boy-racer-1

ok well the shell of this sierra is a rather suprisingly minter, no rust near/around battery tray bulkhead sills doors or anything, absolutely rust free, and the heater is playing up terrible making a racket and not really working, could the heater be the reason im geting a 10mm puddle in the footwell mostly? or would it be something else, i know its not cosworth but surely its similar?

any help would be much appreciated as i dont want this to keep happening and geting rusty floorpans from inside out

nick

zetec-Sam

iTrader: (2)

is it coolant in the footwell? if so, could be the heater matrix.

boy-racer-1

i dont know ill put some pink coolant in and surely ill be able to soak up some kind of colour and know if it is or not

boy-racer-1

i know nothing about heaters and how they work btw lol

fatmike

iTrader: (4)

probably the heater matrix mate. They can go from time to time. Hope you are flexible or a contortionist as they are nice and awkward to get to lol

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

This is not uncommon if the car is outside it could well just be water from outside, where the scuttle panel is pour some water down there, it should come straight out under car but if you have a hole it will leak into the footwell.

The heater is basically a mirror of the coolant system and has a valve to allow hot/cold and a fan (Blower) in the matrix that send the air down ducting that comes out the air vents. You divert the air the appropiate way via another control.

If it is heater it will be antifreeze and you can see/smell it, assuming you have anti freeze if not you will soon be running into problems.

Martin

silky16v

iTrader: (1)

not a hard job to see where its leaking in just remove the front seat and the rear bench, undo the plastic sill runner and then lift out the carpet and under floor sound deadening, start your car and let it get upto temp and see where the water is coning from, if your heater are mint warm and no water coming down from heater matrix my guess is that 1 of the bulk head bungs has come out and it leaking water in from around where the pedal box is quite a common problem when previous owners have fitted cabling or boost pipes and not fitted them through the rubber bung. you get a 2" hole right below the front strut top that water runs down and right in to the foot well

tabetha

Is it using water, if the answer is no it's not the matrix.
It's very unlikely to be the matrix causing it to have water in the rear footwell, there are various areas that leak, but check the obvious, make sure the door drains are clear, and if all else fails do the water test with the seats/crapet removed.
A fave place at the front is the bonnet pull cable, where it passes through the bulkhead there is a gap between the cable and the rather lagre and probably perished grommet around it, water comes inhere and drips off brake pedal, quiet a lot of water can get in here, but nowhere near as much as you are getting.
You don't mention it using water, it it were the heater matrix you would of course be losing water at a hell of a rate to fill the footwells, and the car would be contantly steaming up and spewing steam once warm from the heater vents, they do when they are that far gone, ask any vauxhall owner.
The noise you hear is most likely just the fan motor for the heater, but very easy to replace, or even oil, my old sierra I put 2 drops of oil on the broznze bush bearing of the motor every six months or so, lasted forever, they usually start with s screaming noise that last longer and longer, but 15 minute job to replace.
The matrix if gone is not a hard job at all, a bit long winded perhaps, but doable by any competent diy er.
tabetha