Water in drivers side footwell

[scotty]

Hi Ant, (sorry this is a long message)...

I have read other threads regarding this problem and to temp. fix my problem I have taped over the air vents either side of the windscreen wiper. This has stopped the water getting in. I had already checked the drain hole and it was clear but sadly the damage has already been done !
If I feel round the big heater blower motor I can feel the corroded metalwork and get bits of rust falling down. My Brake pedal feels sound and doesn't move laterally.
Question is, is it the end of the line for my C15 hightop, or is it fixable ?
I would hate to part with it as the rest of the vehicle is fully working and I love it to bits !
Second Question is, what if I do nothing and just live with taped up vents ?
will the blower motor just drop out one day or is it more sever than that.
Any idea of a rough estimate to do a repair. The van is 1994 and has done
just over 70,000.
Regards
Scotty.

[ant]

Hi Scotty.
Sadly you have a very common problem that effects many older C15s, to just ignore it will ultimately lead to the demise of the beastie. Your brake pedal may not flex the bulk yet but as the rust spreads it will, and at that point it becomes a safety issue. If you take the heater blower unit down ( remove the shelf, the speaker and 2 10mm nuts that hold the blower), then unplug the wires you'll be able to see just how bad the rust has got. If it's not too bad you may be able to treat the rust to slow its' progress and patch the leaky bit. If it all falls on the floor, as it is prone to doing, you'll need to get it welded. Sometimes the entire dash board has to come out so as not to burn the place down during welding, other times a fireman ( or woman in my case) keeping an eye on things as you weld will do.
It can be quite costly if the rust is quite bad, major bulkhead repairs can go into 4 figures, but without an MOT the van has no value! Do you spend a bit of money on what you know and love or do you spend a bit more money on what you hope has no problems? Not any easy call, but I don't advise doing nothing as your saftey may be at risk.
Thanks
Ant

[scotty]

Hi Ant,
Many thanks for the reply. Sounds like I have to think about the best way
forward from here. The van always passes it's MOT with flying colours.

I will take a look at the problem but I fear it is going to be pretty bad.

After removing the blower motor, can the blower assy.hole be seen from within the engine bay ? or do you have to patch up any damage from inside the cab ? I was thinking of maybe using fibreglass if the damage is only near the blower motor.
Anything other than just patching up a few rust holes will be well beyond my capabilities. At that point, I guess I need to think about getting a newer romahome. Can't be without one.!
Can the fibreglass camper bit be put on another newer C15 (if one was available) ??
Regards
scotty.

[ant]

Hi Scotty.
Most of the access will be from inside although you can remove the panel behind the jack and wheel brace to gain access to the otherside of the blower inlet. Also you can remove the vent to the right of the dash board which will allow you to see the area to the right of the blower.
As for body swapping, I'm not a fan, too much of the original structural integrity is risked when swaps are made. ( If it was a good idea Romahome would offer the service!)
Thanks
Ant

[scotty]

Hi Ant,

Thanks for the info. I dropped the heater blower out and the good news is that there was a small hole about the diameter of my thumb on the right side of the blower. After cutting back to good metal it was about 3 times that size. I filled it with aluminium mesh and Isopon P40 followed by
a good coating of Megaseal. I am pretty sure that this will be a good fix.

The rest of the bulkhead seems to be in good order.

Many thanks again for the help and advice.

Regards
Scotty