Mystery water leak! - Citroen C4

iqmdublin

Howaya, so its the folks car, they've had a problem for years with a leak coming into the drivers side foot well, its constantly wet, especially when its been raining. Summertime its not a problem so much.



So far, 2 mechanics have looked at it over the years and both failed to fix it.



Its a long running problem and today with some YouTube videos I went after what seemed to be the 2 best shots at fixing it.



1) Drivers side, remove a panel behind to the side of the gear stick unit, look for a rubber tube and clean it. - I got the panel off, found the tube, and it was bone dry.



2) Take off the wheel, and remove the arch covering, there should be a rubber valve there, remove that and clean it - tried all this, on both sides, but there isn't a visible valve for some reason. guessing its a different model



Any suggestions would be appreciated! I had a good look underneath and couldn't find anything blocked visible.

I've gone at the windscreen gutter and cleaned out as much of it as it accessible too.



(photos added below of method 1 and 2)

Dilbert75

No longer own a C4 (had a Picasso) but seem to remember the pollen filter being over the pedals. That's where I'd start looking. Water will travel in the most indirect path. Is it holding coolant? If so, not heater matrix.

I'd recommend c4owners.org as a great resource for c4-specific problems.

antodeco

How are the seals around the doors? Next time its wet, open the door and check the rubber banding along the door. Could be a leak in there and then the water travelling downwards

iqmdublin

Dilbert75 wrote: »

No longer own a C4 (had a Picasso) but seem to remember the pollen filter being over the pedals. That's where I'd start looking. Water will travel in the most indirect path. Is it holding coolant? If so, not heater matrix.

I'd recommend c4owners.org as a great resource for c4-specific problems.

I’ve tried that forum, seems to be no answers from anyone on this topic other then what I’ve tried already. Coolant holding fine, it’s rainwater getting in it seems

iqmdublin

antodeco wrote: »

How are the seals around the doors? Next time its wet, open the door and check the rubber banding along the door. Could be a leak in there and then the water travelling downwards

Seals all good! It’s something internal going wrong.

Irish Steve

Common problem, and not too hard to resolve, but it requires partial removal of the rear wheel arch lining, to gain access. The pictures that were put up were possibly not of the valve from the C4, the valves are further back and down quite a long way in the cavity behind the covers.

I have a C4 grand picasso, and have seen the same issue on quite a few C4GP's over the last couple of years.

There is a rubber drain for the dash scuttle area, it discharges into the wheel arch area, and they get blocked, which stops the water draining out of the scuttle, and then when driving, the water sloshes around the scuttle, and once there's more than a little bit in there, it finds it's way into the interior, and can often also cause problems with the heater blower motor and resistor pack.

There are two solutions, clean out the drains, or for a more permanent solution, which doesn't have any negative implications that I am aware of, remove the drains completely. To annoy you more, there is one on each side of the vehicle.

iqmdublin

Irish Steve wrote: »

Common problem, and not too hard to resolve, but it requires partial removal of the rear wheel arch lining, to gain access. The pictures that were put up were possibly not of the valve from the C4, the valves are further back and down quite a long way in the cavity behind the covers.

I have a C4 grand picasso, and have seen the same issue on quite a few C4GP's over the last couple of years.

There is a rubber drain for the dash scuttle area, it discharges into the wheel arch area, and they get blocked, which stops the water draining out of the scuttle, and then when driving, the water sloshes around the scuttle, and once there's more than a little bit in there, it finds it's way into the interior, and can often also cause problems with the heater blower motor and resistor pack.

There are two solutions, clean out the drains, or for a more permanent solution, which doesn't have any negative implications that I am aware of, remove the drains completely. To annoy you more, there is one on each side of the vehicle.

Thanks for that, but here’s the photos from when I did it, those rubber pieces just weren’t there! Different model I think : /