vauxhall vectra leak in passenger front footwell?

I had the very same problem of water leaking into the passenger side footwell and after checking this forum quickly solved the problem, however since doing this I now have the problem of the alarm going off spontaneously and the battery draining, £290 later and having Vauxhall checking the problem out they seemed to think the bcm was causing the battery drain so now I'm wondering if the two things could be connected in any way as this first happened the day after I emptied the drain funnel, just wondering if anyone else has had similar problems?

Dee
January 2016

Here is a video of the fix
Vauxhall vectra footwell leak puddle on floor: http://youtu.be/tZZcO-rxZ6s

simon
December 2014

I have fixed the bung infront of the air filter but I'm still have a bit of dampness in the back passenger side dose anyone no where this water is coming in now it's driving me mad ?

Damien
June 2014

I've cleared the drainage hole under the pollen filter, but the water is still getting in. The pollen filter is dry. The heating and air con works fine. Can anyone suggest anything else?

Bryan
February 2014

hi i took the rubber drain of funnel out the car got dry for a couple of weeks now the front footwell iswet again can anyone help me

heather
January 2014

For anybody who comes here about generic Vauxhall leaks into passenger (& from there to rear seat) footwell, I have this to add from my Vauxhall Omega (2003):
Symptoms: water gushing into passenger footwell tfrom right side of glove box, most noticeable in a car wash :(
Definitely almost exactly the same problem as resolved by Darren's YouTube video above, i.e. water not draining from windscreen area, collecting in large amounts in the sump forward of pollen filter.
HOWEVER, very much easier to resolve in the Omega:
1. Turn the engine off, pop the bonnet and let it cool properly - you'll be sticking your hands in.
2. Be prepared to get hands grubby!
3. Look down on passenger-side wheel arch. You may be able to make out a trickle of water coming from the bottom of the drain pipe, over the arch and away, as it should - though there will be much more to come!
4. Feel around the bottom of the drain pipe - you should find a little rubber flap that seals it when water isn't flowing.
5. Lift the flap and poke your finger (or something else if you want, but finger's easiest!) up the drain pipe to remove any obstructions - like a plug of decayed vegetable matter usually.
6. You should find about a litre or 2 of water comes pouring out over the wheel arch and away from under the car once it has the way cleared. Mind your feet don't get wet!
7. Probably a good idea to flush through with warm (possibly slightly soapy) water after. Youi can get away with doing this by pouring over the bottom of the windscreen just under the wipers.
8. Check the water runs cleanly now and that the bottom of the drain pipe is completely clear.
9. You're done, but for drying out the footwells. See above for that. Wet & dry hoover sounds great if you've got one, but mopping up as much as you can and running air con with recirc for a good while will probably work eventually.
10. This may just sort out other problems like moisture in car (definitely), fans not running properly (possibly). While you're at it, check the little drain hole on the driver's side under the bonnet near the windscreen is clear of rubbish. I've found this affects air intake on the engine for some reason.
Cheers!

Adam
December 2013

I found this video after resolving it myself, but this should leave no-one in any doubt of the resolution to this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxOxrSFIemg

Darren
November 2013

I had the same problem - musty smell, wet passenger footwell, and especially rear nearside footwell (my driveway slopes away from the house so it's running down). Initially I thought there must be a problem with door seals or it was coming in from under the car; so glad I googled the issue!

I have noticed this before during snowy weather in the past, but thought nothing more of it. I assume that slush must clog up the funnel in much the same way, and further melt gets into the car.

It took me a couple of minutes to work out where the pollen filter and bulkhead drain were, but once I did, I was able to scoop out some of the muck from the funnel and push out the rest. Fingers crossed that's sorted it. However, in this damp weather, I figure it will take a while for my carpets to dry out completely!

Darren
November 2013

Yeah I had the same problem water at the passenger site but I fix it as remove the rubber think at passenger site front of the pollen filter.
How to dry
The front passenger site you can pull up the carpet it's very easy to remove just need two screw driver nd job done but the rear passenger site it's very difficult to take the carpet out so better don't try, but what u can do there is a drain tap in every footwell what I did just take the drain tap out from under the car (not easy to remove ) and I just put ,my weight on the footwell and all water drained out I had think about 2 liters water at the back put all together and week after we had very heavy rain but there was no water at any footwell :) hope this helps

Harps
October 2013

Hi I have a vauxhall Vectra LS. My rear seat wells where full of water I resolved the problem after getting a tip of the internet
Lift the bonnet where the windscreen wipers are situated lift the plastic with the vent holes in. on the passenger side. You will see a long narrow space,which will be full of water at the bottom is a plastic drain pipe lift it out and the water will gush out. I had half a gallon of water in there I think it was a design fault you dont need the drain get rid of it, it took me three weeks to dry the carpets using paper towels. But it works and only takes two minutes to resolve the problem

Alan Leitch
March 2013

Can anyone tell me where to find the heating resistor. That shorted out due to this leak, if you could text, ring or email this will be so much help and really appreciated, 07535015579, frenchie198369"at"hotmail.co.uk
The floors are flooded and even after I fix the leak I still won't be able to dry the car out,

scott
January 2013

Thank you. I am a stereotypical lady. It was so easy to do. The bung was fully blocked. No more water.

