Water retention (in body panels, etc.)

After each of last several rains, noticed a dripping that lasted days & eventually a little rusting going on behind my driver side rear wheel mud flap. Somehow water gets into the body panel and was slowly seeping out.

Today went under there with drill in hand to make a hole to let it out, and saw an interesting looking void in the seam where the outside & underside body sheet metal join. Decided before drilling to poke in there with a length of bailing wire... which opened the floodgates. Dumped a solid 1/2 gallon of water out that one hole. Poured long enough that had I been on my toes (instead of my back) I could have video'd it.

Made a decent clean-out effort with that wire, and discovered a bunch more of those drainage holes (I assume that's what they are) all around the underside perimeter of the van. Poked 'em all but that was the only one that was holding any water.

Here's a crummy photo of me poking. You can see some of the water that came out on the pavement & the gunk that followed it on my mudflap.



Anyone got thoughts on how that much water is getting in there? Is it supposed to flow in & then drain, or is it unusual to have water getting in there at all? I'd have guessed the latter.


While we're on the topic...

My front door sills usually have standing water & dirt in them under the plastic step. After a rain or a car wash... whenever I look. I don't even screw the plastic covers down anymore since it doesn't seem to help keep stuff out. In the area described by these threads:

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3809
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6133
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=542

Today I drilled a small hole in the floor of the passenger side since up to now there's been no way for the water to drain out. Hoping that'll make it better... but could be worse, we'll see.

Thought I'd seen discussion some time back about the weatherstripping around the front doors possibly letting this in. If anyone is aware of what I'm talking about, please post a link since I couldn't find it.

--Ben

My 2004 had similar problems. I used cable ties to open the drains because I was concerned that wire might scratch my already marginal white paint (paint quality comment is my opinion only). One thing that seemed to relieve the water getting to the rocker panel areas was that I used my cable tie to open the drains at each end of the windshield wells. I think (I don't know) that the windshield drains being clogged caused the water to migrate to wherever it could find and one area was the rocker panels.

I've been regularly cleaning the windshield drains and have not noticed any excessive rocker area drainage lately. If you do a search there are posts about the windshield channel drain cleaning. Hope this does some good. vic

Had I thought of the less-scratchy cable tie, I certainly have used that. Good idea.

Will search out the windshield posts you speak of. Thanks for the tip.

Still curious how water get into the panel behind the rear wheel. As far as I can tell, there's nothing above or under that would be allowing that... but something is.

Maybe the water is leaking in around the rear light clusters? The roof gutters drain on the rear corners so they are subject to a lot of running water. I sealed mine up with some instant gasket to suplement the rubber seals.

benster said:

After each of last several rains, noticed a dripping that lasted days & eventually a little rusting going on behind my driver side rear wheel mud flap. Somehow water gets into the body panel and was slowly seeping out..................................................

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Hi Ben, I've mentioned this in the distant past at least once and never got a response. I even have, digitally, somewhere, some pics of water drops coming from the seams days after it had rained. I may have even posted one?

I'd showed these to the dealer hoping for some help.

I've considered running a grinder with a cutting wheel down the length of the inner panel. My fear is making it worse rather than better. And yes, there's a buunch of silty dirt in there. Likely it never dries

tom_LTMS said:

Maybe the water is leaking in around the rear light clusters? The roof gutters drain on the rear corners so they are subject to a lot of running water. I sealed mine up with some instant gasket to suplement the rubber seals.

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Interesting idea. I do see some dirt build up around the tail lenses at the gasket. I'd think though you'd be able to see signs of water entry from the access panels inside the van?


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this thread should be in T1N talk & not in write ups.

Scott,
Didn't find your previous post when I searched. Interesting to hear others see the same mysterious issue.

I don't see any evidence of intrusion through the taillights either, but that's the only way in I can imagine, too.

Mine dripped for days, too, which is why I finally went to try & remedy it.

Cleaning the existing drain holes doesn't do the trick to release your water/stop the dripping? My next course of action was going to have been drilling a hole or two in a low point. Grinder seems pretty aggressive... but ya gotta do what ya gotta do I s'pose.

My mention was buried in another thread, it's here in post #11. Not as long ago as I'd thought. I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to locate it, it took me a bit to find it

Pulling out the body plugs drained some of the water but it's still going to be down low in the seam between the exterior skin and the inner support. Exactly where the dirt sits. All I can say is it must be some great undercoating in there Actually I think that's at least part of what blocks the drains. Still like to know where it gets in. It's done it since day one.

I think this happens to many if not all of these vans, but people just don't notice?

14 year revival!

Have noticed the same leak (days after driving in the rain and parked indoors) in the same spot. Water is coming from the seam "drains" behind the passenger side rear mud flap. Upon using a small allen key to clean out the fine dirt, a steady stream came out.

For the longest time I thought it was my water heater but could never find any water inside.

Has anyone confirmed where the water is actually entering?

It's the footwell. Remove the plastic trim and get a wire brush and your favorite rust remediation paint. With that much water you will find loads of rust - eventually it will rust through Flintstones style.

I'm guessing it comes in down the door weatherstrip, but there's also wet shoes, condensation from temperature changes, etc. It could even be from a rain storm that happened months ago if the drain is blocked. Note that if you park on a slight slope the drain is not the low point

As @99sport wrote, it can be (simply?) condensation from the humid (people-provided) air inside the sprinter condensing upon the cold outer metal skin.

Or a roof seam leak (unfortunately too common on Arctic White Sprinters)

--dick

In case it helps anyone, in my 2016 Sprinter I noticed water in the passenger (on RHD vehicle ) footwell. Further investigation showed it was coming from a hole about 6 inches up on the sidewall just over the wheel arch next to the fuse panel and bonnet opening handle. Initially I thought it was a rubber bung missing but checked the other side and that had the same hole.

I couldn’t see anything obvious where water was getting in (it was rainwater as van was parked up when water came in)

I looked under the hood where there is a stream of mastic overpainted and noticed a tiny hole. I sealed this with silicone and then put a piece of fishtank airline hose into the hole inside the van bulkhead and sucked the water out (via siphon action). A lot came out - perhaps 200ml.

i have checked it subsequently by rolling up a bit of kitchen roll and poking it down the hole and touch-wood it seems to be dry.

First photo shows near side seal below windscreen- in corner under bonnet - with the little hole. The others show bulkhead where water came in and ran down into footwell near bonnet release.

i had to remove the fusepanel cover and side panel to access the bulkhead. Ideally to do this you also need to remove the door step cover and carpet / mat edge cover and bonnet release but I managed to force the side cover off without removing the step cover.

Davybrown said:

In case it helps anyone, in my 2016 Sprinter

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This is the T1N sub-forum, not the NVC3 sub-forum. From your pictures, there is little comparison in the body work on a T1N to the NVC3.