Can this section in the footwell be removed easily?

Darren S · Oct 17, 2025

So, I’m addressing some of the water ingress in the front passenger footwell.

I’ve taken the sponge out (pissed wet through and sopping) - but noticed the backing on this brown sheeting section is very wet on the back of it. Press it and some drips run down.

Is it possible to remove & dry it? Or is it a dash out job to get to it?

All scuttle drains now cleared out and removed of excess water.

Cheers.

Mr Trailer Man · Oct 17, 2025

The heater matrix pipe pass through it and linked both sides.

You'd have to cut it.

Louis · Oct 17, 2025

Id just leave a dehumidifier in it tbh.

Brigsy · Oct 17, 2025

Dash out. As above dehumidifier will get it.

Darren S · Oct 17, 2025

Thanks all. Got a dehumidifier here - I'll chuck that in over a days and nights.

Any ideas how it will have gotten wet in the first place? Heater matrix pipe leak possibly? Or could blocked scuttle drains do similar?

Yarp · Oct 17, 2025

It’ll more than likely be the scuttle drain. It pops out behind the block and it’ll be bunged up with shite.

If not then they sometimes leak where the bonnet cable comes through but less likely to be that.

The drain isn’t the easiest of things to get to from the top. If, like mine, the wiper arms decide they aren’t coming off then you can’t get it from that side. You can see the pipe it drains into on the firewall where it cuts back towards the middle of the car. There’s a flappy thing on the end so if you move that you should hopefully be able to poke something up it to clear it. Might take a few flushes with water to get it and if you do it from underneath be prepared to get covered in some nasty sludge 😂

Darren S · Oct 17, 2025

Yarp said:
It’ll more than likely be the scuttle drain. It pops out behind the block and it’ll be bunged up with shite.

If not then they sometimes leak where the bonnet cable comes through but less likely to be that.

The drain isn’t the easiest of things to get to from the top. If, like mine, the wiper arms decide they aren’t coming off then you can’t get it from that side. You can see the pipe it drains into on the firewall where it cuts back towards the middle of the car. There’s a flappy thing on the end so if you move that you should hopefully be able to poke something up it to clear it. Might take a few flushes with water to get it and if you do it from underneath be prepared to get covered in some nasty sludge 😂

Cheers mate - did do the whole 'rinse & repeat' of drain clearing last week. Got a length of flexi tubing which I've found to be excellent at clearing out the central drain. Had the washer bottle out at the same time doing some general tidying up and the drain that side was definitely clear. Ran plenty of water through the driver's side too, so (for now!) all seems good.

As said on another post I made, it's a s**t design. It really is...

Brigsy · Oct 18, 2025

Hosepipe test on it. From memory the heater box can leak around the foam gasket if the scuttle is blocked.

Darren S · Tuesday at 7:55 AM

......and a pissed-wet through driver's footwell again yesterday. Passenger side is surprisingly fine.

What an absolutely s**t design this is.....

ex-Chinese Dave · Wednesday at 11:34 AM

Does the wetness smell of coolant? If not then surely it's not from the matrix and must be from a grommet or similar letting in water. It only rained a little here yesterday so did it get very wet from that or from something else?

clio_ross · 2026-01-17T20:19:03+0000

As @Brigsy said, if the scuttle drains are all clear, then it’s most likely the foam seal (or rather lack of it, if like mine, the foam will literally fall apart if you touch it) round the heater box ducting where is passes through the bulkhead. This, in turn, allows any water around the central scuttle drain to run down/behind the bulkhead sponge and essentially fills the floor up until, if it’s as bad as mine was, it comes up through the carpet.

There’s a thread on here about it and with better pictures but I cannot for the life of me find it currently, but in short, it’s a case of taking off the ducting piece, removing all the old foam and using silicone or plumbers mate (as I did) to form a new seal

It does feel like a bodge repair, but mines had been like that for 3 years now and th leak is no more.

Hope this helps.

Darren S · 2026-01-17T21:37:05+0000

ex-Chinese Dave said:
Does the wetness smell of coolant? If not then surely it's not from the matrix and must be from a grommet or similar letting in water. It only rained a little here yesterday so did it get very wet from that or from something else?

Think it's mainly just a bit musty more than anything. It did absolutely piss it down here prior to the leak (convinced we have our own weather systems here) - but it had been well into the freezing numbers just prior to that. Stupid piss-ant central drain probably got frozen over with 2 drops of water which in turn clogged it up for when the rains came.

Darren S · 2026-01-17T21:41:09+0000

clio_ross said:
As @Brigsy said, if the scuttle drains are all clear, then it’s most likely the foam seal (or rather lack of it, if like mine, the foam will literally fall apart if you touch it) round the heater box ducting where is passes through the bulkhead. This, in turn, allows any water around the central scuttle drain to run down/behind the bulkhead sponge and essentially fills the floor up until, if it’s as bad as mine was, it comes up through the carpet.

There’s a thread on here about it and with better pictures but I cannot for the life of me find it currently, but in short, it’s a case of taking off the ducting piece, removing all the old foam and using silicone or plumbers mate (as I did) to form a new seal

View attachment 1774334

It does feel like a bodge repair, but mines had been like that for 3 years now and th leak is no more.

Hope this helps.

I took mine off the other month, but siliconed around the inner edge of that funnel - not the outside edge like you have done. A shame that piece doesn't come out, even with the washer bottle removed - and can only come out the left side with all the other components and plumbing having been removed. Would make it so easy to do if it could just lift straight out vertically.

Good to hear that you've been dry for over three years - sounds like an alcoholism thread,,,,,

I'll redo it when we get a day or two of decent weather - cheers.

clio_ross · 2026-01-17T22:03:12+0000

Yeah it’s a PITA that you can’t remove, that’s why I ended up down the plumbers mate route; rolled long sausage lengths to put the cover down on to and then used some more to seal round the edge of the ducting and the scuttle itself.

You know now I’ve said this, my carpet will be soaking wet, despite the car being under cover for winter 😂

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Can this section in the footwell be removed easily?

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