Our Berlingo Multispace has occasional ingress of water (rain) into the front passenger footwell. See
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=34775
and
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=34757
It's been back to the dealer 3 times, so we took it to another garage. The foreman said something along the lines of "Hmmm - can be very difficult to find the source of leaks. We'll see what we can do, but I can't promise anything."
Well, they tried, but the problem remains. It's definitely not coming in from below, because the carpet is pretty dry underneath the rubber mat.
So I guess we're going to have to live with it and just dry out the car whenever it happens. So the next question is "What is the quickest / easiest / cheapest way to dry out the footwell? The fitted carpets don't remove in a Berlingo, so far as I can see, so I can't just take them out and dry them.
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Has the Berlingo got aircon?
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=36190
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if it did have a/c would the pollen filter be under the dashboard at the side where the water is forming(look in owners handbook if unsure)the point is that it may have a cover and gasket here that is not sealing properly.
I always find it unbeleivable when garages cant find leaks, as it only needs an eager apprentice shoved up the dash while the foreman turns on the hose pipe.
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Just spotted this item on ebay. Is it what I need?
tinyurl.com/d6qry
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Possibly, in the short term , but in the long term you need to find a Citroen garage ( dealer or independent ) who will solve an unacceptable problem on a 3 (and a bit) year old car.
Kick up a stink, Mr Angry letter?
I also have a Berlingo.
Phil
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Phil
Maybe I am being a bit defeatist, and giving up too early. Basically I have taken it to my dealer 3 times, and have also taken it to a Citroen garage recommended on this site, which had it for 2 weeks while I was on holiday. And, as I said, the foreman at this recommended garage was not very optimistic even before they started work. That pretty well covers every Citroen dealer within 100 miles of my remote Highland abode. How do I locate a garage that will solve the problem? (other than the one in France that you found helpful :-)
And who do I send the Mr Angry letter to?
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One of the ways we used to employ (many moons ago) was to dye water in a bright colour such as red to try and find any leaks.
It didn't always work, but more often than not it provided a clue as to the source.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I had this in Polo! Proud to say I fixed it myself by removing handfuls of leaves and compost from the drainage area unde the windscreen, then using a hose to check it was draining properly. A couple of days of the heater on full in the footwell dried him out completely.
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A dehumidifier would certainly help. B&Q are currently selling a minature for £25 or thereabouts. I think it's mains powered, though, which might (or might not as the case may be) rule this one out for you.
--
L\'escargot.
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Tyro,
I wote my "Mr Angry" letter to the dealer I bought it from and suggested that when I came to replace my Berlingo next year (?!), based on the service I had received, I would be unlikely to go back to them. This provoked a very helpful and prompt response. However, I have 4 main Cit dealers within 30 miles so that is a bit different to your situation! I'd forgotten that you were rather remote from dealers - sorry!
I wonder, given the relatively few Berlingo owners on here, you might get a more "specialist" response from
www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/index.php
www.citroenz.com/forum/index.php
Hope you solve the problem - sorry I wasn't much help!
Phil
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Checking past treads on this has reminded me that the problem originally came to light when the car was under warranty - have you tried contacting Citroen Customer Services?
Along shot I know!!
Citroën UK Ltd
221 Bath Road
Slough
SL1 4BA
Telephone 0870 606 9099
(Open 08:30 - 18:00 Monday - Friday)
To e-mail us click here...
www.citroen.co.uk/level3/textpage.asp?pagetype=con...t
Phil
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I wouldn't be happy if this happened on a car under 3 and therefore under warranty.
But to the point of drying. I doubt very much if you can dry completely without removing carpets. Which is what I do every time I get a leak, Usually so far in my old Polos because the door seals are crap, they fill up somehow with water (inside the hollow rubber tubular seal if you get what I mean. there are small holes punched into the seals, and when the water fills up it bubbles out from in the seal, unfortunately the water is now on the inside of the car and it goes from there into the footwell. I remove seats, carpets, put seats back and then just continually mop up the water with a sponge.
Of course if I were you I'd be expecting Citroen to do this for me and solve the leak at the same time.
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I had a leak in the boot of a car I used to have. Local panel beater put a gadget into the boot, shut the boot and then waved some sort of wand round which located where the leak was. Apparently this worked by infrared or microwave or black magic which leaked out and was detected by the wand. Seeing as panel beaters have to do body work all the time I would try one of them.
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Ultrasonic, I'd think. I used an ultrasonic leak detector that dated from the '60s. It was a box of electronics made inaudible ultrasonic noise audible through a pair of headphones. It came with an ultrasonic noise generator which, according to the instructions, you could put inside your Morris Minor and then use the detector outside to find any leaks.
