Another leaky Golf I think

[tony_ack]

Now that I've almost fixed her up, she's coming up with new ways to keep me busy.

The windscreen has been steaming up overnight during the past couple of days now that it's cold, and it's smelling a bit sweaty in the car. I pulled up the floor mat on the driver's side, and it's a bit damp under there, though not soaking wet. I've had a look through the matey matey guide, but still am not too sure at what to look at first.

I went to play football a week last Sunday when it was raining pretty hard, and I remember the inside of the car getting pretty wet then both from me driving back soaking wet, and from having the door open for a couple of minutes while it was pouring down. I'm really hoping that it's just that the car is still a bit damp from last week, and that the rubber mats are holding in the water. What's the chance that this is the case?

On the other hand I also noticed today a drop of water on the interior sill protector, and also a bit of wet around where the door seal joins at the bottom, so maybe it is leaking. I replaced the door membranes a couple of months back, and the door card seems to be dry at the bottom. The door seal looks okay, with no obvious signs of wear. The rear window seals are shot too, but I don't think that this would cause the damp in the front?

Also, the rubber mats are a small help in working this out too - other than when I got them wet at football, there's been no standing water on the mats in the morning - the surfaces of them have been dry. I guess this would rule out water dripping down from the dash - or anywhere else - if it's coming in from outside, it's seeping in slowly. The underside of mats isn't wet either, so I guess if it is leaking, it's not leaking much. Heater matrix was changed a couple of months ago too (with painful memories of having the carpets out, drying out and replacing the rotten sound-proofing, hence why I don't much fancy doing it again)

[golfnut8v]

i had a similar leak...............it was so annoying......checked all you have mentioned...

had a look under the bonnet,checked at the back of the inner wing and found this..




check yours up here as this is quite a common fault in the mk2 gti.......water drips,runs into the skuttle tray and down inside your car.....

a barsteward to weld in here too.!!

hope this helps..

[tony_ack]

EEEK!! I'd rather have a leaky seal!

Going to check the scuttle tray drainage now, just in case..

[tony_ack]

Okay, had a look. The passenger side is leaking worse than the driver's side.

I think the leak is coming from the door. I've re-done my door-card seal on the driver's side, as the tape had come loose at the bottom, and I've put a 'second flap' halfway down, and that seems to have cured the problem on that side.

I think there are two small holes at the bottom of the door-card sheet on the passenger side and all the water is coming through them.

Scuttle drain holes are fine - everything else seems to be draining where it should.

One small consolation is that although some of the sound deadening is a little wet, it's not rotten, so I should be able to dry it out at the weekend. I guess the lesson is to act as soon as you suspect a leak  I also waxoyled the passenger footwell when I did the matrix, so that should have kept it a little safer.

Think I need to get some proper tape for the door-card sheets -  I thought duck tape would be more than enough, but obviously not.

[Lap]

I had the same problem as yourself. I used some polythene sheeting and duck tape to seal it. However, it still leaked and when I read the small print on the duck tape it basically said it wasn't suitable for permanent immersion in water.

So I bought some of that double sided water resistant automotive tape normally used for number plates. I even tested it by sticking two bits of polythene together and dunking it in some water. It's been fine since but you have to be totally meticulous with the membrane.

I think some people have had success with tucking the sheeting into the door so it naturally channels the water away without relying on a seal at the bottom but you will still need to stick it down on the sides. 

[tony_ack]

I think some people have had success with tucking the sheeting into the door so it naturally channels the water away without relying on a seal at the bottom but you will still need to stick it down on the sides. 

Yeah, that's kind of what I've done this time. I've taped another sheet to the inside of the main one, about half way down, and let this hang loose inside the door.

I guess even if it's only 50% successful, that's still 50% less water that the main sheet has to deal with

I'll look into the waterproof tape - it's watertight for now, but as you said, duck tape isn't meant to last.

[Ben Lessani]

I'm using a camping mat cut to shape for my membranes - they are reusable and you can happily tuck it into the door without it flapping about.

Plus side is your duct tape never comes in contact with water