Water in the leg compartment

[Leo B]

Hi, Please advice on where the water leak comes from when washing the car and the wheel housings. The carpets in both front footwell areas are wet.
I don't use a pressure washer. Normal shower. Before I start researching in more detail, I would be happy if I could get some tips and experiences.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Leo B

[Rob Dudley]

Windshield seal, wiper pivot seals would be where I would start. 

[Leo B]

47 minutes ago, Rob Dudley said:

Windshield seal, wiper pivot seals would be where I would start. 

Thanks for the good tip.👍

[Nelson]

I’ll tell you exactly where it’s coming from. Water goes in the cowl grill and is supposed to drain out a drain hole at the bottom of the front fender just in front of the door. Those holes are either not there too small or plugged up. The water rises in the A pillar and overflows at the “hing pocket”. It then flows onto the rubber threshold and into the footwell instead of running out the door. The threshold is actually slopped toward the inside of the car.

To fix it you need to take the interior vent grill off and the vent door behind it and reach down in the bottom and pull out leaves, dirt, old sandpaper etc. Either the holes are too small or don’t exist. You will need to open them up larger or put the drains in yourself. Just be careful as there is little room for error.

This problem has plagued Avantis from day one and I don’t think they ever realized where the problem was coming from. The fix isn’t hard and is certainly worth the effort.

[Leo B]

Thank you Nelson. You are absolutely right.

The reason is water getting inside through the lower air vent doors. There was just a little amount of trash in the draining of the water. Nevertheless, I enlarged the drain holes and cleaned trash with a vacuum cleaner. The reason for the water entering is water splashing on the lower part of the air opening in the footwell and draining from it inside. Especially if the air vents are open. Since the water falls freely from top to bottom, the water flows differently depending on the amount. In normal rainy weather, there comes not much water and it may only seep very little or none inside when the vents are open, but when you wash the windshield and hood with plenty of water, the water runs down abundantly and splashes on the lower shelf to the opening and then inside. This can also happen during very heavy rain.

Solution (my suggestions)

- Clean the vent doors and varnish them with e.g. boat varnish. Make or get new gaskets for them as well. You can also buy new plastic versions from vendors.

- During the car wash, cover the air intake (top ventilation grill). Wash the upper air intake grill with a smaller amount of water.

- If the car is parked outside for a long time or under trees, protect the air intake grill from trash and tree leaves etc.

- During rain and washing, close the air vent doors in the footwell. (Close L.H. and R.H. Vents).

- Make sure the drain holes in the bottom are open.

Pictures about this can be found in my dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/1s5hdibtng06quh9kmvcf/h?rlkey=ex0v3dnwe0ssybmjx7u00c3n0&dl=0
 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Leo B

[tanda62]

This is timely as I am getting ready to replace my vent doors and reinstall them.  Your list and pictures are great - thanks!  I was also thinking a tight wire mesh attached to the cowl air intake might help keep some of the debris out of the vents.

Tom 

[Nelson]

Leo. Good idea on the marine varnish. I never thought about water coming through there. What I did when I was trying to find the leak was to run water through the cowl vent with the door open and my head under the dash looking for a leak.That’s when the the water level came up high enough in the A pillar and started flowing out the lower hinge pocket onto the molded rubber threshold and into the footwell. The carpet would get wet near the door jamb on that particular Avanti. 

[Nelson]

Great photos in your drop box.