Christine
January 2013

What do u do if the heating has packed in because of this water log fault as its happened to me

Billy
January 2013

unblocked plug under pollen filter but water still getting in somehow hmm

andy
December 2012

FIXED 100%
I had the same problem on my Signum (same as a Vectra) - rear footwell filling with water and front footwell damp.
It had me foxed. It made no sense and there was no obvious sign where the water was entering (roof?, door? windows?). It was none of these.

Problem was fixed as follows:
Open bonnet. Stand at the passenger side. Identify the black plastic cover that runs along below the windscreen (has washer jets in it). The centre section (almost the full width) is separate from the two end pieces.
Ease the front edge of the center section (furthest from the windscreen) out of the rubber seal. No need to go alll along, just as far as the centre.

If you look down you will see the heat exchanger (a vertical silver radiator that is to the passenger side of centre).

Look below this at the floor of the cavity and you will see it slopes down to a point below the centre of the heat exchanger. There is a black rubber "funnel" set into this. It is the drain for any water that collects in the heat exchanger cavity (condensation or rain). It shouild be clear of any debris but it will be clogged up with mud and decaying leaves, etc. Clear it out.

I used a flexible rod that I have got (it is for unblocking sinks) to carefully unbung it without damage and without having to reach inside. Anything will do, but take care not to damage the rubber funnel.

I then flushed it clear by pouring a jug of hot soapy water into the thing until there was no dirty crud. (it all pours out under the car).

Now push the cover back, making sure that it fits back .snugly under the edge of the rubber weather strip.

No more leaks into the footwell.

To remove the water in the car, the best thing is a wet and dry vaccuum cleaner. If you have a clear upholstery head you can see the water being sucked up. There is a lot of sound insulation material under the carpet, so the process will take some time. Don't waste time trying to dry it out with fan heater or similar, it won't do the job, will make the air damp and you might damage upholtery and other bits.

The relative humidity in the car will be high, so wipe windows and windscreen and other cold surfaces to remove any condensed water.

When you drive put the aircon on and switch it to recirculate and it will help to remove the moisture in the air.

The result is a car with no leaks, dry carpets and no damp smell.

I hope that this helps.

How does the water get in? Well, when the rubber funnel is blocked and it rains, the water is prevented from flowing away and fills up in the cavity and then flows into the openings for cables. It then runs into the car (under the carpets) and finds its way to the lowest point which is the rear footwell. I know where it starts and where it ends up, but have not bothered to find the route.

It does not take long to do. Apart from a stick or flexible rod to clean out the gunge and a jug of soapy water, you don't need any tools, and anyone can do it. Unbunging took about 5 minutes max. Vaccuuming the carpet took about 1 hour until it was dry - that was the tedious bit and a lot of water came out.
We had very heavy rain the next day and the carpet was bone dry.

Many thanks to Geoff, Steve and the others who suggested the solution.

Bob
December 2012

Thanks, spot on. Found the rubber drain, released gunge + pints of water. Happily the heater has not packed up. Took less than 2 minutes......

Alan Frizzell.
August 2012

Rear passeger footwell has had several pints of water removed over last 2 weeks.
Just found the blocked pipe just in front of the windscreen under the pollen filter that was blocked & released the remaining water that was there.
Thanks to all the previous sufferers

Ray
July 2012

Many thanks for advice solved the problem and saved time and money taking my omega to the garage. Now a nice dry car!! Thanks guys x What do us women know aye!! LOL Know now.

Jane
July 2012

Thank you all so much!

I have been having this problem for weeks. Went out to the car (Vectra Estate 54 plate) and fixed it in 30 seconds with the descriptions on here. A bit tight reaching in (I have big hands) and I found it easier to take the pollen filter out to make space. A neat plug of rotten leaves came out of the drain tube and all is well.

Thankfully my heater has escaped damage. A few trips with the ventilation on will soon dry out the carpets.

