S-Max wet footwells

D Hayes

Brought my 2010 S-Max to a mechanic in late November due to wetness in the driver footwell. Identified as a leaking AC, which was fixed.

Two weeks ago the passenger side footwell was saturated with water, as well as a smaller amount on the driver side.

Brought it back to the mechanic and this has been as a leaking radiator. So a new radiator plus labour required to fix the issue.

My question - is this just a co-incidence or are they related? Frustrating having to fork out twice in just over a month for two leaks in the front footwells.

biko

Just wait for the door seals and the sunroof to start leaking, more footwell dampness

By radiator, do you mean the heater matrix?
Was car losing coolant?

Gravelly

Either you are very unlucky, or the cause was misdiagnosed the first time.

corks finest

D Hayes wrote: »

Brought my 2010 S-Max to a mechanic in late November due to wetness in the driver footwell. Identified as a leaking AC, which was fixed.

Two weeks ago the passenger side footwell was saturated with water, as well as a smaller amount on the driver side.

Brought it back to the mechanic and this has been as a leaking radiator. So a new radiator plus labour required to fix the issue.

My question - is this just a co-incidence or are they related? Frustrating having to fork out twice in just over a month for two leaks in the front footwells.

Heater matrix

D Hayes

The heater radiator apparently is leaking coolant. They topped it up today and we've taken the car away while we have a think about what to do next.

No coolant warning has come on at any time lately though.

Just feel like it's too much of a coincidence to have two leaks caused by two parts of the car in under 6 weeks.

Gregor Samsa

Leaking AC drain flooding the driver's footwell (on a RHD car) is a common S-Max issue.

The radiator is behind the grille at the very front of the car (worksop manual link), so are you sure it was that that was causing the second leak? The heater matrix (behind the dash) is known to cause leaks on these cars too, so maybe it was that. However if it was the heater matrix, you'd have engine coolant in your footwell, not water. (Edit: everyone else mentioned the heater matrix while I was busy typing :-)

It's possible that 2 different issues occurred causing the flooding (the car is 9 years old, things will start to fail). It's also possible that they were related. The fact that it was the driver side first time, then (mainly) the passenger side the second time would point to to different issues, but water can move in mysterious ways. You're only going to know if the issue is fixed if the flooding stops.

Other common leak causes in the S-Max is bad windscreen seal (especially if the windscreen was replaced), blocked scuttle drains (under the windscreen, the drains take away the water that flows down from your windscreen) and blocked sunroof drains.

drummerlad

may be worth checking the corners in front of your windscreen under the bonnet? I have a Renault grand scenic 2010 and I had a very wet passenger footwell and it turned out to be the gunnels on eitther side of the windscreen had 8 years of leaves and gunk ( technical term? ) that had blocked the pipes - 70 Euro later the garage cleared the blockage and all is good now - worth checking....