Water pond under jack

Some months ago I discovered a water pond under my jack at this place:
https://www.theineosforum.com/threa...nadier-today.12411127/page-94#post-1333225304


The cavity only gets about half a centimeter water height and “only while driving in the rain”, well, that’s what I thought. Not in standstill in heavy rain, everything stays dry!

I checked, by placing some towels in the upper parts of the cavity, if it came from above the cavity, and no! The cloths stayed dry, and the cavity got a water pond.

Told this to my workshop, and they didn’t find the origin, but they only hosed the car! I told them clearly: “only while driving”.

Some days ago, after it had rained several days, and after making the cavity dry again, I had to drive on a dry road, no river crossings (still have to find one in Belgium). And to my surprise, even after driving only like 20km, there was again water in the cavity.

My conclusion: the water is coming from somewhere else in the car, therefore there is another pond in the car. I continued my diagnosis, and found (by putting a mirror in the cavity) that there are two “open” holes in the lower part of the cavity:


I removed my rubber mat from the back of the car and the trim part, removed a grommet, and did put a stick with some absorbing paper wrapped to it, and it came back completely wet.

Therefore, there is water in that cavity, and while driving, waves of water go from this lower cavity to the slightly higher cavity under the hydraulic jack.


I also removed another grommet to double check:



I tried to look at other factory pictures of the body of the car, but I don’t find an explanation yet.

As I don’t have the towing option, I also made some pictures through the hole of the towing connector, but at first sight I don’t miss grommets, but to be completely sure, I should need an endoscope!



I think I am very close to finding the real cause of the water infiltration, but need help from my dealer I guess? Wish me good luck, I am not sure he will believe me at once.

Any help appreciated.

Jean Mercier said:

Some months ago I discovered a water pond under my jack at this place:
https://www.theineosforum.com/threa...nadier-today.12411127/page-94#post-1333225304
View attachment 7837767

The cavity only gets about half a centimeter water height and “only while driving in the rain”, well, that’s what I thought. Not in standstill in heavy rain, everything stays dry!

I checked, by placing some towels in the upper parts of the cavity, if it came from above the cavity, and no! The cloths stayed dry, and the cavity got a water pond.

Told this to my workshop, and they didn’t find the origin, but they only hosed the car! I told them clearly: “only while driving”.

Some days ago, after it had rained several days, and after making the cavity dry again, I had to drive on a dry road, no river crossings (still have to find one in Belgium). And to my surprise, even after driving only like 20km, there was again water in the cavity.

My conclusion: the water is coming from somewhere else in the car, therefore there is another pond in the car. I continued my diagnosis, and found (by putting a mirror in the cavity) that there are two “open” holes in the lower part of the cavity:
View attachment 7837768

I removed my rubber mat from the back of the car and the trim part, removed a grommet, and did put a stick with some absorbing paper wrapped to it, and it came back completely wet.
View attachment 7837771
Therefore, there is water in that cavity, and while driving, waves of water go from this lower cavity to the slightly higher cavity under the hydraulic jack.
View attachment 7837769

I also removed another grommet to double check:
View attachment 7837772
View attachment 7837773

I tried to look at other factory pictures of the body of the car, but I don’t find an explanation yet.

As I don’t have the towing option, I also made some pictures through the hole of the towing connector, but at first sight I don’t miss grommets, but to be completely sure, I should need an endoscope!

View attachment 7837774

I think I am very close to finding the real cause of the water infiltration, but need help from my dealer I guess? Wish me good luck, I am not sure he will believe me at once.

Any help appreciated.

Click to expand...

Hi @Jean Mercier , thank you very much for the detailed description. I had already removed all the trim in these places and looked at the cavities with a camera. However, not because of water but because it always vibrated quietly. I have found the cause. It was a screw that the French had dropped in and they had left it there and used another one.

But now I'll have to have a look at the water at the next opportunity.

rovie said:

Hi @Jean Mercier , thank you very much for the detailed description. I had already removed all the trim in these places and looked at the cavities with a camera. However, not because of water but because it always vibrated quietly. I have found the cause. It was a screw that the French had dropped in and they had left it there and used another one.

But now I'll have to have a look at the water at the next opportunity.

Click to expand...

If you still have pictures of the cavity, it would be nice to share. Perhaps I have a missing grommet that I couldn't see. Good for you that you found your "problem".

Such great investigations Jean. I’m sure we will all appreciate your boldness at disassembly at some time in our eventual ownership!

Jean Mercier said:

If you still have pictures of the cavity, it would be nice to share. Perhaps I have a missing grommet that I couldn't see. Good for you that you found your "problem".

Click to expand...

I believe that I have always shared all the pictures so that others can benefit. I only looked at the stick camera, but didn't take any photos. What a pity. We could use the pictures now.
But I'll have another look at my photo archive.

rovie said:

I believe that I have always shared all the pictures so that others can benefit. I only looked at the stick camera, but didn't take any photos. What a pity. We could use the pictures now.
But I'll have another look at my photo archive.

Click to expand...

Could be I overlooked some of your posts, and I know you share really a lot. But I don't remember pictures of that cavity, or perhaps I was not interested at that time.

Jean Mercier said:

Could be I overlooked some of your posts, and I know you share really a lot. But I don't remember pictures of that cavity, or perhaps I was not interested at that time.

Click to expand...

Yes, that's what I meant too. My camera was too big for the remote corners of the bodywork. And I definitely didn't use the inspection system camera.

Jean Mercier said:

Some months ago I discovered a water pond under my jack at this place:
https://www.theineosforum.com/threa...nadier-today.12411127/page-94#post-1333225304
View attachment 7837767

The cavity only gets about half a centimeter water height and “only while driving in the rain”, well, that’s what I thought. Not in standstill in heavy rain, everything stays dry!

I checked, by placing some towels in the upper parts of the cavity, if it came from above the cavity, and no! The cloths stayed dry, and the cavity got a water pond.

Told this to my workshop, and they didn’t find the origin, but they only hosed the car! I told them clearly: “only while driving”.

Some days ago, after it had rained several days, and after making the cavity dry again, I had to drive on a dry road, no river crossings (still have to find one in Belgium). And to my surprise, even after driving only like 20km, there was again water in the cavity.

My conclusion: the water is coming from somewhere else in the car, therefore there is another pond in the car. I continued my diagnosis, and found (by putting a mirror in the cavity) that there are two “open” holes in the lower part of the cavity:
View attachment 7837768

I removed my rubber mat from the back of the car and the trim part, removed a grommet, and did put a stick with some absorbing paper wrapped to it, and it came back completely wet.
View attachment 7837771
Therefore, there is water in that cavity, and while driving, waves of water go from this lower cavity to the slightly higher cavity under the hydraulic jack.
View attachment 7837769

I also removed another grommet to double check:
View attachment 7837772
View attachment 7837773

I tried to look at other factory pictures of the body of the car, but I don’t find an explanation yet.

As I don’t have the towing option, I also made some pictures through the hole of the towing connector, but at first sight I don’t miss grommets, but to be completely sure, I should need an endoscope!

View attachment 7837774

I think I am very close to finding the real cause of the water infiltration, but need help from my dealer I guess? Wish me good luck, I am not sure he will believe me at once.

Any help appreciated.

Click to expand...

Hi Jean . I dont have any clues, but given my car is currently in dealer for footwell water ingress from the roof since day 1 here's another hypothesis.
Unless we have a complete 3D image of the body showing all cavities and routes, we cant discount that there is a complete 'underground' cavern of interconnecting chambers. All would slosh around to any low point. There are plenty of medical folks on the forum - one just needs to 'borrow' some operating theatre scopes for the answer ?