hiya i had alot of problems with the starting of my mk2 16v, once i pulled the fuse board out it was soaked, since i dried the board it fires everytime. i thought the water was coming in through the front windscreen seal but i managed to get my hand up behind the dash board and along the were the seal meets the body work and it s dry so thats a bonus. some member on here said check the bonnet lever gromet in the skuttle tray, it looks dry around it but if i push the grommet up and down water comes out from underneith it so i checked it from the inside of the car and the insulation/padding is wet so that wont be helping matters. so i will put some sealant round it. but if i move my hand over to were the windscreen pilar meets the wing its soaked but were is the water coming from? the inside of the pillar. i noticed with the drivers door open there is a pipe that appers from the pillar and runs into the inside of the wheel arch. what does this drain off? the sunroof seal is not in the best of conditions either could the water be coming in from there. any advice please guys. thank you. tom
The pipe you've found is one of the sunroof drains. There are four in total, one each side at front and back of the roof. The visible sunroof seal isn't actually meant to stop all water coming in, that would be a lot to ask of it. So, if you look from outside the car with the sunroof open, you'll see that there are 'gutters' that run front to back down each side of the car, with a drain pipe at each end. These are to drain away any water that does get past the outer seal. Carefully pour some water into these gutters and you should find it emerging from the drain pipes, and hopefully nowhere else. The pipes can get blocked up, so if the water doesn't drain away, poke some wire or something down them to clear it out. Easier said than done with the ones at the rear of the car. I think in most cases of 'water on the fusebox', the point of entry is actually a metal plate in the scuttle underneath where the ECU and/or ignition amplifier sits. On LHD cars this would be the air entry for the cabin ventilation system, but on RHD, it's blanked off with a plate that's stuck on with some sealant-type stuff. This may need re-sealing. The studs that hold the mounting plate/heatsink for the ignition amp may also be suspect. HTH.
i think your spot on with your advice on the plate mate, i remove the ecu and seal round the plate. cheers mate
I thimk your right as well. Mine leaks in through one of the fusebox brcket fixings which are right below the padded plate.
TBH, I think the plate thing is something I've read, and recycled from the writings of the great rubjonny.
