wet foot wells 97 TDi

[Mistry]

I recentley purchased a 97 Land Rover Discovery 2.5tdi. I took it for it's first long drive this weekend and noticed that the passanger and driver side foot wells were wet, not soaking wet but wet. Now it hasn't rained that hard this weekend but I did have the air unit on for most of this weekend.

[essexlandy]

Couild it be a leaking heater matrix? I had that happen in an old Passat, the passangers foot well was soaked, where it had split.

[Mistry]

Could be but another twist is that the I have rubber mats on the floor and only the under side of the mats are wet. Would it be right to say that if the heater matrix was leaking it would drip onto the floor mats first?

[callisr]

Sounds like the symptoms I experienced earlier this year. Under the carpet is a sponge insulation sheet which soaks up water like a, well, sponge and keeps it there. Lift the carpets and the sponge and uder that you will see some plastic bungs (if you don't have mud flaps) or bolt heads (if you do have mud flaps) passing throught the floor. On mine, one of the bungs was missing, allowing water to come in, soak into the sponge and become trapped. This in urn had allowed the footwells to rot from the inside out. Mine is a 95 model and I had to have patches let into the floor. In discust with the under floor sponge I cut it out of the footwells and threw it away.
If the mats have been there for a long time in yours, i would check this out asap. I you fitted the mats or they were fitted when you brought the truck, it is possible that it is residual moisture from a leak above the floor of which there are plenty of culprits! Also check that the aircon drain pipes are not blocked or split, causing moisture to leak into the cabin (could leak onto exposed carpet and soak its way under the mats)
Hope this helps, let us know what you find.
Rich

[Jud]

Mistry,

I agree with Callisr, took mats and carpet, insul;ation out 2 years ago to dry out and haven't yet refitted. I assumed it was matrix, took dash out and all sorts as the water level had been dropping, but matrix was okay (later found out expansion tank has split at weld). Eventually determined it was coming through the lap joint in the footwell where the bottom joins the sloping foot rest plate (if you know what I mean).

Lots of underseal and paint after derust seems to have solved problem. One day I'll refit the mats.

Jud