RNANS

I recently bought a w208 230k. There was no soggy carpeting when I bought the car but now whenever I park the car on an incline the passenger side gets flooded when it rains. Thinking there was a clogged drain for the front windsheild, I tried to remove the cannister cover up front (in front of the windsheild ) only to find that there are four clips in front of the windsheild which refuses to open and does not admit my finger tips to be un-clipped. This is some sort of cover which covers the lower half of this collection chamber. the drain hole on the side has been flushed through and it is draining well but there is still some water getting through.
Can someone please tell me how to get this plastic cover open... My car has no sunroof so it cant be leaking water from there, Havent checked the a/c vents but it seems to happen only in the rain ...
Thanks in advance

georgep

Did you manage to find the answer to your leak as I have the same issue with my CLK320.
many thanks,
George

RNANS

Hi George
there is a long cannister that collects water flowing down the windscreen. There is a cover for this cannister. it was a tricky affair getting this open since there are a series of clips in the front edge of this cover and those in the center are difficult to open, I use a bent (angulated) knitting needle to prise them open. I discovered that there is a drain hole in the center which sits below ( and most dependent ) which had become completely blocked by tiny bits of leaves and debris. Poking through from the top with the cover removed did the trick. you may be able to do this without removing the cover for the cannister IF you are able to get your hand between the engine and the bottom part of the cannister. But I think its better to have it removed. Gettting the cover piece reassembled was a bit tricky as there is a cover for the wiper assembly which needs to be centered before you can clip the lid or cover back on again.

When the center hole is clogged it allows water to tip back into the passenger side through the A/C air inlet. I ve had no more leaks after that episode. Make sure you flush a generous amount of water through from time to time to keep it unclogged
Cheers

MarcusF

RNANS, rockin Simon Templar's old ride!!!

RNANS

Thanks Marcus
probably enjoy a gull wing merc more but pretty hard to come by... but the volvo is somehow really easy to maintain and built to last, practically bomb proof too...
Any way have some pics on my site http://members.tripod.com/rnans
she still turns heads BTW

http://members.tripod.com/RNANS/phot...ide%20view.JPG

sirswift93

Not only did my windscreens overflow into the A/C vent, they also overflowed into the engine compartment where the brake booster is located; flooding the driver’s side foot well. In the pictures I attached, you can see the weep hole I silicone, thus stopping the leak. The service manager of the Mercedes Benz shop claims that the weep hole evacuates the water to the outside, not the inside of the car. This of course is not the case. I told him that once I silicone the hole no water got through. He said there must be another drain underneath the weep hole and it must be clogged. With that said, I asked how I clean it. He said he doesn't know exactly where the drain is, but we can take your console apart and the firewall and find it; at a cost of $124 per hour! He said it would take about 3 to 5 hours of labor. I am not happy about this at all. Furthermore, they will not cover the expense of replacing driver side and passenger side liners ($294 each), back floor liner ($411) and the interior firewall lining (I was not given a price on this or the labor to install). Not to mention the possibility of rust forming on the chassis floor in years to come.



I had one mechanic in the shop walk up to me and say, "They (Mercedes Benz) really should clean out the drains of all cars when they come in for A and B Service."

Can someone tell me what that hole is for?

Thanks!

RNANS

sirswift93

In your second photo , on the right hand side is the plastic cannister that I mentioned in my earlier post. It stretches from left to right just in front of the windscreen, you should get the cover of this plastic cannister or collection chamber opened, and the drainage holes cleared once it is opened. The main drainage hole is at the centre in line with the wiper assembly and right at the bottom of the inside of this cannister. This is most probably the culprit!
BTW since my car is right hand drive, the leak is on the left (When seated) so its probably the same issue as mine had. Once cleared the drainage hole inside this cannister has not given any more problems since.

Good Luckhttps://mbworld.org/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif

sirswift93

RNANS,

Thanks for the reply. I already cleaned out the reed valves under the windscreen; that resolved the issue of flooding into the a/c vent. However, I still have water coming into the drivers side footwell; coming out where screwdriver is placed in picture, entering where I silicone the hole just off to the side of the brake booster on the sheet metal. Once I silicone the hole (the one next to the grommet in the photo, my leak stopped. I can spray a hose in there now for several mintues and not a drop appears!

As an aside, this should all be covered in or out of warranty from MB. They don't tell you that you have to clean/maintain these valves when they sell you the car, they don't tell you to do it in the manual and they certainly don't do it for you as part of an A or B service. I must have been at my dealership 50+ times in the last 6 years for service and parts spending thousands of extra dollars after the purchase an no one tells me that I should look out for this problem? It took me 5 minutes to remove the windscreens and clean out the leaves!!!!

