Water Leak

K

Kernow-Z4

Member
Good Evening,

It appears after last night deluge i have a slight water leak, i have tracked the leak back to the where the heater box air intake passes through the firewall into the cabin. Only a small amount appears to be entering the cabin, however im keen to get on top of this one.

Theoretically the shroud should stop any water entering the box but an i correct in thinking the seal between the windscreen and the scuttle panel should stop any water accesing this area anyway?

Can i ask if anyone else has had this issue and how they have managed to resolve it?

Thanks
Alex
 
I just solved my water ingress issues finally by clearing out the scuttle of all debris and replacing the scuttleclips with new ones as well as applying 2 strips of weatherseal. One to the bottom edge of the windscreen glass and another 'mating' strip to the underside of the scuttle.
I also plugged a few gaps around the windscreen with some butyl tape and the outer, upper edges of the scuttle panel and so far, after the deluge we just had here in NL it seems to be keeping the water at bay.

From your description it sounds like your sound generator interface at the firewall may be compromised? You should be able to hear a warbling sound under hard acelleration if so.

IMG_20200421_140358.jpg

edit:
If your scuttle panel has faded, consider giving it a refresh with a 50/50 mix of baby oil and furniture oil. Clean vigorously with alcohol/acetone first though.
Mine still looking nice and dark a couple of weeks on...

IMG_20200421_132645.jpg
IMG_20200421_132813.jpg
 
Hi Chris

Many thanks for you prompt and indepth reply, i apologise for you edited picutre you can see below, but the ingress into my cabin apprears to be coming from the heater/air inlet arrowed as shown below. I must also add its an M coupe so no sound generator! :)

Z4 Scuttle.png

When removing the scuttle i dont believe that mine had a weather strip you mention in place, can i confirm they had one from the factory?
I also believe a couple of the scuttle clips were missing, im guessing a combination of both these issue could let water slip inbetween the windscreen and scuttle and therefore end up on top of the heater inlet/shroud which then leads into the cabin?
Im guessing water shouldn't reach here, hence the raised intake and the drains in this area?

Thanks
Alex
 
Yeah, it's a really sh!t design if I'm honest.
After leak-testing I determined that the main ingress barrier is where and how the scuttle interfaces with the windscreen glass. If water passes this boundary then you're going to have soggy carpets.

The scuttle didn't come factory-fitted with a strip of weather seal. It relies on a clean interface and the clips as a method of clamping the scuttle to the windscreen. If your scuttle has any warping, cracks or gaps then you're goin to have water ingress. 6 of the 8 clip braces on mine were broken but I had the broken plastic pieces still attached to the clip brackets on the car so I just epoxied them back in place on the scuttle panel and used new clips. I'm hoping I dont have to remove the scuttle panel again because I think those plastic pieces will break off again. As it is, they're pretty secure now.

I bought the smallest diameter weather seal that I could find and used 2 single/continuous-piece strips that would squish together forming an adequate seal as well as plugging any drain paths at either end with the butyl tape.

You basically need to prevent any water entering that void under the scuttle panel as best you can.
 
Yeh, you've kinda confirmed what I guessed... Water shouldn't be getting there in there first place! Hence the reason it's raised and the drain is below it.
Do you happen to have a link to what weather seal you purchased?
I found this thread deep in the depths of the web and hopefully yours is a simpler solution than the lengths this poor fella went to: Zpost Z4 dash removal

https://www.zpost.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1686150

His pictures show the heater inlet where I have tracked the slight ingress back to.
Many thanks 🙂
 
No link but it's generic weatherstrip you'll get from any hardware store.
I went for black rubber 3-5mm gap-fill.
IMG_20200506_010335.jpg
 
I had this issue for a while, water was getting under the carpets on the passenger side. To fix the seal on the window, I removed the black plastic and basically just bent it back into shape where it was slightly lifted. I also waterproofed the heater matrix itself so if water ever does manage to get through the windscreen seal, no water will be able to get in anyway. Unfortunately I can't remember exactly how I did it all but I think that's all I did. I think I waterproofed the matrix with some butyl tape all around it and tested it by pouring water directly onto the top of it whilst the carpets were out to see if any water came through.
 
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