Well after last nights rain I opened my car to find a swimming pool in the drivers & drivers passenger side flooded! I had removed all bungs but I hadn't sorted the sealant.

So what I need to know is where it's came from & can this be sorted through the insurance?

Thanks marc

Use Forum search.

Well known design fault.

Insurance not interested.

Unless you make an absolutely comprehensive job of sorting out the B5.5 water ingress problem it will come back to bite you. If a car has ever been thoroughly wet, I would very strongly advise selling it. The electrical system will never again be reliable (not that they're very reliable anyway) as corrosion will have set in and the multi-pin connectors and crummy joins in the wiring loom will turn green and disintegrate.

Not one of VAG's brightest design attempts.

rotodiesel.

I had seen the water ingress thread but Im not sure where it's got in from the drivers side as I thought it was just the passenger side, this car is in the garage once a month & I think now it's the worse car I've owned, even worse than the 407!

The B5.5 (1.9 PD manual only) is potentially a really useful car - goes well, frugal with fuel, generally rust free and plenty of pattern parts, pirate diagnostic software and independent knowhow. So if you are savvy, you can run a safe comfortable car for peanuts.

Having said all that, I have never in my life had a car for which I have had to do so much preventative work in order to dodge the design c o c k ups - several hours of work. It's absolutely unbelievable that so late in the design cycle of this model these serious faults remain uncorrected - this speaks volumes in terms of the maker's respect for their customers. This attitude of VAG and their dealers is not in line with my idea of honest trading. No more of my money for them.

If you are keen enough to sort out the problems and maintain it properly, the 1.9 PD B5.5 will run to starship mileages. If not, it's a comprehensive money pit.

rotodiesel.

could be through the door(s) - will be noticeable if you open the door and look if you can see water has run down the inside of the sill to the carpet.

also the grommet where the bonnet release cable passes through the bulkhead could be at fault.

Thanks for all the replies & I will get the grommet checked out, it's just going to be a nightmare to clean & dry the carpets as well as sort out the electrics & problems.

I was in a taxi that had 350000 miles on the clock & was still going strong.

I think a change if car might be in order next year.

Marc

so one other silly thing on water ingress.

I had a bad problem with mine where the car was pretty much completely sodden in the front and rear - had to completely replace all the electronics in the passenger footwell, and had to trace and re-crimp nearly all the electrical connections in the floor as well. bit of a pain to say the least.

water had been getting in via the back doors - the drain rubber is on the front of the door, and my car is parked on a driveway with a bit of a slope, so water was pooling at the back of the door, then getting in over the sill and flooding out the car (I had the pollen filter stuff sorted well before this).

fix was to add two more drain rubbers (one per door) at the bottom rear of the door, which has fixed it pretty much.

no idea if this is of help, but it was something that drove me mad and was not that obvious - so if you are parking up on a slope, this may be your problem

t.

There is also a housing under the bonnet on the driver's side (close to where the cable for the bonnet release enters) which houses the main engine ECU. The seal on that (between the car body and the housing, not the housing lid and the housing) can also fail. The test is to remove the ECU cover, and pour carefully a load of water around the housing. With the lid off you'll be able to see it going into the car body if the seal has failed.

Video of how to test that is here:

Also, have you had any door locks / window motors / etc repaired recently? That is one of the ways the door seals fail. It isn't the big rubber door seal that fails. It is the seal between the door "skin" and a metal carrier that holds the window motor - behind the door trim panel.

It is safe to say that all the seals under the bonnet (the ECU, bonnet release, pollen filter) are "splash" seals at best, and don't deal with being immersed at all - so make sure you check to see if your battery is in a swimming pool.... if it is, you need to get the plenum bungs out...

+1 for the door sill.

Check and see if you can see where the water has trickled in from underneath the door card, over the sill and into drivers footwell. The odd thing about this type of water ingress is that it isn't evident when exposed to light-medium rain .... then you get a downpour and it can become really evident in the space of 15 minutes or so.

For preventative water ingress measures on the Superb, more people need to remove the door cards and reinforce the seal between the window regulator and door panels. If done neatly it can be completed without even needing to remove the regulator panel at all and takes around 20 minutes per door from start to finish. Cheap too. Standard silicone sealant can be used.

I want to do all my doors (just done the offending drivers door which I sorted) - but I'll be damned if I can work out how / where to pull on the other door handles to remove the handle trim!!!

The drivers side is easy, but anyone got a hint for how to get the trims off the three passenger doors? I don't want to mark up the trims as they are pretty at the moment!

you need a flat blade screwdriver, not too small, and something to place between it and the door trim so it doesnt get marked much. Without a photo to show it's a bit difficult to explain. but the outer face of each grab handle comes off to reveal two screws. That sounds easy - the hard bit is locating where the little (and hidden) slot is to put the screwdriver in that will allow the face of the handle to start to be prised off. If we consider the N/S/R door, then it's located near the lower front corner of the grab handle - from memory it's about 10mm below where the grab handle starts to overlap with the armrest bit of the door trim. The N/S/F door is similar with the O/S/R door being a mirror image.

