the carpet under my rear drivers side footrest is damp, but no-where else on the car is. any thoughts/ideas?

Bad/worn door seal, esp. the bottom part. I have that problem at the front. Or a hole in the floor.

Hi Hugh,
I found the same alarming problem of damp (or in my case nearly a pool of water under) the carpet of the rear footwell behind the drivers seat on Saturday. Having the plastic trays/mats does not help, as the water cannot escape, as it hits the underside of the mat when trying to evaporate. I'm unsure as to where it is coming from, but dried it out as best as I could and I will keep an eye on it. John360 suggested door seals and to check them and try tightening them, as does 360GL. Also there is a round hole behind the sill, which must be for a purpose, but appears to allow water/damp in, could be a possible entry for water.
Pete

after reading this I thought I better check my car, happy to report no signs of damp so far but it is something I will check regularly from now on

If its the round hole I'm thinking of, its a drain hole for the box section....and it wouldn't let water in. I'll second the suggestions of 1) door seals and 2) a hole in the floor (unlikely). Get pulling those carpets!

cheers

James

Hi James,
I've not had time to check back, however thought about it again today and will hopefully get time to have a look under the carpets tomorrow. There's definitely not a hole in the floor, but I'll see if any more damp has appeared. I'll have a look at all of the seals too.
Pete

noticed the same thing in my recent acquisition, wet carpets all 'round but figure that a lot of the problem with the rear at least, is probably that the plastic which seals the door from behind the door trim, is missing on all 4 doors.

This part is quoted in the Haynes as a "moistureproof sheet", and this title tweaked for me that the door trims are all really waterstained, evident of the fact that water is running down them from somewhere. I figure on replacing each of these seals once i happen across an appropriate adhesive, and seeing whether this makes any difference.

Absolutely - do that ASAP!

cheers

James

A common cause of damp carpets is water getting through the air intake in the bonnet and leaking in via the plastic box which contains the fan for blowing air into the car. I think there are some drain holes in the black plastic fan shroud under the bonnet and checking these and unblocking them might help. Not sure but I seem to remember this helped for me.