Water in front doors?

[Adee]

Has anyone had the same issue as this one that I have seen a couple of times, now. I don't think it has rained here for a day or two at least. So the car was totally dry on the outside this morning. As I pulled away, I dropped the front windows half way to let some air into the car and cool it off a bit. When the windows went back up there was a light coating of moisture (more than just mist) on the outside surface of the glass where it had been inside the door. It's happened on at least a couple of occasions. It is as though there is something that is moist inside the door and in contact with the outer surface of the glass when the window is down (maybe some kind of sponge wiper?). I have to assume the (front) window seals are leaky and water is getting into the door (which it shouldn't be) but I can't understand how water is transferring onto the glass when the window is down? Not a good sign IMHO.

 

[5teep]

Check that the drain valves in the bottom of the door (assuming there are some) are not blocked. I've seen in my old fiat that they were fitted back to front and the door filled up with rain water.

 

[Alb]

Are you seeing this on just one door or all of them?

 

[Adee]

Are you seeing this on just one door or all of them?

Both fronts - haven't checked the back ones TBH.
The seals seem to be a strange design on my car - I assume they are correctly fitted. They do not appear to obviously contact the window at the front part of the seal but they do at the back end. But the seal seems to be in contact with the window below the top level of the seal - hard to see and hard to explain but it seems to result in a small trough that would allow water to collect and might result in the observed effect?

 

[Adee]

Check that the drain valves in the bottom of the door (assuming there are some) are not blocked. I've seen in my old fiat that they were fitted back to front and the door filled up with rain water.

Good point but, if I am correct, I think the door just has drainage holes at the bottom. I can't hear anything sloshing about . As stated above I think it could be due to an unusual design of window seals. Maybe others will have observed similar behaviour?

 

[VenumX]

A car is designed in this way that (don't freak out now) all doors in a car let water through that will exit into the bottom of the door. If you open up a.door panel , first you have the doorpanels itself with the windows buttons and electronics, then you have a plastic membrane that keeps the water in to outside part of the door. If you remove that membra do you will see the window is installed (+mechanisms) that make the window go up and down , and last you have the outer door panel.

From outer door panel to the plastic membrane that part is design to let water through from top to bottom, where it exits through the drainage holes.

 

[Adee]

A car is designed in this way that (don't freak out now) all doors in a car let water through that will exit into the bottom of the door. If you open up a.door panel , first you have the doorpanels itself with the windows buttons and electronics, then you have a plastic membrane that keeps the water in to outside part of the door. If you remove that membra do you will see the window is installed (+mechanisms) that make the window go up and down , and last you have the outer door panel.

From outer door panel to the plastic membrane that part is design to let water through from top to bottom, where it exits through the drainage holes.

Thanks. Yes, I agree that doors are not designed to provide a perfect seal and water gets into the door and back out again, with the membrane preventing the water ingressing into the cabin. But it doesn't really explain why a perfectly dry window would come back up with water smeared over part of the outer surface only. In my previous reply I have pointed out the rather strange seal design (on my car, at least!), which looks as though it could harbour a small channel of water adjacent to the window. If this is what is happening then I've no idea why it's designed like that.

 

[VenumX]

Thanks. Yes, I agree that doors are not designed to provide a perfect seal and water gets into the door and back out again, with the membrane preventing the water ingressing into the cabin. But it doesn't really explain why a perfectly dry window would come back up with water smeared over part of the outer surface only. In my previous reply I have pointed out the rather strange seal design (on my car, at least!), which looks as though it could harbour a small channel of water adjacent to the window. If this is what is happening then I've no idea why it's designed like that.

I know that every car that I washed , and dried off , after like 3-4 hours , if I open a window , it still gets wet on the outside because of that seal. That seal has been covered with a small layer of fabric to prevent sand from entering into the window mechanism....on most cars it's that fabric (small hairs) that suck up water.

I shouldn't care about it too much tho.....

 

[Adee]

I know that every car that I washed , and dried off , after like 3-4 hours , if I open a window , it still gets wet on the outside because of that seal. That seal has been covered with a small layer of fabric to prevent sand from entering into the window mechanism....on most cars it's that fabric (small hairs) that suck up water.

I shouldn't care about it too much tho.....

Yes I know what you mean about the seals that have tiny hairs. TBH I'm a bit less worried now that I've discovered the rather unusual seal design. I'm pretty sure the water isn't coming from within the door, which was my main worry - it's just being smeared back onto the window from the seal. Thanks for your comments. Never had it before though. On several cars I've had, the seals are so good that you can drop the windows and raise them again to clear off any excess water and even misting. I think this car would just make your visibility worse if you did that!

 

[Alb]

I find the same effect when I wash my other car.
Can't comment on the MG because it hasn't had its first wash yet!

 

[Stormgrey]

Has anyone had the same issue as this one that I have seen a couple of times, now. I don't think it has rained here for a day or two at least. So the car was totally dry on the outside this morning. As I pulled away, I dropped the front windows half way to let some air into the car and cool it off a bit. When the windows went back up there was a light coating of moisture (more than just mist) on the outside surface of the glass where it had been inside the door. It's happened on at least a couple of occasions. It is as though there is something that is moist inside the door and in contact with the outer surface of the glass when the window is down (maybe some kind of sponge wiper?). I have to assume the (front) window seals are leaky and water is getting into the door (which it shouldn't be) but I can't understand how water is transferring onto the glass when the window is down? Not a good sign IMHO.

Open each door in turn and get someone to run a hose on the door glass and then you can check the water is running out of the drain holes correctly. I had an issue where the carpet was getting wet. I had to diagnose the issue by putting talcumpowder on the inside of the door shuts and found the water was coming from behind the door trim, onto the door seal and onto the carpet, I showed the MG Dealer and they then found there was a part missing inside the door which they fitted and all appears OK now.

 

[Adee]

Thanks Stormgrey, that's a pretty simple test that I may do in due course. But I should have reported that I had a closer look at the seal and they are not a particularly unusual design as I first thought, it's just that my driver's door seal clearly is badly fitted. It is in contact with the window glass at the rear and then peels away from the glass towards the front of the window. I think it's just a one-off manufacturing fault as all the other window seals look OK. I'll probably report it to the dealer soon for peace of mind. Thanks for all replies.

 

[speculatrix]

There's been a discussion elsewhere about one of the two door seals on the front doors being closed up with thick tape.
I just remembered to check and both of my front doors had two drain holes, the front ones were taped over, I removed them.
There was no trapped water.

 

[Kithmo]

There's been a discussion elsewhere about one of the two door seals on the front doors being closed up with thick tape.
I just remembered to check and both of my front doors had two drain holes, the front ones were taped over, I removed them.
There was no trapped water.View attachment 3989

Now your sills will get dirtier.