Niagara falls inside the car

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Brian King
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Niagara falls inside the car

Post by Brian King »

When it has been raining and I set off in the car, I get a huge waterfall either along the tops of the front doors (inside!) or through the rear radio speakers, depending on whether I am accellerating or braking. The floor and the seats are soaking. Is this the sunroof? I have blown and sucked both drain pipes in the rear light clusters and they seem free.
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Post by Barnsley BXer »

Stick a piece of curtain wire or similar up,that should do the trick.If you look at the top of the page,there's the search thingy.Type Sunroof inti it and it will give you all the relevant posts
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Post by docchevron »

Theres also two drain tubes in the front. They run down the "A" pillars behind the plastic trims. If you grope around under the dash you can feel them. The N/S tube is a bit difficult to get at cos the fusebox tends to get in the way....

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Post by ken newbold »

Have you now christened your car "the maid of the mist" :lol:
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Post by MULLEY »

I had the same experience in the Gti, except it came out of the rear speaker, quite funny actually. I got a mechanic to blow them out with air which may be safer than sticking things down them incase you puncture them & then u really are fxxxxd.....

Or can they be easily replaced? (somehow i doubt it).
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Post by docchevron »

MULLEY wrote: Or can they be easily replaced? (somehow i doubt it).
Hell no! they be a total B&$%ard to replace, although the pipes are well made and very thick (bit like me!) so ubless your ramming something really sharp up them you'd be hard pushed to puncture them.
Air under pressure is defo best though. I blow both of my cars through every 6 months, just to make sure :wink:

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Post by DLM »

Air is a better idea than sharp pointy things, as the drain tubes started life as clear soft plastic, but the main problem is that a number of potential blockage-causers -gunk, rust and flaked-off paint from the sunroof internals, and a bit of velcro that self-detaches from inside the sunroof void - will always tend to be driven towards the drain holes by the water that's trying to drain away. It's a bit of a daft design, but not unique to Citroen (e.g. Ford Escort Mk 3).

There are a couple of other things worth checking, though. Backups in the tubes can be caused when the drain holes at the bottom of the front still get blocked. These are more amenable to the sharp-pointy-thing treatment.

To blow back up the front drain tubes, it is possible to access them from inside the car (put your washing-up bowl in place first, though). Carefully remove the complete switch-holder unit where the fog-lights and mirror switches go on upmarket models, then you can feel your way into a hole on the inside of the A-pillar.

The bottom end of the drain tube can be pulled out from here, blown out and carefully replaced. I'd say compressed air is overkill though, as you risk blowing the tube off its push-fit into the sunroof.
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Post by Way2go »

[quote="DLM"]
it is possible to access them from inside the car, you can feel your way into a hole on the inside of the A-pillar.

The bottom end of the drain tube can be pulled out from here, blown out and carefully replaced quote]

Does this drain inside the wing then or does the tube go though to the outside? :?
Just wondering if you get a build up of debris inside the wing?
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Post by docchevron »

It drains into the wing. You'd have to have a monumental build up of crap to block it though!!
If you open eith front door and look at the bottom of the pillar you'll see a little lip where it joins the sill, it drains through here!
Its easy to modify the pipes to run out into the scuttle though!

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Post by Way2go »

docchevron1472 wrote:It drains into the wing. You'd have to have a monumental build up of crap to block it though!!
I'm a little surprised at this revelation due to damp/rot implications but thanks for the info - another item towards getting to know your BX better! :D
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Brian King
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Post by Brian King »

Thanks everybody. One piece of advice I got was to access the front drain tubes inside the A posts, cut through them and blow the top piece upwards and the bottom one downwards. Need to get a joining piece afterwards.
One thing everybody seems unanimous about is the impossibility of accessing any drain tubes from the top !
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Post by BX Bandit »

Unless you drop your roof lining!! Probably not worth in the light of the info above but as I had a persistent problem I dropped it to have a look. I found that there is a small hard drain tube fixed to the roof lining, only about 20mm long. The clear plastic flexible tube is attached to this and runs down the A pillar on the front, C pillar on the back. Anyway this hard plastic drain tube had come loose from the lining so I sealed them all up to prevent leakage. Seems ok so far :D
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Post by DLM »

To truly tackle the problem for a year or three. a headlining drop IS the way to go, and it's not nearly as bad as you might think. However, it's a job best done in the summer unless you have use of a secure covered work area, the weather at this time of year being what it is....

It's the rear drainage wells that back up more than the front (prior to rotting out completely if this isn't spotted in time). This is one of several things that can cause the rear end of BX hatch to rot out., and I'd strongly recommend stripping out the boot carpet on any BX hatch for a good check, particularly over the towbar mounting points and at the point where the boot floor and rear panel meet.

A previous owner would have had to be going it some in the mud collection stakes to block the front sill drain, but stranger things have been known (see below).

It's possible to divert the rear drainage tubes so they drain onto the bumper, if I remember rightly. I've now got an estate again so I can be smugly vague about it for the time being - until this particular estate rots out from the bottom because of a liberal application of mud underseal over many years.
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