

PP

[azzad]

If I have time Im going to remove the carpet b4 the next run, for 2 reasons, 1 to let it dry out proper and 2 so I can easily work out where its coming from.

Dazza