As an aside, while I was looking for the source of the leak in the brake booster compartment, I found a 2x3 inch black plastic bracket wedged under the brake booster. When I looked up the part number it just says, brake booster bracket. Does anyone know what this bracket is for? The service manager said it was just used for shipping the brake booster. I find that hard to believe when it had a part number on it.

RNANS

sirswift93
NO problem, glad to have been of some help, anyway the vent on the extreme left (seen from inside the car) seems to be just pouring its contents just below the brake booster onto the metal, and this strikes me as being odd, since, if there are some vent hole as in your case, then it is bound to leak into the car, perhaps it would be more prudent to connect a hose and let it drain away from the metal directly onto the road or pavement. My old volvo has some thing similar, with hoses of course and the much older cars havent leaked any rain water onto my feet yet, I guess its about how you channel the fluid away

Thanks again

sirswift93

There would be no place to put a hose. This part of the engine compartment takes on any liquid that runs down the left side of the windshield rather than into the windscreens. When it hits the engine compartment directly above the wheel well, most of the water runs into the oval hole that is 2 by 3 inches. The splash back travels to the center of the compartment and runs down that weep hole I silicone.
I went back to the dealer on Saturday and they said that they might now look into dropping the tranny!!!! I looked at the man like he was nuts. He said it would take 10 hours!!!! You are going to drop the tranny and charge me $1500.00 just to locate a drain that you don't know the exact location? The weep hole looks to be for draining away water and then it probably does evacuate to the outside. However, there probably are some leaves, etc. clogging up the weep hole that is below the engine compartment. The water builds up to a level on the fire wall until it comes to a hole or grommet and then leaks through. The fact that the service manager does not know where this other weep hole is to clean out or is not willing to call to someone else in the MB organization is just poor service.

HarleyW72

Well I thought my leak was solved with my driver side floor pan leak but NOT. I can leave my carpet out for days and it stay dry as can be and put the carpet in and the padding is wet every single time. I even ran the car through a hi pressure auto wash with it out and no water. I put the carpet back in thinkin "cool, no more wet floorboard". Boy was I wrong, the first rain and bam its wet. I am stumped beyond words. I have about had it with this car.

sirswift93

So I had the same problem for months; water coming into the driver foot well. You can either drop your transmission and reseat or replace the heatsheild or plug a hole that is below your break booster with silicone. I chose the latter and I have been dry for years.

I dropped red food coloring around each of the holes in the area of the engine compartment that is below the brake booster and found that one hole drained above transmissio, but because the heatsheild had fallen back it was funneling the water into the firewall. Over time the insulation or heat shield deteriorates and collapses. It's a horrible design and a use of poor materials for the environment.

Put your hood all the way back (done by pressing tab on passenger side by hing of hood and hood will tilt all the way back in a total vertical position). This will allow you to see hole in sheet metal below brake booster. Place a dab of silicone and you will stop the water.

HarleyW72

Hmm, I hadn't noticed a hole in the area of brake booster but I will take a closer look. It would be awesome if that's the problem. And I didn't know my hood would open more, that's great ! Mine is a 2000 coupe by the way, don't know if they are all the same. Thank you.

sirswift93

It's a really small weep hole less than the head of a number 2 pencil eraser. You can only see it from a certain angle and when the hood is vertical. What you can try is placing several drops of red food coloring in a quart of water and then spilling it in that area under the break booster.

HarleyW72

Well, I filled the brake booster area almost full of water, it drained on the ground and the floorboard is still dry. Beats all I have ever seen. About all that is left is the sunroof drains perhaps. The center drain for the windscreen is still clear and draining as well. Is it possible the rear sunroof drains could be backing up into the car and soaking the front floor? I don't know if the rear is getting wet but the carpet itself is dry back there. The front sunroof drains can be heard draining down the door pillars and onto the ground as far as I can tell they are draining properly.


Thanks

HarleyW72

I have noticed the water seems to be running from the rear through the channel. I can only assume its the sunroof drains and it only does it when it rains, car washing has no effect. DOes anyone know where the rear sunroof drains are located and what causes them to fail. I have heard they can crack? I hope they are only plugged up with gunk. I am glad I had left the carpet out as long as I have or would have never noticed that. I have looked everywhere for the diagrams with no luck. Thanks

benz300

I know it's an old thread, but I wanted to know where exactly this hole was located that was sealed off. is it below the brake booster on the firewall ?
thanks.