Water Sloshing - XC60 Topic is solved

Cliff_G · Post by **Cliff_G** » 11 Nov 2017, 13:21

Does anyone know about an issue of water sloshing under the floor in an XC60 (2009)? I found one thread with the same, but no responses.

The noise is behind the driver's side seat, sounds to be inboard of the door opening, under the floor. Sloshes on braking. Sound is limited to just that area. I think the floor pan on this model is a double skin with a gap between. There seems absolutely no way to see what's going on, either from inside or outside.

In terms of common reasons found on forums for water sloshing:

- the car has no sunroof, so it's not the blocked sunroof drain problem

- the carpet is not wet (anywhere) (except occasionally as next...)

- I don't think it's coming from a windscreen bonding failure. We might well have that problem as the carpet locally just behind the accelerator pedal area has been a bit wet now and again, but I too the A-pillar trim off outside and drenched it and strangely although we initially saw some water coming in (down the lower A-pillar structure), it actually stopped after a while. This was back at the start of Summer so it might have been that the warmer weather affected it. When we had this very minor leak, we had the screen mist up on that side only when the car was unused, but the misting stopped too. It might just be re-starting now the cold weather is back, with some misting up, but no wet carpet, as yet. But the water sloshing has continued all summer and is definitely rain-related.

- I had a suggestion it could be the drain pipe from the AirCon coming adrift and leaking water between the two floor panels and then running back, but if you look under the car when the aircon is on, you can see the condensed water draining nicely.

In extended dry weather, or if we garage the car and not let it get wet at all, the sloshing stops, but will return with the onset of rain.

Ideally, I'd like to know that there's a known fault e.g. the roof rails leaking.

Can't go drilling experimental holes as there's electrical stuff everywhere!

Might have to take it to Volvo, but that could be expensive!

Post by **oragex** » 11 Nov 2017, 13:51

On the older models, there were several places from where water could leak under the carpet. Under is here the key word: these carpets are actually rubberized underneath so there could be a lake underneath while the carpet will be dry on top. To better pull the carpet in one corner and slide a hand underneath to check for wetness.

Again, it could be multiple places for a leaking. The easiest thing is to get a bright flash light, look under the dash everywhere for water dripping and even place here and there some pieces of toilet paper. Then you'll find where it gets wet so hopefully you can source the area from there on.

Cliff_G · Post by **Cliff_G** » 16 Nov 2017, 10:46

Thanks, will take a look.

(hadn't seen this till now though I thought I had subscribed to the thread)

Steve833 · Post by **Steve833** » 13 Nov 2019, 17:14

I've got an identical issue with my wife's xc70. I had sucked out the water and had sealed the sunroof (with tape) and took it out in snowy weather... By the time I started my return journey the back side side foot well had become saturated again.

I can hear the sloshing now.

Did you ever find out what was causing it?

Cliff_G · Post by **Cliff_G** » 14 Nov 2019, 00:24

Yes, the water ingress was due to the front windscreen bonding issue. Common known problem with this model (XC60, suppose no reason why same shouldn't happen to an XC70, or was that a typo?). We took the car to a screen specialist (used by the Volvo dealer for all their screen work) and they removed it came off easily without breaking) and they rebonded it. Problem gone.

Steve833 · Post by **Steve833** » 14 Nov 2019, 05:44

Nope, not a typo (although, it's actually a 2008). The problem that you described was so closely described to how mine is displaying I figured the difference in the model didn't matter much.

But, thank you! I'll be taking it to a good windshield place to have them take a look (nearest Volvo dealer is about 45 minutes away from us). ...honestly, the windshield did catch my attention when I initially started looking for the source - before I started looking online.

Yeah - I thought I had the issue temporarily solved when I taped up the seams around the sunroof but when I drove through that weather and it still happened I knew that I'd need to do some digging.

Regardless, thank you again!

Cliff_G · Post by **Cliff_G** » 14 Nov 2019, 06:10

If you press the windscreen from the inside at the edge, someone outside the var may be able to see movement, this was apparently the case with ours. Good luck.

festa · Post by **festa** » 05 Feb 2021, 16:08

ive just had the exact same issue with my 2013 xc60 r design , sloshing water behind passenger seat , pulled up the carpet to find aboit an inch or so of water , took it back to the dealer who kept it for a week , it was a bad windscreen seal , re sealed and car was dried out , this fault is apparently common on the xc60 from 08 -16 models .