ANy idea how to stop the rain from getting into our SEAT Toledo

Question

every time it rains we end up with an in door swimming pool we need to place news papers under the foot mats to dry up the water but now the car is really starting to smell of dampness we can not affrod to replace the seal as it will cost a couple of hundred pounds and we're not sure if it's the door seals or something else letting in the water is there anything else that will dry out the car quickly.

Answer 1

Check the battery tray may be rusted through Had that problem in my escort after replacing the battery tray problem fixed.

Answer 2

also depending on where your ariel is.

My previous fiat used to leak through the ariel gasket (bottom of ariel)

this then in turn leaks on to the headlining in the car and runs down the windscreen/doors.

I fixed this by unbolting the ariel from inside (maybe inside your centre light) putting some rubber sealant around the base of the ariel and then bolting back down.

My girlfriend had this once and used clear nail varnish to seal it up

Answer 3

You need to find out were the water is coming from. The best way to do this is to remove the carpets (Also a good time to clean them to remove the smell).

Then take the car to your local car wash, use a jet wash and spray the car with somebody on the inside of the car looking to see were the water is coming from.

There are several places were the water typically comes from:-

First there are rubber plugs fitted into the floor under the carpet, some times they split or pop out.

Secondly the seal around the door could be damaged.

Thirdly where the cables and wires come through the fire wall of the car, rubber grommets are used to seal the holes up. Again some times these can leak.

Ja.

Answer 4

Go to Auto Windscreens and they will check your window seals in 5 minutes. They use a detector machine to find if there are any spots in the rubber where water can leak through.

Answer 5

Most likely the rubber door seals need renewing, (common fault on all VAG models!) these can be bought quite cheap off ebay or from a local scrap yard, which would be even cheaper if you remove them yourself.(Much cheaper than £100 anyway!) You may only need the front door rubbers renewing..

Also sometimes the rain comes in through the bonnet pull! This is harder to stop, but is down to the rubbers under the bonnet!

Answer 6

Close the sunroof

Answer 7

You can try rubbing silicone grease (from a hardware or plumbing shop) over all your rubber seals. This MAY help.

In addition to lubricating and softening the rubber,  allowing it to form a tighter seal, it will stop any water that is seeping through a tiny crack by capillary action (because silicone is hydrophobic and repels water). Don't forget the seals on your sun-roof.

Sometimes water can seep in around your front or rear windscreen. There is a sealant that you can apply to these seals, it creeps around the perimeter seal and fixes any leaks. this is available from marine suppliers and is called "Captain Tolley's creeping crack cure".

Make sure that any drain holes in the bottoms of your doors and frames are clear, otherwise the doors can fill up with water.

You can help to dry the car out by putting a couple of chemical dehumidifiers in it. These cost around three pounds each from Halfords or woolworths and work by absorbing water from the air. They do work but to dry your car completely will probably take over a week. Newspaper under the foot mats is very effective, change it frequently though.

Keep your heater on and your windows open when driving to help a bit, too.

If you get the de-humidifiers, it's better to take them out when you are using the car, you don't want the contents spilling into the car because it will NEVER dry out and it will corrode metal.

Answer 8

Does it have a sunroof? If so check the drain channels for it. You should see a couple of holes on either side inside the sunroof area when it's open. Pour some water down them and see if it comes out at the bottom of the car, if it doesn't, use a stiff cable or similar to poke down the holes to clear the blockage.

Every car I've ever had with a sunroof has leaked because of this.

Answer 9

This may sound daft but take it through the carwash, you should then be able to see where the water comes in !