I used it to find steam and compressed air leaks, which generate ultrasonic noise. I once found a long-standing leak from a compressed air pipe in a plant room, full of rattly fans. The leak was about 10 feet up. Fixed it and the compressors' running times suddenly halved.
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Water leaks can be notoriously difficult to trace. Get someone to use a hosepipe on the car while you are inside. Pay particular attention to door seals, window seals etc.
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I bought a huge (2kg) bag of silica gel when my car had a leak. I took it out after a day and dried it in the oven, then gave it two days and so on until it was in the car for 2-3 weeks at a time before going in the oven.
Stopped the mould and so on, until I got the leak fixed.
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I bought a huge (2kg) bag of silica gel when my car had a leak.
Someone on here has previously mentioned putting kitty litter under the seats to absorb moisture.
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Sometimes car windows can be opened about a millimetre or so without showing shut from the outside. Try this to improve ventilation.
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>>Try this to improve ventilation.>>
If the vents are open this should be more than sufficient to provide enough ventilation.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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My Xantia arrived (new) with a soaking carpet at the back. I had a really tough job getting it dried (I did it myself because I didn't trust the dealer to do anything effective!) I tried lifting edges of the carpet and stuffing in newspaper. I also found that sticking a fan heater or even hair drier under a carpet worked really well -of course do this with VERY great care and don't even think of leaving it unattended. The Xantia had thick foam bonded to the underside of the carpet and this held the water like a sponge.
Eventually I seem to recall I took the carpet out altogether - all the trims had to be removed at the doors etc etc, but it was worthwhile.
If you an manage to get the carpet out, it might be worth running the car for a while with a bare floor - you might then see where it's coming from.
Are you dead sure it's not a leaking door seal (or door trim / blocked drain hole), a sunroof hose, or a loose / missing bung in the floor? Could even be a hole up behind the dash where a cable comes through eg. Did the car have any 'extra' electrical devices fitted after production (like satnav, stereo etc?)
Another thing you might find (I suspected this with the Xantia) is that it only leaks when the car is left on a steep slope - either facing uphill or downhill)
The funny thing is, my Xantia dried out and only once became wet again in 9 years. I did however, avoid leaving the car on a steep slope in really heavy rain.
The dealer collected it himself on a low loader from a yard when it was new and he said he thought it had been stored on a steep slope pre-delivery.
Have you had the car up on a ramp to look underneath? You might even find that a really bright light left in the car (with the garage in darkness might show from underneath (just a shot in the dark :-)
Could be a poor weld or body seam - check up behind the front wings - if need be remove the plastic liners and see what's behind.
This is the sort of problem that needs LOTS of time, patience and experimentation - exactly what the dealers don't have!
From your posts it sounds as if you have already taken the car to the dealer I now use for the C5(the one with the notice board of commendations from customers and smell of fresh coffee??) They are usually fairly helpful and anxious to get things right, but this seems like a toughie)
Good luck - hope you get a fix.
Graeme
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We have a problem with moisture in some rooms at home, and we eventually bought a dehumifier.
However before we got round to that , we bought some things from Wilkinsons ( chain of sort-of hardware stores, maybe on near you) which are like little plastic boxes that contain sachets of silica, and do draw a lot of water from a confined space . It comes with a couple of reaplacement sachets
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Thanks all for your replies. And yes, Graeme, I did take the car to Forres.
Car is now pretty well dried out, as far as I can see. I used dabbing methods (newspaper, paper towels) as well as hot air methods - basically taking the car for a good long run with the heat and fan turned up and directed at toes. A bit uncomfortable for my own feet, but quite effective.
I even ran an extension lead to the car (had to wait days before a dry day came along - didn't like doing it in the rain!) and tried a hair dryer, and fan heater, and even a dehumidifier (the boot of a Berlingo is big enough to accomodate one.
Silica gel is a good idea. I used to have a bag of the stuff just in case it came it useful - but it's gone. I suspect that when we had a big clearout some years ago, my wife demanded that it went:-)
I didn't remove the carpets - it seemed to be a bit complicated, and I doubted I'd be able to get everything back in place.
I should perhaps say that one of the reasons it is a bit difficult to get to the bottom of the problem is that it is pretty intermitent. I'm not sure quite how often it has happened, but it is probably only 2 to 4 times a year. And the amount of water getting in is not huge. When it happened last week we had 100 mph winds (well, that's what the local paper said - probably means 80 or 85!)as well as rain. The problem is that turning a hose on the car rarely produces any dampness to investigate. However, we'll keep trying.
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Seems to be a known problem (however some of the links I found are no longer working):
www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar?p_make=CIT&h_make=CI...2
www.carsurvey.org/review_46013.html
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Stuart, I don't think these cars have the same problem as mine. Ours doesn't have a modutop (like 2nd link), or air-con (like first link).
Unless what you mean is that leakiness in Citroens is a known problem!
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