Another wet passenger footwell

[Stevers]

I've had a wet passenger footwell twice on my Pug 306 HDi GLX Estate and each time it was the little rubber pipe that loops into the A pillar just above the carpet.  The first time I LS-X'd the top of the pipe back into place and that fixed it for a while.  This time the damage to the rubber membrane was worse so I cut a couple of brass squares and soldered some telescoping brass tube into them so that I could sandwich the membrane between the plates and end up with a spigot to attach the pipe to.  I used a screw (in a little yellow rawlplug) to hold it while I glued it into place with black silicon gasket glue.   We've had plenty of rain in the last couple of days, and the well is still dry!
   

The pipe doesn't seem to be attached to anything on the other side of the membrane, so what on earth does this pipe do?  How can this repair actually work!

Thanks,

Steve

[Mighty306]

Sorry, I really have no idea how that pipe works. Allows moisture to evaporate out to other side of membrane? Couldn't quite work out where in the footwell it's located.

[Stevers]

Sorry, I really have no idea how that pipe works. Allows moisture to evaporate out to other side of membrane? Couldn't quite work out where in the footwell it's located.

Hi,
Sorry for the delay, I didn't get an e-mail telling me there was a reply.   The pipe is up on the A pillar just above where the carpet stops.  It's normally hidden behind the clip in panel that's under the dashboard.   I had a Diablo Red GLX D Turbo estate for 13 years from 60k to 328k miles, and didn't even know this pipe existed from my extended time with that one even though I had to replace the heater fan.

The footwell remains dry, but whenever this pipe is disconnected for any reason water appears after rain.  Perhaps only French cars have this level of strangeness - like the wonderful vacuum operated heating/ventilation flaps on my 305 GTX estate - 238,000 miles and a lot of fun/petrol.   

Thanks,
Steve