Francis
June 2012

just had exactly the same problem with my 04 plate Signum windscreen with loads of condensation and then puddles in the footwell. After taking out the rubber drain in bulkhead under plastic weathershield and unblocking, not had anymore problems took less than a minute to sort, will be doing at least once a year now

Thankfully found this before spending around 60 quid on a new passenger door seal

Stevie B
June 2012

Thank you, Senjo!! Problem fixed JUST the way you said: headtorch on / 30 secs. Cheers, pal!!!

Cliff
June 2012

I just had the same problem. I got in my 52 plate Vectra and found after a night and days down pour, my passenger foot matt was floating in the well. After scooping it all out and using towels to try and dry it to a certain extent, I decided to pop the bonnet and check the bulkhead. I straight away saw the rubber drain (not hard to spot and it was dripping) and gave it a squeeze....Crap fell out along with about 2 pints of water. I've removed the rubber drain for now and took it inside to clean properly. The design is absolutely terrible. An oval funnel shape that tapers down to being almost pinched flat (I'm guessing from a machine which cut off the excess). Personally i will trim this flat end back by about an inch in order to allow it to keep its oval shape and thus allowing leaves and debris to pass without getting clogged. Whoever designed that particular part needs to go work in the after sales workshop for a while as a simple thing like that can so much trouble and cost.
Vauxhall, I hope your reading this :-)

Graham
June 2012

had the same problem with my 07 Signum, just cleared the leafs/muck out with my hand out of the rubber filter and out popped a load of water too. problem solved

andy
June 2012

I have the same problem. I have a 54 Vectra and around xmas time i notices alot of condensation in the car when i got in in a morning to goto work. The windscreen was wet and i thought it was just the cold weather. Then i noticed the passenger side footwell had water in it and thought i must have left the window open or when i took it through the carwash a couple of days earlier it must have been the slash cover behind the wheel come loose.

I soon realised it wasn't the car smelt musty after a couple of weeks so i got this cleaner auto glim all round cleaner and the car smelt great. then i noticed this problem had gone but the back passenger footwell was now filling up under my seat. Everday its the same even if its sunny and not raining. I'm at the end of my teather Vauxhall mujst know about this problem there are so many. I am going to try to clean my pollen filter today and let you know how i get on.

Caroline
May 2012

Senoj
Many thanks to your answer worked a treat

Monty
May 2012

i have just gone to my 52 reg vectra and my passanger floor has a massive puddle my heaters are working is there a chance this is the blocked problem with leafs to???

emma
April 2012

We've found water coming into drivers side footwell of our 55 plate Vectra for some time. My partner is pretty good with cars, he took the carpets out, checked the radiator wasn't leaking and the pollen filters were clear (all fine). Eventually he found it was coming from a small welded point under the steering column near the bonnet release catch. However, we have no idea where it's getting in and have reached a brick wall. If he seals that point it will come in somewhere else. We're at our whits end with it, short of selling the car would anybody have any more ideas? Thanks

Kate
February 2012

I have a 53 plate vectra and found a small lake in my passenger footwell, checked the rubber drain thing infront of the pollen filter and it was bunged up with mud and leaves. Hopefully that's it sorted, just need to figure out how to dry it out.

Fraz
February 2012

if the blower resistor does short out will it need replacing or does it just need to drying out

martin harris
January 2012

its a very common fault on the vectra,lift bonnet and plastic panel below passenger side of windscreen under pollen filter there is a tapered rubber drain tube about three inches long, because of its silly shape it traps leaves and dirt and water builds up in the trough finding its way into the footwell and usually causing the blower resistor to short.

gary speight
January 2012

its happened to me bought the car on friday its now monday n iv got ducks squattin in the passenger foot well. i ripped the carpet up and thought it was the plug underneath that was lettin water in off the road. gonna clean the filter tomorrow n hope it fixes the problem. luckily i park on my drive which means the nose of my car slopes lower than the back so its not hit the rear passengers side floor. sickenin thing is the car sales man must of knew this because its smelt musty when i bought it and he said it had had a wet valet....the div
just hope i can dry it out n get rid of the smell

kelly
February 2011

04 Diesel 2 litre Elegance. Water in the passenger footwell. As described in other posts here, open the bonnet, pull up the black trim under the wiper on the passenger side. Directly in front is the pollen filter. Run your hand along the bottom of the bulkhead under the pollen filter and you will find the rubber seal lining the drainage hole. Push your fingers through to unblock. Simple, did it in the rain at night with a headtorch after reading these posts. It takes about 30 seconds.

Senoj
February 2011

Yep - Same thing happened to me today. Its been a few days of rain, (after a december of snow) and I got in my 53 plate 3.2 V6 elite to find the footwell on the passenger side full of water. Within minutes of driving the heater cut out (to de-mist the condensation on the inside of the window) followed by a lot of smoke and the kind of smell you'd get from burning out a scalextric when you were 10. It's probably going to cost a fortune to fix. My advise. Dont buy a vectra.

