Hi guys,

I have a really strange problem. When it rains, water gushes in at my feet - well from the weld just near the accelerator pedal. So I looked around and discovered a small hole at the top back of the wheel arch. This I assume is the drain hole for the front vents which sit on top. I have a 1200 coupe so the vents have a scoop.

I pumped fish oil up into the hole and it ended up coming out in the same place near the pedal.

So my question is, how do I fix this? What has gone wrong?

It can't be good to have water coming into these interior cavities which will then rust! I just hope it isn't going in anywhere else!

They do this eventually. 40years on this happens. It's either rusted in the cowel or from the inner upper chasis arm area. It seems to be round the seam sealer areas too. Get onto it before it gets worse.

Tear it down and weld it up properly.

The cause could be Water Box Rust










by the way, when you are done fixing it, know that there are two seals that go here:

Wondering if it's almost worth blocking these vents off? Or a removable panel? Would stop a lot of this issue as I drive with winDow or 1/4 vents open all the time. It's a poor design how no drain holes were added to the design and the inaccesable nature to clean in there properly.

Quote:
You misunderstand. Drain holes are in the design, and they drain down to the ground. But because of the rust, water is bypassing the drain holes and getting into the cabin. You could weld up the cowl vents, but that does not Fix the rust.

It doesn't fix the rust but removes the entry point for further water. The drains get blocked and water bypasses it. I get that. But the design of the cowl box section makes it difficult to keep them clear.

So fix the rust and block the entry point and reduced chance for further rust

Right. Thanks for the info. Looking at the pictures it doesn't seem like an easy fix. A rust hole in the water box also explains why my air vents are next to useless. Instead of entering the heater and cabin, the air is rushing out through the rust holes! My previous 1200 had a great vent pressure.