Wet carpets? Try a stent!

[Roberltd2]

Hi,
Like many others, I have suffered wet carpets during my ownership of the Zed, and have spent years in my quest to find the source of this mysterious giver of life to the mould on my carpets and the rust beneath them.
Anyway, following on from a suggestion by another member on the Forum - apologies, I don't have the o/p details - I bought a 1m (?) packaged length of 4.7mm clear washer tubing from Halfords and then inserted it up as far as I could up the rubber drainage channel. The opening for this is at the front of the door at window sill level. The reasoning behind the member's original post was that over time, the rubber drainage channel in the door loses it's rigidity, becomes compressed and restricts the flow of water, which then finds an alternative path to drain, in this case eventually into the carpeting.
I went to reach for the rolled up towel in the passenger footwell the other day expecting it to be soaked (again) after all the recent wet weather and was amazed to find it completely dry.
I fitted both sides last September. I sprayed some PTFE stuff on the tubing first to help get it up as far as it would go, and then cut it about 3" below the insertion point.
Not saying this will work for everybody, but it seems to have cured my problems on both sides.
For the time being.......
Robert.

 

[Chris_D]

I might give that a crack.
I thought I had solved my water ingress issues as I no longer have wet carpets but there is always a bloom of condensation left on the windows long after a drive, indicating that there is water lurking somewhere.

 

[Roberltd2]

It pains me to say that the windscreen still steams up as well, not as badly now though. Drain holes need looking at again perhaps.

 

[Skiing]

Hi Robert
picked up on your solution thought I might give it a go.
You don’t have any pics of where you inserted the “stent” ?
thanks
Stuart

 

[Roberltd2]

Hi Stuart,
I've just been trawling through the E85 problems pages on the forum tonight and have just revisited this thread which I started in January it looks like. Didn't see a notification of reply so sorry about that. I will get round to taking some photos in the the next couple of days with a bit of luck.
As of today, the 18th of March 2021 (5 years to the day of buying the Zed and so it's all paid for now), I'm pleased to say that both footwells are still dry despite the recent soakings the car has had. It's parked outside by the way with no rain protection. So it looks like the stent cure has worked for me at least.
Sorry for any typos, like everyone else, not had much to celebrate recently.
Cheers,
Robert. :drinkwine:

 

[Skiing]

Cheers Robert
I did try the tubing solution, also replaced the windscreen rubber surround. First rain ....dry ......but the monstrous storm we had next and the passenger footwell was wet again.
Going to try the windscreen scuttle next and clear out the drainage.

 

[Roberltd2]

Cleared a load of debris from the windscreen scuttle myself today as well - thanks for the reminder.
Took these photos tonight in Morrisons car park. They're not brilliant but will give you some idea of what I'm talking about. Driver's side shown, the n/s is pretty much a mirror image. I bought the tubing fro Halfords

Cheers,
Robert.

 

[Skiing]

That’s great thanks I did do the same place then.
It was only that really bad storm that caused it to get into the footwell so yes scuttle drains next.

 

[05_3.0i_zoom]

Cleared a load of debris from the windscreen scuttle myself today as well - thanks for the reminder.
Took these photos tonight in Morrisons car park. They're not brilliant but will give you some idea of what I'm talking about. Driver's side shown, the n/s is pretty much a mirror image. I bought the tubing fro Halfords

Cheers,
Robert.

Does one slide in the tubing?

 

[05_3.0i_zoom]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CKXHX8K/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?pd_rd_i=B08CKXHX8K&pd_rd_w=gGbtG&pf_rd_p=54ed5474-54a8-4c7f-a88a-45f748d18166&pd_rd_wg=JrlYI&pf_rd_r=Y448GBSFBT4A6SEXN5DE&pd_rd_r=160d0a28-c487-4f6f-a5a2-dabf9c8d4956&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFWVjlSOE9QRFNGSjAmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAyODUwMTVJUVJVRU9NWTgyTiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNTMwMzI3MzlTOEJSUFE4UjdKUiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbF90aGVtYXRpYyZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1
This is the closest i found in the US

 

[Roberltd2]

Cleared a load of debris from the windscreen scuttle myself today as well - thanks for the reminder.
Took these photos tonight in Morrisons car park. They're not brilliant but will give you some idea of what I'm talking about. Driver's side shown, the n/s is pretty much a mirror image. I bought the tubing fro Halfords

Cheers,
Robert.

Does one slide in the tubing?

Slide in from below, as far as you can push it
This is what I got from Halfords

 

[colb]

Pays to clean those scuttle drains out annually, its surprising how much debris builds up in there. The engine itself seems to drag in grime and dust, always pays to give it a wipe down before you wash the outside of the car to keep it clean.