Drivers footwell soaked

[Janno1]

I know there are a lot of posts and I've spent 2 days reading them all. But I still have a small dribble of water appearing on the inside wheel arch area. Drivers side. The passenger footwell is dry as a bone.

I've taken the scuttle off, no debris. The hole for the bonnet release was not sealed. So cleaned and resealed that. Took arch lining off and this was very blocked. Cleared and did the water test. No water visible. Went into the house etc for an hour in which time it rained. Thought I'd nip out and check. Low and behold 2 little dribbles appeared on the inside arch.

I can't for the life of me find anymore areas it could be coming through.

Would the door seal be causing this?

2 days of trying to sort it has killed me

[YellowCar]

Have you got a sunroof? If so there's a drainage pipe at the A pillar I believe. Could be that and/or the door seal. Get someone to spray a hose on the car while you sit inside having a poke around.

[Janno1]

No sunroof. I just didn't think it could be door seal with where the water is. But I could be wrong. This just a replacement or a silicone jobby?

[YellowCar]

It's a funny one I was thinking door seal if something was up with the sunroof drain, but as there isn't one it doesn't sound quite right. Would you be able to get a photo of where it is?

You say your passenger side is ok but have you checked the pollen filter for wetness? Could it be within the vents somehow? But then you say the scuttle was clear and all draining ok? Could still be scuttle related, coming down from the bulkhead and perhaps following a cable or something to its point of exit.

Are your door sills dry after rain or are there puddles?

[Janno1]

Door sills are fine. I'll get photos tomorrow. I'm thinking door seal as it didn't leak untill the door was closed. I poured a healthy amount of water over the scuttle. 2 bottles full and nothing showed. Yet when door was closed there were dribbles.

[YellowCar]

Hhmmm it is odd. How is your door membrane behind the card? Ever been slit open for maintenance? Is flow getting diverted somehow? Could be the doe seal is getting squashed with door shut for some reason and water finding a way in through the channel or from the membrane. We'll have a look at the pics when you get some up...

[Janno1]

I've not took the door card off as yet I shall do this afo. Photos are as follows

The red arrow is pointing to where the water is coming from. The blue is where the dribbles are yet higher up as can be seen in the next couple of photos.

I had to cut the under carpet out as it was so mouldy it smelt rather bad. Also not a neat job of where the bonnet release comes through but I wanted to make sure it wouldn't leak through again

I also noticed with the arch being blocked that this little fella let a lot of water in

So gave it some silicone

This was passenger side gunk.

[YellowCar]

Yeah those arches get bad, when I got my car I expected mine and the tower of silt was like 5 inches high. That is a strange place for a leak and not one I've had experience of I must say. What's on the other side of that panel, any bungs missing or something daft like that? I'd probably wager it's getting in from the bulkhead somewhere and following a path. So while your drainage channel may be clear of debris it seems to be finding a gap somewhere. Mouldy undercarpet would suggest it's been happening for a while, but this also increases condensation amongst the carpet layers do the amount of water can be misleading. Sorry I'm not helping much but it is a strange one, hopefully someone will be able to relate to your pics with problems they've had.

[jamesmall]

I had exactly the same leak mate, turned out to be (at least so far so good) the black box to the right of the bonnet release grommet.

 

looks like you are fairly well sealed up but what about round the back of it, under the wiper arm? Pain to get to but water obviously will find whatever escape hole it can.

Try loading a palette knife (or wallpaper scraper etc) with silicone and try and get it down the back of the black box thing.

 

I feel your pain with this issue- nightmare!!

[YellowCar]

There you go. You may also find that a little bit of moisture could have prevented a wee bit of sealant not curing properly.

[Peterj222]

Exactly the same as Jamesmall last year although on my 02 TDI Elegance it looks slightly different, 2 spupid thin nuts holding (or barely holding) the cover on which I presume is the hole that would be used for the pollen filter if the car was left hand drive? Same bulkhead / shell??  The seal on the back of it is rubbish and was a pain to get behind and dry/clean then somthered it in silicone bathroom sealer did the two nuts back up (You cant tighten them much they are like thin tin) and touch wood its been dry since!! (this time last year)

[Janno1]

Cheers guys. I sat in the car whilst brother in law got the hose on the car. No leaks. But the water this morning i imagine to be the saturated firewall carpet still. Heater will be making left in the car over wknd . As I've removed all the carpets etc I'll do the pollen filter area and behind the little black box. Had to remove the sound deadening as the mould was awful. Don't want it floating in the air with a child in the car.

[Janno1]

Well after plugging up the known areas and checking the door seals. There is still a lovely leak. I've also managed to gain a leak on the passenger side now which I didn't have before. I'm leaning towards a poorly fitted windscreen at the moment

[YellowCar]

Could be...what a mare. Are you sure all the sealant went on a dry area and was able to cure properly? Check pollen filter and grommet next to it for passenger side.

[Janno1]

Yeah went on dry and pretty confident it cured too. Did pollen filter just to be safe. Didn't do the grommet which I noticed earlier. I feel this is the cause passenger side as water has come through the large hole where the electrics run. Massive mare. Thankfully carpets etc ate out and will be until I find the dam thing

[YellowCar]

You have my sympathy, I'm still thinking about water following something from bulkhead behind the dash, which could be a knock on effect of windscreen fitment perhaps. Not sure how stuff is arranged behind there though.

[Janno1]

I'm tempted to take dash out and bung everything up. Can't think of any other location at all

[OCTAVIA_4X4_ABT]

I guess it's highly unlikely but could it be from poor windshield sealant fitting? I rememer my first vauxhall cavalier m2 with a similar problem but that was pretty much ancient technology I guess!

[Janno1]

It had a new windshield before I purchased it and the bottom of the rubber is lifted. I'm thinking more towards the windscreen as I've literally bunged up every hole that's available apart from drainage holes obviously.

[Janno1]

Leak fixed!! Make sure the original job you've done is done right. Bonnet release cable hole fully sealed

[YellowCar]

Glad you've sorted it, must admit I was scratching my head...was it that the sealant hadn't cured properly or had you left a gap?

[Janno1]

It was running between the cables. Someone's ran the gauge wires through there. Never thought to seal everything. I spent an afternoon taking accelerator and everything around the are to get to the underside of the grommet. That's now sealed too. Cheers for help mate

[YellowCar]

No problem, don't feel like I did much though! Sounds like you had a mission but glad it's done.