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[percymon]

Went out to the car this morning and found the rear footwell on the drivers side sopping wet - and wet carpet extending forwards down the side of the seat runners to the jioint in the carpet near the front of the drivers seat.  Carpet and insulation inderneath very wet - got 90% up with a wet vac so drying out at the moment.


I dorve the car in very heavy rain last night for about 5 miles, it then stood outside in the rain overnight.  No other bits of carpet are wet (not checked the boot mind) The bottom of the door panels look dry too.

So, any guesses where its gettign in - i'm pretty sure its a  problem when moving rather than rain water getting past a door plastic  membrane . All drains holes in the rear passenger door are clear and dry too !   No sunroof so thats one less area of concern.  Rear door window was in fully upright position.

HELP !

[kr1s77]

check rear light cluster, might be getting in behind them, had that problem on a rover

[monkeyalan]

if it's a 5 door probably leaking via the rubber door seal.
my old jetta had its own paddling pool in the winter. 

[paddi]

Hi ,


does it have a sunroof, if so have a look at the drain nipples , they sit down the side of the doors , you'll need to open the door and squeeze the rubber bit , could be gunked up , i had this problem ,

there is also 2 at the back of the car under the skirt either side of the wheels

let me know how you get on

paddi

[percymon]

Well i dried it out with the wet n dry vac in work on Friday - after that I drove 2 hours to my mates house (last 30 minutes in torrential rain).  Got there and carpet was dry, as it still was about 3 hours later. It rained overnight and i was greated this mornign with a pool of water again      Went off to play golf today in my mates car, got back and more water in footwell.   Mopped this up with towel as best i could.

Then drove home - virtually all 2 hours was in the rain, some of this torrential - after about an hour in the car i put my hand own on the carpet and it was noticeably wet. Oce home i reckon i've mopped up about 2 pints worth of rainwater - carpet still wet but best i do til morning.  I've wedged some tissue paper along the bottom of the door trim (in case its a membrane failure) and along soem areas of the door aperture (in case its a failing seal).

So in summary , it would appear the water is getting in with the car both stationary and moving - i have soem investigations to conduct tomorrow 

[gibby]

Don't know what it's like for mk3s but check the door cards, door seals and bulkhead. The mk2 was renowned for leaks and I had one on my Rallye earlier this year and that was the door membrane. I doubt it's a hole in the floor beacuse I think gravity would stop it coming in, but you could see if there's any grommits missing underneath (assuming there are any that is as I'm just guessing). You could also get someone to pour water around the outside while you sit inside and see if there's anywhere obvious that it's leaking in.

[monkeyalan]

yeah, try what gibby said but go to a hand jet wash place , if it's anywhere obvious it's bound to show with a bit of pressure.

[boneybradley]

could be worth checking the roof aerial if fitted as these have a rubber seal and i have seen them leak......

[percymon]

The saga continues...

checked door membranes front and rear - no prolems, doors dry too - all drains clear

checked drains in sills - all clear

removed rear seat and lifted rear carpet - felt underlay/sound deadening sodden    no signs of anything untoward.  used hosepipe all over car whilst watching for leaks in rear footwell. when sprayign water under drivers footwell, eventually got a small leak from under the bitumastic bonded sound deadening in the rear footwell.

Removed front seat, front carpet, sound deadenign etc to find it sodden and stinking    took all weekend to dry the sound deadening out

Discovered a very small hole in the front floorpan at the edge of one of the rubber bungs - repaired this with some glass fibre and then applied underseal inside and out.  checked all other bungs and reapplied underseal to these inside and out, bar two in the rear floor pan where they are beneath the bitumastic (bonded sound deadened plate) where i could only apply on the exterior. I couldn't see any reason for the water coming in under the bitumastic tho

Pleased as punch til i drove out last night in torrential rain - wet carpets again    Wet front and rear - as the two footwells are divided by a box section cross member i'm of the opinion the leak is still in the front half somewhere

I thought about a break/ blockage in the windscreen / scuttle area - anyone know whether there is a drain pipe and where this exits, and if this was blocked would it fill sufficiently to then leak into the cabin

I'm pretty sure now that whatever the leak is, its happening whilst stationary and whilst moving.


In answer to the other suggestions.... aerial is on front wing passenger side, rear ligth clusters are dry, as is whole of boot inclusing spare wheel well, and under rear seat base its dryzabone

[Len]

Yes I would investigate the front screen channels and drain holes then. But they should drain out under the wings.
Pedal box area? Or steering drive?