in car swimming pool

drbeard · Postby **drbeard** » 28 Jun 2012 18:12

i have a water leak problem.water is finding its way into the passenger footwell, it seems to be running down the transmission tunnel, maybe heater vent? its not anti-freeze.
is there a common place for these to leak, heater intake, screen?
the car is a 1980 dhc,good condition hood, lives outside under a moltex cover
any advice please
phil

saabfast · Postby **saabfast** » 28 Jun 2012 18:25

The normal culprit is the heater matrix or the connections to it (O rings fail). If it is definately not antifreeze I assume it has happened in the recent tropical storm test conditions (ie when raining).
The screen seals are often not very watertight. Screens were originally put in waith a seal with embedded heater wires to fix them to the surround but they commonly fail. Mine leaked mainly from the top, running down the inside of the screen. I sealed the gaps with Permatex Windshield and Glass sealant which has held well.
The other way is to have it carefully taken out and reinstalled with a modern screen seal but be careful of the stainless trim (NLA) and the screens are a little delicate and prone to cracking. New ones are available at a reasonable price.

Alan
Saab 9000 Stg 1
Saab 9000 2.3 FPT Auto
Saab 2.3 LPT Auto
'81 TR7 DHC

gaz · Postby **gaz** » 28 Jun 2012 18:32

Take off the wipers and the base finisher allsorts of rot could be under there which may let water in...

http://mytr7.weebly.com/blackpool-lights-run-2012.html

1981 DHC 2.0 Litre
1980 DHC pedal car
1976 FHC 2.0 Litre

drbeard · Postby **drbeard** » 28 Jun 2012 18:36

thanks for the prompt replies, will have an investigate at the weekend,the car is pretty rot free (waxoyled from new) so hopefully nothing too bad

Steve-LPS-Thomas · Postby **Steve-LPS-Thomas** » 28 Jun 2012 19:17

Fixed heads seem to leak worse than dhc's for me at least. I've never quite worked out how or why but water seems to find it's way over the sill in the area of the door speakers. Water runs down the A posts down past the door hinges but then a little seems to climb over the door seals and run into the footwells. How it does this I don't know but sometimes you can catch it when it thinks your not looking! Otherwise feel the sill carpet.
Also, if you peel back the sill carpets you will find large holes (not rust!) and these are sealed (ha ha) with tape. Outside the car, at the sills lowest point there should be two plastic fittings (each side) which have a solid side at about 45 degrees facing forward and an open side facing 45 degrees rearwards. These are designed to prevent water being thrown up by the front wheels being blasted into the sills and hence though the sealed (ha ha) holes into the car. These fittings are easily dislodged and lost and forgotten about.

So, no actual solutions but two additional places to check. I've just discovered that Vicki's footwells are slightly damp. I suspect the water dribbling over the sill. Think I might have to invest in a waterproof cover, my last one was ruined by hunMG mice.

Good luck keeping a Tr7 interior dry in this climate.

Steve

<hr noshade size="1">

http://www.croyde-bay.com/triumph.htm

croydebay@aol.com

Steve-LPS-Thomas · Postby **Steve-LPS-Thomas** » 28 Jun 2012 19:19

HunMG mice even.

<hr noshade size="1">

http://www.croyde-bay.com/triumph.htm

croydebay@aol.com

Steve-LPS-Thomas · Postby **Steve-LPS-Thomas** » 28 Jun 2012 19:23

Bizarre. The forum keeps changing h u n g r y to hunMG.

<hr noshade size="1">

http://www.croyde-bay.com/triumph.htm

croydebay@aol.com

drbeard · Postby **drbeard** » 28 Jun 2012 19:30

just been out and had a quick look,the lower metal heater pipe(under the blower motor) has a little surface rust and if i put my hand around the heater area its wet, might be a faint taste of anti-freeze, its a job to tell mixed with 30 years of crud!! not loosing much if any water from the header tank.
i guess to change the pipes or matrix its a dash out job, are the parts available?
phil

gaz · Postby **gaz** » 28 Jun 2012 19:39

Hi phil if its the pipes i am thinking about you can just loop them together by passing the heater matrix and save the bigger job for winter when you will need the heater

http://mytr7.weebly.com/blackpool-lights-run-2012.html

1981 DHC 2.0 Litre
1980 DHC pedal car
1976 FHC 2.0 Litre

Beans · Postby **Beans** » 28 Jun 2012 19:44

The seals between the heater pipes/matrix are NLA.
But Robsport and S&S can supply a new matrix which doesn't need these seals

<center>

1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)
[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]My full Weblog[/url]</center>

FI Spyder · Postby **FI Spyder** » 29 Jun 2012 00:06

Not sure about a regular heater (haven't taken out Yellow TCT's yet) but my Spider's A/C heater has a drain hose out the bottom that goes through a hole in the transmission tunnel. I don't know if it's to drain condensate from the A/C matrix or any water directed to the air intake via the bonnet screen/air plenum. I often thought if crap (pine needles etc. got in there it could block it with wet interior results. Especial for a car not stored in a garage.

- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

UKPhilTR7 · Postby **UKPhilTR7** » 29 Jun 2012 02:49

I remember I have a leak there too. After a bit of looking I noticed that there was a small hole in the bulk head and when the air scoop was not fitted, the rain would come in and run down into the foot well. I got the hole welded up and the problem went away. To find the hole it took a bit to get into all the positions I needed, but in the end I found it and guess what, it was rust.

drbeard · Postby **drbeard** » 29 Jun 2012 16:05

had a bit more of an investigate today,the upper of the two pipes under the blower motor has a small drip of coolant, the pipe seems dry as it goes uphill to the bulkhead the drip being where the pipes are clamped together. if the seals or matrix is leaking,must be a very small leak. this is going to open a can of worms...... anyone ever tried barrs, radweld or any other of those type of fixes with (or)without any success?

Beans · Postby **Beans** » 29 Jun 2012 22:26

Some more info ...
http://tr7beans.blogspot.nl/2008/02/smoking-is-bad.html
http://tr7beans.blogspot.nl/2008/03/slow-progress-on-heater-rebuild.html
http://tr7beans.blogspot.nl/2008/03/changing-heater-day-1.html
Good luck, and I wouldn't use additives to clog your cooling system

<center>

1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)
[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]My full Weblog[/url]</center>

TR Tony · Postby **TR Tony** » 30 Jun 2012 10:01

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by drbeard

had a bit more of an investigate today,the upper of the two pipes under the blower motor has a small drip of coolant, the pipe seems dry as it goes uphill to the bulkhead the drip being where the pipes are clamped together. if the seals or matrix is leaking,must be a very small leak. this is going to open a can of worms...... anyone ever tried barrs, radweld or any other of those type of fixes with (or)without any success?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I had a very similar thing on my old DHC, very small leak from the pipe seal area, odd drip on the passenger side footmat & faint smell of coolant sometimes (with the roof up!). I tried a bottle of Barrs Stopleak & the problem stopped, so might be worth a go. It's not a long term solution but might buy you some time.

I always find it amusing that the original BL handbook for the TR8 coupes actually recommends that Barrs Stopleak is added when changing the coolant, as a matter of routine!

Tony

1981 TR7 FHC Cavalry Blue
1980 TR7V8 DHC Jaguar Regency Red - sadly sold!
1977 TR8 FHC EFI Factory development car Inca Yellow

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