Lude Generation

Good morning all. I’m stumped.
I have had my lude parked up for months and I have finally got it back on the road. In all of the time I have had it off the road on the drive it never got damp inside. Nothing.
The last couple of days I have started to get a funny smell in the car and to my surprise my carpet on the passenger side front and rear is drenched. 1/2 inch of water.

I have found a trickle of water ingress around the rear lights but not enough to cause this problem.

Is there any other common weak points where water gets in around the door seals/ A pillar / scuttle bulkhead pollen filter areas?

I have stripped the carpet out. It’s hanging in the garage dripping wet. The sound proofing is out and passenger seat removed. All water mopped up.

FYI. Before I got the car back on the road the car was parked on a slight downhill driveway. Now it’s parked on the flat.

I had a similar problem with my 1997 2.0. Left it on the drive for 2 weeks and the back seats were soaked and so was the carpets. Be interested to know how?

That's an arse
Boot leak wouldn't get into the cabin anyway.
I take it you have taken off the kick panel on that side and checked the sunroof drains in the A pillar already?
After that, I would take the skuttle cover off and check around the windscreen seal, blower intake and the grommets around the wiring loom there.
Door seals on in that side? If you want to get really adventurous, take the passenger wing off and check how they look from the outside with the door closed.
Has the drivers door card been off recently? If so, did someone forget to refit (or properly seal when refitting) the weather skin?
Have you tried operating the rear windscreen washer with everything stripped out, to see if there is a leak on the pipework? (I assume on a 5g is runs the same place as a 4g, i.e. along the inside of the passenger sill)

Im working on this same issue on my BB1 albeit im only geting a little bit of moisture in the footwell- still not 100 sure where its coming from although it seems to point to leak at the top passenger side of the windscreen which is running down the A pillar into the footwell
so far i have stripped off headliner and checked sunroof drains are working ok, replaced inner door seal as old one had a 2 inch split in at the corner of the jamb & checked outer seal for damage,removed wind deflector and fixed the seal along the top of it, resealed windscreen as a temp measure, resealed the rear washer jet & checked no leaks from pipework.
Finally im going to check the wing mirror seal and the grommets on the engine bay.
Just remembered I did have the wing mirror off recently so wondering if that could be the issue....and i can see that there is a gap between the wing mirror base plate and the door glass seal on the outside also the wind deflector tip sits right on that....

would be good to know what others find with their ludes as ive seen this on a few (some without sunroof) so might be classed as a common fault

Mine doesn’t have a sun roof so that’s that eliminated.
I also have the rear wiper and the hose is good for the jet.
My gut instinct is the door seals. So I’m just going to order some if they are available. I think I will take off the front wings to be sure too. In the meantime I’m away from the car and the Mrs will be monitoring the amount of rain we get so I can see if any more water gets inside.

Hi,

I had this problem with my type s @ 9 years ago. About 1/2 inch of water in the passenger footwell only, shortly after I bought it. After having the windscreen removed & refitted, it turned out to be a perished rubber grommit where the wiring is fed through into the inner wing. A local garage found this after applying several litres of water over the windscreen etc. They filled the gap with mastic, and all fine since.

vanzep wrote:and i can see that there is a gap between the wing mirror base plate and the door glass seal on the outside

That's always the case IME. Not an issue because the web that the mirror fixes to is welded and sealed to the outer skin, so water that gets in behind the mirror back plate, shouldn't get into the door. You do tend to get a bit of corrosion in this area though.

Iv'e just had the same thing, Gave a mate a lift in the back hey came out with a we arse !!!! Both back seats were soaked ( they are currently in front of the fire trying to dry them out ) I checked the boot and the boot lid was wet with condensation, lifted the spare wheel out and there was a puddle of water in the boot under the spare wheel, I mopped all the water up then washed my car to see if water came back in the boot or rear seas and nothing obvious ? Weird!!! Think I'm gonna have to hose it own for a while to see if i can see where the water is coming in from ?

I blame ATTS.

Since its located on the left driveshaft it allows water to enter the pillar seals.
Since removing ATTS my car has been dry as a bone.