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Leak somewhere in van.

Delabrum

Member
Messages
58
Location
Saltburn-by-the-Sea
I’ve noticed in the last couple of weeks that water keeps appearing every now and then just under the drivers seat. When I pull the seat forward, the carpeting just behind the seat has a puddle of water that when I drive about is spewing over into the footwell. I can’t figure out where it’s coming from as when I fill the tank on an evening it seems to be at the same level in the morning and I don’t see any obvious signs of leaking between the tank and the reels.

I appreciate that’s it’s probably difficult to visualize so I’ve included a picture of where the water is appearing.

How big a deal is this? If left unchecked will it eventually rust the underneath of the van?

05DA6945-669B-487E-9625-D3C1FB60E4DD.jpeg

 
I’ve noticed in the last couple of weeks that water keeps appearing every now and then just under the drivers seat. When I pull the seat forward, the carpeting just behind the seat has a puddle of water that when I drive about is spewing over into the footwell. I can’t figure out where it’s coming from as when I fill the tank on an evening it seems to be at the same level in the morning and I don’t see any obvious signs of leaking between the tank and the reels.

I appreciate that’s it’s probably difficult to visualize so I’ve included a picture of where the water is appearing.

How big a deal is this? If left unchecked will it eventually rust the underneath of the van?

View attachment 22472
Could there be a leak from a door seal or something rather than your wfp system maybe ??? Having said that a cup full of water looks a lot on the floor but you wouldn’t notice any drop in tank level .

 
Could be leaking from the breather when you're driving to the first job if you brim your tank.
I do tend to fill the tank pretty full. Regularly right to the top. I’ve only been doing WFP for 7 months so I didn’t realize it’s not the best idea to fill it that full. I’ll start leaving a couple of inches and see if that makes a difference. 

Could there be a leak from a door seal or something rather than your wfp system maybe ??? Having said that a cup full of water looks a lot on the floor but you wouldn’t notice any drop in tank level .
I don’t think it can be a leaky door seal as we haven’t really had any rain the past week or so yet this small puddle keeps reappearing. 
 

Underneath the carpeting is pretty sodden. Should I try and dry that out? There’s just so little room behind the seat to mop it up, it’s an absolute pain in the **** to get to!

 
I do tend to fill the tank pretty full. Regularly right to the top. I’ve only been doing WFP for 7 months so I didn’t realize it’s not the best idea to fill it that full. I’ll start leaving a couple of inches and see if that makes a difference. 

I don’t think it can be a leaky door seal as we haven’t really had any rain the past week or so yet this small puddle keeps reappearing. 
 

Underneath the carpeting is pretty sodden. Should I try and dry that out? There’s just so little room behind the seat to mop it up, it’s an absolute pain in the **** to get to!
Yes I would dry it out and don’t fill the tank so high , it could be sloshing out of the vent whilst driving about 

 
I'd take out the carpet and dispose of it. Perhaps use it as a pattern first for some non-absorbant replacement. Rubber or vinyl perhaps. The carpet will just soak and hold water, possibly for months. If it happened once it will almost certainly happen again. I'd dry and waxoil the floor first.

 
Depending on the van, some of the car derived vans have a plate on the van floor where rear passengers would have put feet. So you get a double floor and an extra route for water to get to the cab carpet. Might be worth trying to seal cab from van so even if you do have a leak it doesn't get to the cab. 

 
Depending on the van, some of the car derived vans have a plate on the van floor where rear passengers would have put feet. So you get a double floor and an extra route for water to get to the cab carpet. Might be worth trying to seal cab from van so even if you do have a leak it doesn't get to the cab. 
And this is exactly why I fibreglassed the floor of my son's second van @Delabrum; a 'car derived' Citroen Berlingo. I fiberglassed about 2" up the sides as well so its an enclosed tub. Spilled water can only escape through the back doors.

Water leaking from hose reels is also a possibility. We do still take our hose reels out of the van. Before we pack them away the joining hose from the van ports to the hose reels are emptied of water, The internal pole hose is emptied of water and the brush head given a shake before being put back.

I have a few Hozelock tap connectors filled with adhesive silicone. These push onto the hose reel connector so the hose reel doesn't drip inside the van.

In the winter we do get a bit of condensation forming on the inside of the van's roof. I use a towel to dry the roof off when its needed.

I also do not brim the tank. I have found that a thin smear of Vaseline on the seal of the tank's filler cap helps to stop water leaks at that point. It won't stop water escaping through the vent but a towel around the top usually catches that.

There could also be a water leak on the tank's outlet.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I brim my tank everyday and only get a small amount of water leaking out the breather valve, I just place a cloth over the lid and there is barely a cup full that has leaked out, 

Also baffled as to why your van is carpeted as well as it's usually wipe cleaning vinyl type lining in the cab.

 
I brim my tank everyday and only get a small amount of water leaking out the breather valve, I just place a cloth over the lid and there is barely a cup full that has leaked out, 

Also baffled as to why your van is carpeted as well as it's usually wipe cleaning vinyl type lining in the cab.
What Citroen and Peugeot did back in the day for example was to use the same carpet in the van as they did in the people carrier. So in that particular model there is carpeting in the rear footwells in the van that is the same as the Multispace. They also use the same wiring harness in the van as they do in the people carrier, hence there is the loom for the central locking for a non existent right hand side sliding door.

My son in law had a 53 plate Ford Transit Connect T220lwb van. The rear wiring harness is the same as the people carrier. The people carrier had an additional auxiliary power socket which the early vans didn't have. It was easy to buy a socket and plug it in. The fuse holder even had provision for a fuse for this non existent socket.  You just had to fit a 15 amp fuse into the empty slot.

 
The above comments are probably your answer. 
I have filled my tank to the brim, but through the breather hole it sloshes about and goes into the van behind the seats. So now I fill it a little less, then put a bag over the tank hole, put my lid on, then travel to first job and remove. I must admit I get a little bit of water, but my van is similar to @spruce I have a tub effect. 
you don’t want water anywhere it smells horrid and ruins your van. 

 
I have had problems with water leaking from the tank lid and breather when it’s full. I’ve got a sheet of bubble wrap with large bubbles the same as the footprint of my tank. Put that in and it floats on top of the water and prevents too much hitting the top of the tank as I drive. Just push it out the way when I fill up and flatten it out when I remove the fill up hose

 
Underneath the carpeting is pretty sodden. Should I try and dry that out? There’s just so little room behind the seat to mop it up, it’s an absolute pain in the **** to get to!
Go to ASDA and buy some of their wooden cat litter pellets (not Fuller's earth, it must be wood).

Sprinkle under the carpet, behind the tank, anywhere that water might be. You won't see an instant effect but by the next morning all those round pellets will be saw dust that has absorbed water. Vacuum it out (you'll have to empty the vacuum many times) and then reapply fresh pellets especially round the tank - this will help you see if the water is coming from the tank or not. Also sprinkle round your pump, hoses, etc.

Yes the van will look a bit messy for a few days but it will work and hopefully you'll find the leak and fix it. If not, at least you know how to dry out the water!

 
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