Incredibly wet footwells

[Chew22]

Hi all,

After realising my car was the only steamed up car in the car park, I decided to see if I had any damp anywhere.

After removing the rear mats, I could feel the carpet was wet, so I decided to take a seat out and look under the carpet. The entire footwell (rear) was about a cm deep with smelly water, and the sound proofing was drenched. I have no idea if this has been building up before I bought the car a year ago, or has happened over the last few months of bad rain.

After Googling 'mk4 wet footwells' and coming up with 1000's of posibilites, I literally have no idea where to start.

Therefore I've decided to add some photos here incase someone can help, before I go ripping my entire car to pieces!



Firstly I removed the trim from the inside of the door sills, and there is condensation running in and down, so I'd assume it was coming from the door somewhere.



This is what my door looked like just after opening after it rained all night. Same story on the other side.

[sveed1.8T]

First question: Do you have a sunroof?

[Chew22]

First question: Do you have a sunroof?

No sunroof.

I have taken the drivers side door apart to fix the lock once. I've no idea if the previous owner has taken the passenger door apart.

I have recently changed the pollen filter, but removing the cover and looking inside, it all seems dry as a bone.

The amount of water build up is worst on the rear passenger side. (All 4 footwells are wet)

From lifting the carpet up I can see that water can easily run from the front to the back.

[dubber36]

As it seems to be wet on the inside of the cills, I'd say it's the seals on the metal panel inside the door that the window regulator etc mounts to.

With the door open, run a hosepipe down the outside of the window and see where the water runs out, It should come out of the drainholes in the bottom of the doors, but can leak out through the seals that I mentioned. To repair them, take the door card off and you'll see the panel. Slacken the bolts that hold it on and squirt a bead of sillycnut behind and re-tighten the bolts. You need to make sure the drain holes in the bottom of the door are clear too.

[Chew22]

As it seems to be wet on the inside of the cills, I'd say it's the seals on the metal panel inside the door that the window regulator etc mounts to.

With the door open, run a hosepipe down the outside of the window and see where the water runs out, It should come out of the drainholes in the bottom of the doors, but can leak out through the seals that I mentioned. To repair them, take the door card off and you'll see the panel. Slacken the bolts that hold it on and squirt a bead of sillycnut behind and re-tighten the bolts. You need to make sure the drain holes in the bottom of the door are clear too.

Seeing as it's absolutely belting it down with rain in Devon right now, I decided to go outside and try and catch the leak in the act.



This looks like pretty strong evidence that you might be right. I'm assuming that most of the water is going into the gap between the seal and the plastic trim. I also assume that the puddle that's on the metal bit of the sill was resting on the seal until the door was opened. Then the trail of drips down into the footwell are even more incriminating!



It's hard to see in this photo but the water appears to be coming out from under the plastic door panel (pretty much along the entire length). Where exactly should it be coming out, I can't see any drainage holes.

[Gti_Jamo]

The drain holes are on the bottom of the door, they are quite small. Its the metal plate that holds the window regulator that needs sealed up again. But do not use silicone as suggested, it wont last long. Some butyl strip off ebay is the best stuff for the job. Basically use it to seal round the entire bottom half of the plate, dont worry bout the top half though.

[dubber36]

I used all weather silicone when I did my Passat about 4 years ago as that's all I had too hand at the time. It's been as dry as a bone even since.

[Chew22]

I actually went ahead and sealed up the panels before reading this. I used a caravan sealant. It seems to have worked perfectly on the passenger side (Which was the worse side) but also seems to have made the drivers side worse, so I'm going to take this off again at the weekend and see where I went wrong.



This photo was taken before I tidied the sealant up.