I’m not sure how much you’ve been keeping up with central North Carolina weather – I assume a lot, as it’s wildly compelling to everyone with their fingers on the pulse of the culture – but it’s been kind of a soggy wet mess here lately. That’s been bad for a lot of people here – there’s been plenty of flooding and people losing homes so let’s just keep that in mind as I kvetch to you about my wildly insignificant problem here. But kvetch I will, because boy am I confused.
So, it’s been raining all the flapjacking time, so that’s made it tricky to work on my Citroën 2CV, which I desperately want to get running, and soon. I put a new fuel pump in but so far I haven’t gotten it to run just yet. I will! With some help and a bit of actual weather that you can be in without getting soaked, I mean.
Oh, and that rod sticking out from under the hood alarmingly in the topshot is an old shovel handle I use to keep the hood up, and I have one of the headlights out to try and get it cleaned out. Just keeping you in the loop.
Anyway, the rain finally has been letting up a bit, so I got to spend a bit of time with the car, which is when I noticed these strange puddles of water. I took the front seats out to clean them and replace some of the thick rubber bands that form the support structure of the seat, so the whole floor is very visible, which is why these puddles are so obvious. Here’s the first one:
It’s right by the front door edge, and there is a rust hole under that mat, so perhaps this one has been happening a while. But I can’t figure out where its coming from!
The underside of the dash is dry. The edge of the door is dry, and the weatherstripping seems dry and intact. The windshield weatherstripping seems dry and intact. Nothing above the floor seems wet!
The window seal is fine, too. And the fabric roof is new and free of holes, and I can’t see or feel any water on the ceiling. Where the hell is this puddle coming from?
Here’s the other place where water seems to be pooling:
Right in the center, where the seat belts are mounted, which is a little alarming. There’s rust in there, but luckily it seems to be mostly surface and the metal is still sound. Still, I’d rather this important structural point on the car wasn’t filling with water.
Again, I have no idea where this water is coming from? The roof above it is dry and doesn’t seem to be leaking at all:
Where the hell is this water coming from? Below? That’s not possible, is it? At least according to how I understand water and gravity to work here on Earth. At least normally.
The trunk is dry, too, which speaks to the roof sealing well.
So, again, what the hell is going on? Why are these two spots mysteriously filling with water? Where is this water coming from? Do these cars sweat? Is the water opening the doors, then closing them? I’m baffled here. Any ideas are welcome!
Probably something that was Eau’d to you.
The nasty water stain in the third photo is a clue.
We had a same issue with our 2CV, including the same type of water stain on the firewall. It came from the front ventilation flap. At one point, the metal bar was bent slightly when my father tried to open the flap after a long period of time. That caused small water leak.
This guy explains what he did to resolve the “mystery water leak”.