It never rains...

[DevonPaul]

... but it pours.

I've not been on here for a while, tended just to browse anonymously, but just feel the need to vent slightly to some hopefully sympathetic souls who'll all say "no worries mate, they all do that. It will go away when it dries out".

After over a year and 5000 miles of trouble free ownership (except a leaking hose connector), my GS has started being Italian. It has done this because I'm working away until tomorrow, we're going to Silverstone tomorrow evening (4 hours North!) as soon as I get back, and my wife has been using the car for work this week to keep it running.

She came to it tonight, it steamed from the exhaust, and there was 1/2 an inch of water in the car. A passer-by said it sounded funny, but that was probably the V8.

Some gentle questioning revealed coolant level was OK, as were all the others, and that it absoutely lashed it down today whilst it was outside. I went for the "blocked pollen filter drain" option and hoped the steam was coincidental. She drove it home, didn't get above 90C on the dial, and coolant was still good afterwards (only 3 miles). Still a bit of steam from the exhaust!

She pulled the other car out, went back to the GS to drop it back down the drive and "Cambiocorsa gearbox failing" lit up on the dashboard when she started it

I've asked her to hoover the water out, shove a brick behind the wheel and disconnect the battery. I'll put the cover over it on Sunday and leave it for a week until I'm back again to look at it, and hope the warning message resets.

I did 200 miles on Sunday no problems with the 'box, and clutch was 25% worn when Carrs had it in 3000 miles ago, so hopefully it just got confused. Mind you the hour of stop-start to get out of Le mans the other week might not have helped the clutch.

Poo!

 

[conaero]

Well, if you had asked me what had happened to the car from your description, I would say its been through a ford or been left in standing water.

It does sound like the car has got wet and the water has entered the exhaust as you don't have any coolant loss so the water has come from outside and flooded your electrics. It could have gone down the pollen vent and spilled over into your fuse box in the passenger footwell, but it still sounds like its been up to its sills in standing water.

I would also check the boot and see if the water has gotten in via the usual weak point and filled your boot, dumping the water through a drain hole in the bottom of the spare wheel well over the CC gearbox and the steam is not coming form the exhaust but form around it.

 

[safrane]

I have to agree with Matt; if there is no other fluid loss it must be water collected as a result the heavy rain last weekend...I would however also check the F1 Fluid level as this could be leaking onto the exhaust but would also smell funny as it boils.

 

[DevonPaul]

Thanks. I was pretty sure the water inside came from the rain. Apparently the car park was a couple of inches deep within 15 mins, so it was heavy. However the car wasn't moved all day.

We didn't get heavy rain down here at the weekend, the car was under cover Friday night when it rained, and was fine on Sunday and apparently yesterday and this morning.

However down in Devon were some very local very heavy downpours, so I'm hoping that 2 nights under the shedding mimosa tree has caused the remaining drains from the filter to block.

In France it rained so hard I had to pull over, and when we got back to the hotel it was like I'd jetwashed the car as 3 days of dust etc had gone completely, yet the car was still running fine.

I'll also check the boot for water tomorrow.

 

[alfatwo]

See you in the queue outside Silverstone tomorrow morning then Paul...I'll be in a lovely 1985 Alfa GTV6

Dave

 

[Contigo]

What no Maser Dave?

 

[alfatwo]

What no Maser Dave?

Sadly no,when we bought the tickets early this year he put his Alfa reg number down on the form and not the Maser!

So I'm in the passinger seat back and forth for the whole 3 days...No stress then

See you there!

Dave

 

[DevonPaul]

Fingers crossed - just heard that she got 3 pints into the wet'ndry vac last night, and they were still soaking this morning, but the warning lights weren't there today

Its on a hill so the water is running towards the back so it will get another vac out later and we'll see how far it gets.

All is not lost, we still have the MR2 or the 24 year old Toyota, which isn't really a classic, it just hasn't broken down yet.

 

[DevonPaul]

Unsurprisingly it turns out the experience of Matt and Safrane were correct.

Unbeknown to us on Thursday, the car park actually flooded worse than we thought. when I got home Friday evening the first thing I noticed were tide marks on the front splitter, which my wife thought were splashes. The rear was the same with dried mud on the top, and on the passenger side there was mud and pine needles on top of the side 'fin' under the door. Oddly the driver's side was clean, either due to the car being on a slight slope, or the direction of the water flow.

Apprently it came and went in 30 mins, so not many people noticed it, espcially not Ann with her head buried in her work.

The steam was presumably water in the exhausts, as it had cleared by the time we got back.

Using the excellent instructions posted on here, and a bit of faffing, I took the rear seats out, lifted the carpets, and got the heat and sound insulation removed, which was left dripping into the guest bath over the weekend, removed the pollen filter housing drain tube (which contained another pint or so of water) then put it all back together and went off to Silverstone. The car ran fine, no error lights or tantrums.

Oddly there was an extra 2 inch piece of pipe (looked like fuel pipe) inserted into the "funnel" bit of the drain that goes through the bulkhead which I assume was put there as a modification to keep the bottom 'flap' open and clear. The 'funnel' was blocked at the bottom anyway, and the fuel pipe seemed to have worked its way upwards and pushed the pipe down from the pollen filter upwards so it was hardly in there at all.

Leaving it with open windows on Sat got rid of the "wet dog" smell, which was nice.

When we got back Sunday night I removed the seats and carpets properly (I suspect they won't go back as easily) and was relieved to find that there was no mould or corrosion visible anywhere, not even on the screws or thread holes, which suggests that the carpets hadn't been wet for any period of time and the problem was just down to the heavy downpour.

The other thing I noticed was the rectangular plastic spacers under the rear of the seat runners were pretty damaged - they don't seem to do anything though apart from stop you catching your shoes on the back of the seat runner. However at £3 plus change each they can go on the same order as the pollen filter.

Next I need to check the windscreen seals.