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Another water leak thread Topic is solved

Help, Advice, Owners' Discussion and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's stylish, distinctive P2 platform cars sold as model years 2001-2007 (North American market year designations).

2001 - 2007 V70
2001 - 2004 V70 XC (Cross Country)
2004 - 2007 XC70 (Cross Country)
2001 - 2009 S60
2003 - 2007 S60 R
2004 - 2007 V70 R

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br0dy519
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Another water leak thread

Post by br0dy519 »

Hi guys

Tracing my fourth water leak of the year. Two were on my S60 and turned out to be both windshield related. The story was always the same: passenger footwell carpet is soaked. Remove carpet, glovebox, hvac blower, etc and run a hose on the car and watch where the water comes in.

This one is really throwing me for a spin. After cleaning out all my sunroof drains, replacing the hoses with braided 1/2" and clearing the cowling and adding a little hat on the top of the intake duct, I then added foam-type backing on the inside lip of that air duct under the cowel. Somehow it made the issue worse. I ended up pulling out the entire P/N 31250775 (#2 in pic) seal and replacing with a bunch of 1/2" pipe insulation. Now the leak is STILL bad and was even gushing out of the cabin filter housing and clearly backing up in the hvac blower assy. So I have two questions:

1) How vital are those little drip rail mouldings (PN 8663896/8663894) in preventing water from flooding the HVAC blower assembly? Mine have been so beat up they barely resemble the original part. I just added urethane on the other car but that didn't end up being the fix. Should I do the same on this one, or is that a waste of time?

2) It appears that the area where that (#2 in pic) foam seal lays on is actually part of the actuator mechanism for that recirc damper? Could I have possibly jammed too much foam in there and actually increased the gap to enter the cabin?

I'm two days and six hours into this guys so I come here in times of desperation. Yes OrangeX I have watched your video on the subject :twisted: Thanks guys!




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04s60 2.4
04xc70 2.5t
prwood wrote:I wish I had a permanent car repair area that was covered, had a level surface, lighting and fans, a workbench, and tool cabinets. You know,like a garage. Much of my time during the job is spent hauling things up and down the stairs to the basement or in and out of the storage shed, or running back downstairs when I realize I need something else,or taking a break from standing out in the sun,or using flashlights or work lamps when it gets dark.

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jonesg  
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Post by jonesg »

Are you sure its not coolant.?

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br0dy519
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Post by br0dy519 »

jonesg wrote: 24 Oct 2021, 02:57 Are you sure its not coolant.?
Yes 100% certain. I am able to observe a leak only when flooding the cowel area of the car with water. Also worth mentioning no coolant loss in the bottle, nor any odour or colour of coolant.

In doing more flooding I believe I have narrowed down the issue perhaps. The fresh air intake duct has a "rain cover" (#18 in below image), the bottom of this cover has four clips that secure it and a gasket on the bottom lip that just sits direct on the metal frame. This gasket was pretty nasty, so I replaced it with some fresh 1/4" backer rod. This really slowed down the leak, but what I didn't notice was that one of the four tabs was broken, so it's likely not providing enough tension in that section in order to truly seal it. A new #18 is about $40 CAD and I'm not willing to spend that on a small piece of plastic. Should I just caulk around this sucker?


Image
04s60 2.4
04xc70 2.5t
prwood wrote:I wish I had a permanent car repair area that was covered, had a level surface, lighting and fans, a workbench, and tool cabinets. You know,like a garage. Much of my time during the job is spent hauling things up and down the stairs to the basement or in and out of the storage shed, or running back downstairs when I realize I need something else,or taking a break from standing out in the sun,or using flashlights or work lamps when it gets dark.

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jonesg  
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Post by jonesg »

its a junkyard part, question is how many times do you want to get in there or is at accessible through the top.

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br0dy519
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Post by br0dy519 »

Yeah agreed. Going to source from a JY next time I'm in the city or maybe talk to one of the mechs and see if they have a scrap car. Need a new a-pillar trim, and visor as well as those were victims of my man handling throughout the leak trace.

In other news: it looks like I may be OK. With the downpour here the last few days not a speck of water appeared on the footwell. So I think it passed the real-world test rather than running a hose directly beneath the cowel and flooding the area like crazy. I think the key was making sure the gasket on that intake cap was fresh and sealing.
04s60 2.4
04xc70 2.5t
prwood wrote:I wish I had a permanent car repair area that was covered, had a level surface, lighting and fans, a workbench, and tool cabinets. You know,like a garage. Much of my time during the job is spent hauling things up and down the stairs to the basement or in and out of the storage shed, or running back downstairs when I realize I need something else,or taking a break from standing out in the sun,or using flashlights or work lamps when it gets dark.

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