Car is like a swimming pool!

[cjhunter2k]

ok so today after about 3 weeks of the car being left standing I opened it up ready to fix the brake light switch........turns out the drivers side footwell was in over an inch of water! After hours of hoovering and drying it's almost all dry, problem is the car now won't start. Battery sounds dead, it's been on charge for a couple of hours but still nothing. Just get a faint clicking sound, it was a new battery a couple of months ago. Firstly does anyone think the water may have damaged something or will it just need longer to charge? Secondly any thoughts on where the water could be getting in? There's nothing on the passenger side or on seats so I don't think it's through the roof, maybe from the bonnet somewhere?

[abovetherim]

Could be through the scuttle area beneath the windscreen.
Other option is the door. The door drain holes could be blocked and then filling up and overspills between the door card and door.
Could also be rear 1/4 window not sealed properly and filling behind seat.

[cjhunter2k]

Ok thanks, few things for me to check today........Any idea on the battery? Does it just need longer to charge or could water have damaged it? If try hooking my other car up with jump leads but the MR2 is facing a bush so the leads won't reach!

[abovetherim]

If the car has been left for a week or two the battery could be really flat depending on how much drain it has whilst sitting.
Some last a week, mine lasts a month before getting low.
It will need a good 12 hrs to recharge. If you have one of those ctech or even the Aldi version this will condition the battery over a long charge.

[redshift]

I wouldn't think the flat battery is related to the wet footwell. As said above, the battery may need a good 12 hrs to charge.
Is it literally the footwell that's in water, i.e. is it under the carpet? If so I'd go with the rear quarter light suggestion because that's the problem I had (but on the passenger side). The water runs inside behind the seats and collects in a floor channel which slopes gently to the front. It stays there while the carpet soaks it up.
It's not called a 'well' for nothing!
Lift up the 'lids' on the little compartments behind the seats: if there's water in there its the quarter light.
Have you got a t-bar? if so may be the roof seals.

[cjhunter2k]

No it's not a T Bar, I lifted the compartment lids and it's all dry in there. There's no signs of water anywhere in the car other than the drivers footwell. I think it may be coming in through the the bottom of the windscreen, reason I say this is I took it for a spin today (battery charged up with jump leads) and I can hear what I assume is water sloshing around. Sounds like it's coming from behind the dash somewhere!

[abovetherim]

Pop off the caps for the wiper arm nuts, undo nuts with 13mm (iirc though could be 12mm) spanner and wiggle as off.
Then with bonnet up remove 7 or so Philips screws, 2 of which are under caps either side.
The scuttle panel can then removed but be cautious as there are a couple of plastic bits that slot under the screen at each end.

[cjhunter2k]

I tried this briefly with a torch but the nuts holding the wiper arms are so rusted they just flake off! I'm thinking it might be a case of boring an angle grinder to remove them and get some new replacement ones. Not a job for in the dark! Assuming I can get the scuttle panel off what is it I'm expecting to see?

[cjhunter2k]

Ok so I today removed the scuttle panel......well enough to pull it away and there's no water there at all. I can still hear it sloshing around behind the dash though. There's no sign of water by the rear quarter glass, nothing by the doors and like I said nothing under the scuttle panel. Any other ideas? I've just bought a touch screen for the dash but am a little nervous about fitting it if there's water around

[m122794]

Just another thought - is the water in the footwell 'clean' or does it have anti-freeze in it? If the heater matrix has sprung a leak, this will end up in the footwell but via the heater piping. If there's some water left in the heater then this will 'slosh' behind the dash.

This happened to me and I had to remove the complete dash assembly to replace the matrix. Not technically difficult but a pig of a job due to the amount of things you need to disconnect and unscrew to get the dash out

[cjhunter2k]

The water was kind of murky, like it had general sort of mud in it. Would the car still run ok if the heater matrix was leaking? I drove it around again yesterday and it seems alright, admittedly I didn't use the heaters (I assume that's what the heater matrix is for?

[S81933]

I was thinking along the lines of m122794. Haven't had it on mine, but did have exactly that on a Carlton several years back. It depends how long the water has been there and is the leak still there. If so, I would expect to find the coolant level dropping along with the usual symptoms. If somebody had done a "fix" then maybe the leak is stopped (for now). But your OP seems to indicate you didn't have it prior to the three week standing time. Was it in the open, uncovered?

[cjhunter2k]

Yeah unfortunately a car cover was one of my Christmas presents and since I had a problem with the brake lights the car was sat outside without being used for a good 4 to 6 weeks. When I went back to it o had a footwell full of water, I have used it since though and it didn't show any signs of over heating

[cjhunter2k]

So the car has been covered for the last week or so now, there's no more signs of water in the footwell which is a positive, I can still hear something sloshing around behind the dash though. I'm thinking the next step is to remove the dash and take a look, does anyone have a good video link or diagram showing how to do this? i.e where all the screws/bolts/clips are? I know I need to remove the plastic trim pieces first and steering wheel, I assume the glove box needs to come off somehow as well?