The Volvo come into the workshop with a passenger front and rear foot well and under further investigation you can see that the pipe is blocked.
This is causing it to back up and then exit by a join behind the glovebox, which is then causing water to run down the inside of the bulkhead over the electricals and then sitting in the foot well.
If you have a car with a sunroof, and you are trying to find a leak, checking the drainage pipes and guttering is usually a good place to start. They do tend to get blocked with leaf debris over time and need the occasional flush through.
Cheap pipe cleaners from eBay. Luckily, the cheapest kind are the best kind for car drainage pipes.
BE WARNED! Don't follow the advice of some of the videos on YouTube and start poking coat hangers down them. The pipes are often quite soft silicone rubber, and they just push on to connectors. Using sharp metal pokey things with lots of force is likely to cause damage. The blockage is typically at the bottom, so give it a short squirt with a hosepipe and if you do feel the need to poke things down there, a drain cleaning wire can be had from the hardware store for a few pounds. Get the very thin plastic coated ones with a small brush on the end. (I hope it goes without saying not to use drain cleaner or pipe unblockers on your car. This is highly caustic and will not play nice with your rubbers.)
We have been repairing leaks and drying cars for over 30 years
Up to a third of the cost of your car was computers, processors and sensors. Delicate electrical systems hidden under your carpets, which might now be sitting in water.
Car Leak Repair
Question: "I have a leak somewhere. How much is it going to cost?"
Answer: We have absolutely no idea! No kidding, we never know what we are going to find until we start looking. At one extreme it could be that the car has been in an accident sometime in the past which means that the dashboard needs to come out and the bulkhead re-welded. Or it could be one standard size rubber grommet causing the problem. That's why we offer this service. We put your car through our database check, our 28 point check and if that fails we keep looking until we find your leak for an inclusive price. From there we provide you with a report and if possible an estimate, so you know where you stand. If it were just a loose grommet, we might not charge you anything for repair. Prices for drying, decontamination and odour removal vary depending on the scale of the problem.
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