Insert the blade and - with trial, error and forceful coaxing - it will find it's way into the slot. Lever it off a bit from the bottom - the three metal clips holding it in place are pretty strong - and then it can be pulled off. Hopefully with no damage to the trim. To help visualise it, the face of the grab handle doesn't fit flush with the back of the handle but overlaps it and goes around the sides of the back section. (Well I know what I mean ) Looks better, but doesn't make it easier to remove.

Edited 21 December, 201213 yr by sidewaze samm

I had seen the water ingress thread but Im not sure where it's got in from the drivers side as I thought it was just the passenger side, this car is in the garage once a month & I think now it's the worse car I've owned, even worse than the 407!

My Superb is great. I took all the preventive measures and so far it's been the best car ever.

I too had a 407 and I can honestly say the Superb is not worse. The 407 was the most unreliable piece of crap I ever owned. All 4 windows broke. One of which broke twice. DPF blocked. Both wheel bearings went on the front, and then the near side went again. Car kept telling me lights were out.... But they weren't. Then it had a ,aside oil leak from the engine. And bits of the trim were always falling off. The climate control only worked 50% of the time and this was a 2005 car. My 2002 Superb is stil

Going strong and all the gadgets and engine are fab!

Insert the blade and - with trial, error and forceful coaxing - it will find it's way into the slot.

Thanks, I'll persevere with it; I have a copious collection of plastic trim jemmy tools so I'm sure it is possible.

I guess the fact that the handles all look unmarked probably means they haven't been off before anyway - so that is good.

Some pics of you going it would really help us jimbof.

Some pics of you going it would really help us jimbof.

If I get brave I'll crack out the camera.

I had seen the water ingress thread but Im not sure where it's got in from the drivers side as I thought it was just the passenger side, this car is in the garage once a month & I think now it's the worse car I've owned, even worse than the 407!

I had the ingress problem on my old Superb1, when the Skoda garage sorted the pollen filter housing they also stripped down all the doors and made sure the drain holes were clear, If you strip of a door card on a superb you will see an aluminium inner door card also that everything is mounted to, it is that well sealed that if you have a blocked drain hole the door will fill up with water and come out of any available hole in to the car, might be worth checking

Edited 22 December, 201213 yr by bryanp

For those of you looking for info how to remove door card, see the two links I hunted down.

http://forums.vwvort...ead.php?1015107

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?961163

They are the most comprehensive that I can find. Whilst every detail isn't relevant, it does show the basic idea.

Edited 22 December, 201213 yr by allclownsareevi

For those of you looking for info how to remove door card, see the two links I hunted down.

http://forums.vwvort...ead.php?1015107

http://forums.vwvort...read.php?961163

They are the most comprehensive that I can find. Whilst every detail isn't relevant, it does show the basic idea.

Brilliant. This is the clincher:

Hi there,

The other day I opened up the near side back passenger door on my skoda superb and found an indoor swimming pool in the footwell!

I checked all the seals and windows etc. All were bone dry. I couldn't find a place where the water was coming in ANYWHERE.

I managed to drain all the water out with a wet n dry vac. It was near enough dry yesterday bar abit of dampness.

Tis morning was fine. Drove it for a couple of hours this evening and the swimming pool is back! I don't know what to do. Any suggestions on what this maybe or what is causing it?

Thanks

Lift carpets both front and rear and hold them out of the way. Lay down some paper towels and take it for a drive.

Water ingress from pollen filter doesn't always show in the front. It can run under carpet and pool in the rear. You'll need to lift carpets anyway to check the CCM under passenger seat. If it's wet, or has been wet it'll need attention. Search "water ingress" in this forum section.

Lift carpets both front and rear and hold them out of the way. Lay down some paper towels and take it for a drive.

Water ingress from pollen filter doesn't always show in the front. It can run under carpet and pool in the rear. You'll need to lift carpets anyway to check the CCM under passenger seat. If it's wet, or has been wet it'll need attention. Search "water ingress" in this forum section.

I'm totally agree with you.You'r 100% good here that water ingress from pollen filter doesn't always display in the top side. It can run under rug and pool in the back. You'll need to lift carpets anyway to examine the CCM under traveler chair.

I agreed what's said above!!!

Hi

I have 2003 superb elegance and both front n back left door are stuck locked. Electrical windows work on these doors.

Things tried so far:

-WD40

-light 'bump' nudge

-pulled door handles in/out

-tried keeping lock up with pliers but no luck

-diagnosis suggests no signal being sent from coms unit

I have run out of ideas to sort this.

Is there a way to release doors open.

I know this may be due to either water ingress, sunroof rain water drain blockage.

I need to release doors so that the front passenger seat can be removed and wiring examined along with drying of carpet and main unit.

Other probs:

-cabin lights don't work for a while

-door puddle lights don't work

-fuel flap switch not working, currently manually release from boot, boot switch working strangely

I am not all technical minded and don't possess all tools.

Need advise and help on how and where I could get this sorted asap, already been 3 weeks with no left side door access and 7 month pregnant with and 3 year toddler. Need all doors and seats soon.

Located in Leicester.

Help, help, help!!!

Easy tiger, I know you have problems but posting the same text into every vaguely relevant thread won't help.

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Sorry but need help

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