V60 water ingress! HELP!!!!

[Princey]

Hi all!

First post on the forum & hoping someone can help or has had a similar situation to myself! I am the owner of a 2013 V60 R-Design D2 with 45k on clock, purchased second hand in March 2016.

I have really enjoyed owning & driving the car up until the last few weeks. Unfortunately, I now have a fair amount of water finding its way into the rear footwells, particularly on driver's side. My initial suspicion was that it was related to the AC as this has always smelt bad when in operation ever since we got the car & the water seemed to correlate to the position on the blow pipes under the front seats. As a test we stopped using the AC altogether & resorted to good old fashioned windows down during warm weather! However, the water returned worse than ever after a night of heavy rain - so bad that you could hear it sloshing around under the carpets! I checked all the door & window seals & all seemed to be okay. I managed to suck out the worst of the water with a wet & dry vac & booked car into local garage for an inspection. They spent some time checking it over but didn't find anything untoward, although thought there may be a slightly larger gap in the rear driver door compared to the others, which they said might be a result of precious accident damage. This is possible but to best of my knowledge car has never been in an accident & I think if this was the cause the water would have leaked in long before now given I have owned the car nearly 17 months.

Tonight it is raining hard again & I have been out sitting in the car listening & looking for any tell tale signs of water getting in. I stuck my hand under the drivers seat & the carpet seems freshly damp around the area of the air pipe under there. Could rainwater somehow be getting into the air circulation / air conditioning system & finding its way out through this pipe?! Our driveway sits on a slight slope so any water coming in would naturally run towards the rear footwells so kind of tallies?!

If this is not possible, can anyone point me in the direction of other things to check. Drains, for example - not too sure where these are located? I am not mechanically minded so keep it simple! My next step is to take car to Volvo dealer but thought it was worth asking on here in case anyone had experienced similar?

Many thanks in advance for any help. Apologies for the marathon post!!!

Cheers,

Fraser

[tem]

Does the car have a sunroof?

Blocked drains from the sunroof channels can cause water to be found in the front foot wells, but with the car parked on an incline, water may work its way into the rear.

tem.

[NigelDay]

Could this be the classic leaking windscreen problem ?

[Mick787]

Hi Princey, there is a journalist who goes under the name of 'Honestjohn', he has his own web site and column in the motoring section of the Saturday Telegraph. He has a problem solving page. He often mentions blocked bulkhead drain holes or punctured door membranes for such problems in other cars. He says that if the bulkhead drain holes are blocked with debris, then water can only escape via the pollen filter and into the cabin.
I have no interest in the guys site, other than it is a good source of information on all motoring matters.

[Princey]

Thanks for the replies.

The car doesn't have a sunroof so can rule this out.

As for the windscreen, is this a common problem on V60? I read another post about issues with XC60. Are there any tell tale signs to look for?

Thanks again. It's really frustrating as I fear the water will lead to bigger problems if I can get it sorted soon!

[Chrisv60]

I've had similar on previous cars when the plastic door membranes have been removed or damaged, either through accident or to allow repairs to the door mechanisms. I was surprised how much water could get in this way.

[Tenuta]

Hi

A common problem across a lot of cars is the grill and drain holes in front of the windscreen blocked by leaves and soil/compost that you should see once the bonnet is lifted.

You may have to take off the plastic cover and even windscreen wipers.

My Alfa and neighbours BMW live under trees and park sideways on a slope. When I first unblocked mine by poking a coat hanger down the drain hole there was a satisfying gurgle and a wet foot as a column of water came out ...

[Princey]

Thanks to all that have taken the time to read &/or reply to my post.

After heavy rain last night the rear footwells on both sides, but predominantly the driver's side are swimming again! I managed to peel back more of the carpet than I managed before & there is a lot of water sitting in the bottom of the chassis under all the foam. I then noticed a small freshly damp patch in front driver's footwell & managed to lift the edge of the carpet here. There is a trail of water running from this area back towards the footwells, so it looks like the water is coming in on the right hand side of the front footwell & the slope of the drive is causing it to collect mostly in the rear.

As far as I can tell the drains are clear so does this point towards the windscreen being at fault? Can't see any damage to it but I guess if there is some gap in the seal then the water will be finding its way in?

[steadvex]

If you press your hand against the windscreen from the inside of the car at the top of the windscreen is there any movement?

[Princey]

I wouldn't say there is any movement, no. Seems pretty firm to me.