Duetto wet carpet in cab

Hi does anybody Know how water can make the carpet wet in the cab particularly between the two front seats and in front of the drivers seat? There isn't anything obvious from inside the MH was wandering if there are any pipes we don't Know of under that area that maybe letting water in from underneath. Any help on this recent problem would be gratefully received. Thank you June

Heater matrix? Does it smell of antifreeze?

Frank

Joony wrote:was wandering if there are any pipes we don't Know of under that area that maybe letting water in from underneath.

No pipes that I'm aware of that aren't engine-related. It's possible that it's coming from underneath but I've never seen that - you would need a fairly big hole somewhere to let lots of water in from road spray underneath.

The culprit almost always seems to be the windscreen surround. Have you checked for accumulated leaves, etc at the base of the windscreen (on the Mk5 under a black plastic cover).

Hi thanks for your reply. It doesn't smell of anything and the water looks clean. It doesn't seem to matter which way it is parked as in uphill or down hill either. It's a real puzzle .

The reason I mentioned accumulation of crud is that what can happen is that it creates a siphon effect, bridging from the dip below the screen up behind the glass itself, so it continues even when the van is not level. Because of the plastic trim you generally can't see what's down there without a torch and close scrutiny...

What age is your Duetto?
On my 2001 Hymer with cab aircon I frequently had aircon condensation dripping onto rubber csrpets. It was never cured. I think it may have been a faulty stat on the condenser unit, which switches off if it gets too iced.

The leak in the front cab 'is the windscreen' trust me I'm a pro at this now! The way to doubly, doubly, check is to open the bonnet & look at the round coolant thingy if its empty or, if you top it up & it empties (over a period of time) & you have a wet carpet it's the heater matrix, but this is unlikely.

The leak from the windscreen is usually coming in from under/around the central air intake scoop at the bottom of the windscreen/bonnet.

The water will be getting in at the base of the screen & coming down the driver or passenger footwell & collecting between the seats where the gear stick is (because of the shape of the van).

Depending upon the severity (mine was niagra falls) its either a mega sealant session or a new screen. My screen was delaminating along the bottom so I had the screen replaced for which you'll need the top seal (from autosleepers) & to have the rivets taken out the old seal upon removal and new rivets fitted with the new seal.

Obviously I'm talking duetto here other models may vary.

I also had to have the carpets & seats removed to dry them out. All good now though & I'm glad I had the top seal replaced as most windscreen fitters just Stanley blade the old top seal and then re-seal it which looks horrible & doesn't works as well as its a rust magnet around that top if the screen area.

Joony, Tim at Island Motorhomes 'is the man' he fitted the seal. oz at island wide windscreens did a good job of fitting the new screen but didn't seal it properly around the edges & it leaked a second time.

It is very easy to tell the difference between coolant on the one hand, aircon condensation and rain entry. Coolant smells, rain entry is usually a bit dirty and condensation from aircon is perfectly clean. Mine WAS the last - but that was a 2001 2.8 JTD Fiat based Hymer, not a Duetto.

Hi Thank you for your help. Special thanks to Sovell001 for all the info will def be contacting Tim as neither of us are much good when it comes to mechanics or leaky things.
So glad we joined this forum and ASOC as we're fairly new to the MH scene.
Hope the weather improves soon so we can get out and about more.