Leak from somewhere?

[rustybullets]

Right, bit of history first,
2001, 406 110 HDI exec estate (semimux)

Occasionally when raining heavily, and sometimes washing the car with hosepipe, I can get the occasional drip from the alarm sensor on the passenger A column. Also when turning corners this can then drip from the interior light/sunroof switch, as if the water tracks along the top of windscreen when turning. Usually very little, and I can remove the sensor or light and dry it out easily.

I've cleaned out both sunroof drains regularly, and put kettles full of water down them many times to test, and I have never yet found them to be clogged or not draining properly.

I then assumed it was getting in at the top passenger side corner of the windscreen, because the top rubber seal had shrunk right back over the years. So temporarily gunked this up with silicone. It seemed to reduce the problem to the heaviest rain or washing, until more recently (last few weeks) discovered that the rear passenger footwell carpet had now got wet. Dried this out, and it has only got slightly damp once more since, when raining. Both driver, passenger and rear drivers footwell are all bone dry.

The car has been up on a ramp to change exhaust since, and had a really good look over all the floorpan/cills etc, for any rot/holes/missing bungs etc etc, and everything looks good. All the door seals and window seals still look good enough also.

Today I had to have the windscreen changed because of a crack picked up last week, and was really surprised to find when taken of that it was well bonded with no trace of any water tracking through that corner of the screen, or anywhere for that matter, so I have now ruled this out.

The only other thing I've found now is that the passenger side front roofrail mounting, has a bit of a gap, and the rubber is not as tight a seal to the roof as it could be. In all honesty the drivers side is a bit like this as well but not quite to the same extent.

Before I get chance to drop the roof lining to investigate, does anyone know of the roofrails being able to let water in like this, especially in the places it is ending up, or has anyone else experienced similar leak and have any other ideas?

Sorry for the long winded explanation, any help greatly appreciated,

Thanks.

[hasler88]

I have no idea about the roof rails don't have them but the aerial is a common place for leaks on many cars, I usually just put a small beed of clear silicone round it.

[john170277]

will definatley be the aerial Peugeot didn't put rubber seals under the base
all I did was un screw the aerial base so I lifted away from the roof the put some water proof silicon sealant under then fastened it back down
you need to take the interior light out to reach the nut for the aerial base I think it was an 8 mm spanner

[PeterN]

I will second that, I put some waxoil on the underside of the aerial mount, that usually cures it.

Peter

[rustybullets]

I'd forgot about the aerial

But have checked it out, and it's not coming from there, sealed it anyway just in case for the future.

[PeterN]

Oh dear ..not leaking round the windscreen is it?

[Welly]

What about the doors? if the water membrane between the door carcass and the door card is damaged then water can leak in and over the sills.

[rustybullets]

Wasn't the windscreen, as said I had it changed because of a crack this weekend, and watched the old one out and new one in. No evidence of water getting through there.
It's yet to rain properly to check the new windscreen, But should be fine seeing the bead of gunk used to glue it in.

I did actually find the bottom clips loose on the bottom of the back door panel the other week and pushed them back in, think my lad must have caught it at some point, so that could have been an issue. Maybe it's 2 separate leaks, one that got in the rear passenger footwell, and still the existing occasional drip from the alarm sensor on the A panel and the front interior light.

Going to take both the back door panel off, and drop that corner of the roof lining at weekend to investigate further.

Thanks for the replies so far, I'll keep it posted.

[PeterN]

Water can get into the foot wells if the drains in the sills get blocked.

[Doggy]

I know you've already checked, but are you absolutely certain it can't be the sunroof drains? - It always seems to be everytime I have had a similar issue.

[rustybullets]

I keep coming back to the sunroof drains, mainly because the seal around them is 14 yrs old now and shows it.
But still never once found them blocked or clogged, and I can pour a kettle full of water down each at a good rate, and it drains fine. So I struggle to think how rain can get down there equally fast and not drain properly.

When the sunroofs closed, do you think there is anyway water/rain seeping through could bypass the drain and just come into the car?

[GingerMagic]

There was a topic a long time ago regarding the sunroof from a 306, where the rivets near the back of the sunroof were letting water in, sadly I have no details....