Chris
January 2011

had the same problem in my vectra 2002 gsi model, went mental trying to find out why it was doing that took it vauxhall and they took out the "junk" thing and it stopped now my fan heater does not work at all, so have no heating and my windscreen heaters dont work causing my car steam up. any ideas, the heater swtich is on full but nothing comes out

ozzy
December 2010

same problem on an 04 just bought two weeks ago. lift the plastic cover for the wipers and the drain full of gunk is to the side of the pollen filter .

dave
July 2010

Yesterday evening I found both front and rear passenger side footwells absolutely full up with water-must have removed 8/10 Gallons.There was so much that it had gone over the front seat base into the back well.It covered the electric seat sensor box and was about 3.5 inches deep!My 2005 vectra elite estate had been parked up for 3 months while I was away travelling in my campervan and I thought that a fed up neighbour had somehow used a hose pipe to flood my car in protest about me occupying a prime parking space for such a long park up.I couldn't work out why it was only passenger side.Now I know about the drain I'll clear it out and hope that I can dry out my car totally using my vax and the sunshine.Any tips about how to get rid of the smell of damp please?Will it just go in time?

michael
June 2010

I fixed my leak which sometimes had 1" water in the passenger footwell and rear footwell. The drain just in front of the windscreen under the bonnet was blocked. It is a black rubber drain with an aperture about 2" x 1". The footwell filled each time it rained (whether the car was parked or driven). Was I delighted when I was able to dry the inside of the car and it remain dry.

Geoff Dewhurst
March 2010

I have just experienced this too; and it took a while to figure out because it started when there was a lot of snow and ice about which made me think it was a 'one off' type problem. So, water has been 'in the car' for several weeks due to the blocking of the bulkhead drain, just in front of the pollen filter.
Now the significance of this post is that I had a cold from early January through to, well, now even!
Nothing would shift it; and I kind of connected it with the water-in-the-car situation.
When I discovered the pollen filter as the point of entry I realised that my 'cold' was an allergic reaction to the entry of years worth of pollen and other deliterii, washing into the ventillation system!
Despite changing the filter and cleansing the air con, my condition persists!
The lease expires in May, so it will be problem solved for me; but who will the next sufferer be?

Escargot Cough Symptom
March 2010

i have a Vectra 52 plate hatchbak when it rains bad my front passenger side footwell becomes a pool of water n now my heaters have packed in been told to get the leak fixed before the heater fan can be sorted any help on how to solve the leaking problem.

Many thanks

Amin
March 2010

If you look at the bulk head under the bonnet there is a water vent for the water that goes behind trhe wiper grill it gets blocked with leaves and stuff u need to push your fingers up it it has a plastic sleeve in it once u see it its easy if problems ring me 01772 334791 steve

steve
November 2009

ive got a 51 reg vectra ive got the same problem

mike
March 2009

I've got the same problem!!!

Under the plastic trim, at the foot of the front windscreen (on the passenger side) there is a drainage pool, this gets blocked, push your finger through to allow water to drain into the engine bay. I had to drain about 3 pints of water from there as it was blocked, shame it never fixed it.
Now I have water in the rear footwell on the same side but the front is dry. very frustrating.

abc
February 2009

if it's fitted with a slide/tilt sunroof, a very common fault is that there are drain tubes that run down the window post and into the sill, make sure the drain holes in the sill are clear, they get clogged with mud this time of year and the water fills the sill and overflows into the footwell, just a thought

DAz
January 2009

check membrane between door and trim panel - if it is not fully intact and stuck to door [at least at bottom and both sides ] it will allow water to ingress wrong side of door seal.

k
December 2008

If only when it rains Check
Either case remove the trim under the dashboard have a light [good bright torch] and mirror handy.

Check During rain of course.

Windscreen,
Door seal [it closes tight against the seal,
The rain drain holes/slots under the bonnet up near the screen at side of wing.[ Rain has to drain somewhere.]

OR
Wet but not caused when it rains.

Check if screen washer tubes are in the area if so make sure they are not the cause, get someone to operate the washer button while you are checking.
Some washer tubes feeding rear washers go behind the doorjab/screen trim so look at the bottom of the trim see as you operate for rear washers, if any water dripping out of the trim [I had that] which means the pipe has most likely come off its pipe extension nipple.
Heat pipes if coming through baulkhead at that point or even the heater itself.
Sorry can't be of anymore help. But having had same it's process of elimination.


If dealer purchase take the car back tell them it's not on but be nice, don't get stroppy or you'll get nowhere ........under present climate they won't want to rock the boat and get a bad name and they may cure it for you.

Nobby
December 2008