Peugeot / Fiat Water Ingress Again

[kelly58]

I have just had my Peugeot in for its 1st 2 year service  and the dealer has fitted an Engine Cover under warranty " F.O.C " which looks ok with regards stopping water from getting to the cylinder head.

[mirage]

I have the engine cover fitted and the centre join sealed but water can still reach compartment etc from drain holes either side of windscreen wipers, has anyone had a dealer fix, mine is a Peugeot.

[Teasy2007]

Hi, could you please tell me which Peugeot garage you took your motorhome to for its service? If it is close enough to us we will use them, if not I will use your post to try and make our Peugeot garage admit there is a problem. We spoke to Peugeot Coventry 4/5 months ago and were told they would not be fitting engine covers.

 

Perhaps there has been a change of heart, or so many complaints they are finally putting the problem right.

 

Either way, we really appreciate your posting the photographs and information so the rest of the Peugeot owners can get the fault corrected.

 

Thanks

 

Ginny and Mike

[libby]

That's cost them! The tooling would be around £15,000 plus the production costs of the plastic item (assuming it is plastic?)

[Teasy2007]

I contacted my local Peugeot dealer in Sheffield re the engine cover and they confirmed that this was now being fitted FOC under warranty.

 

After nearly 10 months of telephoning, writing etc we are taking it in on Monday for work which should have been completed months ago!

 

Lets hope when they check the scuttle and the problems with the water either side of the windscreen wiper they will be able to come up with a solution for that as well.

 

Thanks again for the post!

[Geoff Cole]

 

 

The Fiat engine irrigation system

 

 

Whilst waiting for Fiat to come up with a solution I have looked into this problem in some detail and have solved the problem on my own vehicle.

 

In my opinion the Fiat water ingress problem has not been solved. Although Fiat are fitting engine covers on some models, along with rubber covers on vulnerable bits under the bonnet and the fitting of a “bucket” to collect the water from the leaking scuttle.this does not cure the problem nor does sealing the windscreen scuttle. Fitting engine covers in my opinion is rather like covering up dry rot with plaster board. I prefer to keep the area dry in the first place,and see whats going on

 

Standing under a leaking roof with an umbrella does not mend the roof! I have investigated the problem on my own camper on a Fiat X250 chassis fitted with a 100-multijet engine. I have also carried out a number of tests on my own vehicle before undertaking any remedial work in order to see where the water enters the engine bay.

 

From a hose I sprayed water onto the windscreen and bonnet, my findings were that water enters between the bonnet and headlamps, and around the headlamps, between the infill panels above the headlamps, as well as between the scuttle and the windscreen and through the scuttle join, which only overlaps by about 3-4mm.

 

A large amount of water also runs down the windscreen edges where it is bonded onto the vehicle,then under the scuttle rubber and onto the relays and electrical components fitted to the side of the engine bay. Water also collects in the well formed at each end of the scuttle, the 3mm drain holes get blocked and water enters the wiper bearing on the right hand side before overflowing into the engine bay. Water also leaks between the air intake seal when parked nose down and as the scuttle drain is located on the right hand side of the scuttle, water runs to the left and overflows into the engine bay when parked normally with the road camber on the left.

 

I am very concerned that there are going to be problems in the future if water is not kept out of the engine bay, not only with the electrical systems, and siezing up of wiper bearings, but also with premature corrosion of the bulkhead between the engine bay and cab. Water trapped under the scuttle, plus condensation could cause this corrosion.

 

Fiat’s fix of increasing the 3mm drain holes to10mm each end of the scuttle so that water drains over the back of the headlamps is in my opinion just making matters worse. Also my own vehicle had the two 20mm blanking covers missing from each end of the scuttle, allowing copious amount of water in.

 

. I have fitted an extra drain in the scuttle on the left, as well as the one each end and one in the air intake box, using 18mm stailess steel inserts and 25mm flexible conduit attatched to these, then routed to the bottom of the engine bay.

The other problem is that the panels fitted above the headlamps on my vehicle do not have a wide enough flange for the bonnet to seal against when closed. There is no rubber seal fitted to the bonnet as standard on these vehicles, there was a visible gap which allowed water to enter the engine compartment. The way I solved this is to glue a 12mm strip of plasticard to the panel, then filled and sprayed to match the colour. This allows the bonnet seal to sit on the panel and make the area watertight. I used 3M windscreen sealant to seal the scuttle and seal around the headlamps.

 

Whilst I was carrying out this work I re-lubricated the windscreen wiper bearings as they had suffered from water damage and sprayed the area with duck oil before refitting the scuttle. I then cleaned the engine and sprayed with duck oil to give extra protection from the elements.I used “P” section self adhesive draft excluder for the bonnet seal.

 

I hope by doing this I have prevented future electrical and associated problems due to water ingress. There are obviously design problems here and no doubt Fiat will sort it out eventually, meanwhile I have a vested interest in protecting my investment from the damage that will be caused in the medium or long term if water is allowed into the engine bay.

 

I cannot understand why Fiat & Co have spent a great deal of money producing bits to bodge up the problem instead of redesigning the scuttle with spiggots for drain tubes and curing the problem, from what I have seen vehicles are still being produced with the same problem.

I have attached some pics

Regards Geoff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[libby]

And yet another good reason me thinks, not to buy one.

 

Perhaps they should add a rider to their sales brochures "Should only be bought by practicing engineers" or those persons competant in addressing metal working problems.