Also clean the seal at the bottom edge of the door and ensure the 3 holes in the bottom of the door are clear of mud/dirt

Did this on my leon cupra r last year and No leaks at all. the picture shows that they run the sealent around without lifting the carrier away very poor job as you expect from garages/dealers!!!

All you got to do is take out all the bolts around the carrier apart from the top row pull the carrier away carefully clean the contact area with solvent and put a big bead off clear silicone sealant in between the seal and the door and bolt it back up with the sealent still wet. Wipe away excess and let dry.

Easy job and no leaks!!!

So long as it is not a newer model, where the carrier is rivetted in

Cheers confused-cheese for the info about drain holes, will have a look for them, they obviously don't work or the footwell would be dry.

Just had a conversation with a chap at Skoda, as usual this is a design feature, (not a fault!) So it's off with the door panal and a load more sealent, least it's covered so don't care what it looks like as long as the water stops!

Third times the charm, ( I hope) had some heavy rain and no leaks! The door carrier is a P-poor design if you ask me, if the older models were fastend by screws why did they change it to rivets, at least with screws you could take the carrier off, then personally I'd make a few cuts and replace it inside the door panal, so the water dripped into the door then out via the drain holes.

Edited 2 November, 200916 yr by john1804
update

Recently with the wet weather I have noticed the inside of my car taking some time to clear. Felt the carpet in the back and its a little damp

Here is a pic of how the water builds up in the back. Is this how it looks when the doors need sealing or how they look when its ok?

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs280.snc1/10734_207981350760_749445760_4368944_4206732_n.jpg

Thanks

Did this on my leon cupra r last year and No leaks at all. the picture shows that they run the sealent around without lifting the carrier away very poor job as you expect from garages/dealers!!!

All you got to do is take out all the bolts around the carrier apart from the top row pull the carrier away carefully clean the contact area with solvent and put a big bead off clear silicone sealant in between the seal and the door and bolt it back up with the sealent still wet. Wipe away excess and let dry.

Easy job and no leaks!!!

Problem is later Fabias have riveted door carriers.

Recently with the wet weather I have noticed the inside of my car taking some time to clear. Felt the carpet in the back and its a little damp

Here is a pic of how the water builds up in the back. Is this how it looks when the doors need sealing or how they look when its ok?

Thanks

Hi there, I've stuck the photo in my reply so people can see, hope you don't mind;)

You have got leaking carrier seals as the water should drain out of the bottom of the door onto the sill, not onto the rubber seal as shown.

The water runs down the inside of the door and then out through the bottom of the door card onto the rubber seal and the plastic trim and then into the footwell.

Time to get the sealant out:thumbup:

Hi there, I've stuck the photo in my reply so people can see, hope you don't mind;)

You have got leaking carrier seals as the water should drain out of the bottom of the door onto the sill, not onto the rubber seal as shown.

The water runs down the inside of the door and then out through the bottom of the door card onto the rubber seal and the plastic trim and then into the footwell.

Time to get the sealant out:thumbup:

Not a problem, feel free. I did think that was the case. Will see what I have in the shed and pop to Skoda to get some clips as I no doubt will break them :rotz:

Got one of the door cards off at lunch but one was a complete bitch although I didnt have a long handle screw driver to prise it off, just my hands. Will do that tonight and try and seal the doors during the week

The rubber seal is wet inside so that will need drying out with a towel of some sort when I have done it. My mate said to me I would be spending lots of time with a VAG car, I thought he meant just old golfs :rotz:

Oh well, at least this is only time and not money, lol.

I thought I'd got away with this one, until the condensation on the inside of the rear window this morning (after sitting for a weekend in heavy rain) suggested that the "horrible smell" inside was actually something serious...

Will have to fix this before the winter sets in. I don't fancy having to defrost the inside of the windows as well as the outside!

fixed this on mine at the weekend...all the bits are easy to get off except the inside pannel!!! I even had a trim removal tool but still broke most of the clips!!!! Unfortunately it was just brute force that did it so make sure you buy 14 clips from the dealer. Around 3quid!

Another one here with soggy carpets (after a re-seal by the dealer - which failed )

Has anyone tried drilling a couple of extra drain holes in the door bottom to prevent the water actually building up to such a level that it comes through the carrier seals ?

Mine is out of the three year warranty now and I'm thinking it may be a better approach to speed up the flow of water out of the door rather than relying on perfect sealing when running around with a door half full of water.

I'll be resealing mine myself but am very tempted to add a bit of extra drainage. I suppose that give them grounds to invalidate the corrosion warranty but it seems obvious that the design is inadequate as it stands.

Any thoughts ????

Damp and frustrated of Aberdeen !

Not sure if that is a good idea on two fronts IMAO.:thumbdwn:

Firstly, as you said the anti corrosion warranty will be invalidated, and there is no way you will be able to properly protect the metal inside the door where water will sit on it, and rust will move in very quickly.

Secondly, I don't think it will help all that much, as the water runs down the inside of the door and the carrier seal and leaks out past the seal on it's way down to the drain holes as well as when the door fills up.

So i think you will still get water inside the car and a door that will rust very rapidly indeed.:(

Not sure if that is a good idea on two fronts IMAO.:thumbdwn:

Firstly, as you said the anti corrosion warranty will be invalidated, and there is no way you will be able to properly protect the metal inside the door where water will sit on it, and rust will move in very quickly.

Secondly, I don't think it will help all that much, as the water runs down the inside of the door and the carrier seal and leaks out past the seal on it's way down to the drain holes as well as when the door fills up.

So i think you will still get water inside the car and a door that will rust very rapidly indeed.:(

x2!

part number for the door clips is 5J0867276:thumbup:

may be useful...

Has anyone tried drilling a couple of extra drain holes in the door bottom to prevent the water actually building up to such a level that it comes through the carrier seals ?

Any thoughts ????

Damp and frustrated of Aberdeen !

The water doesn't build up inside the door, it simply runs down the rear of the carrier plate, due to the curved shape of the door. The underlying problem, is the outer touch seal for the glass isn't that great.

fixed this on mine at the weekend...all the bits are easy to get off except the inside pannel!!! I even had a trim removal tool but still broke most of the clips!!!! Unfortunately it was just brute force that did it so make sure you buy 14 clips from the dealer. Around 3quid!

Following the various guides on here I managed to get my door cards *mostly* off, but I cannot for the life of me get them to "unhook" from under the glass. I've removed the tweeter (hint: lift the handle and there's a small notch in the tweeter surround - put a jewller's screwdriver in there to release the tab at the rear of the tweeter. It will then hinger out from the front edge) - so I've definitely taken out the torx screw from there.

Peeking up from underneath, it looks - just like any other door card I've taken apart before - like the inner rubber seal just presses onto the horizontal door frame under the window opening - but I just can't get it to budge - could it be glued???

I've done my best at sealing the worst side just by tiling the door card outwards, but this is causing the card to tear on the leading door edge (yes, all the clips are out...) and I don't want to muller it any further...

Thoughts?

I struggled but found pushing from the tweeter side up and juggling it a little near the window shifted it. I did have to work my way all along and they are tight. Yet to seal mine as some bugger got me injured yesterday. Hopefully will be able to do it this week in lunch breaks. Where are you based, could give you a hand if you are near

I took mine to the local dealer (Somewhere In Greece) and he removed the door cards and then he removed the inside panel (metallic and riveted :eek:). Then he applied some silicone around the inside panel's internal frontiers where the sealant rubber was not fitted properly. Then he riveted back the panel and put back the door cards. Since then no water inside, four months passed.

I took mine to the local dealer (Somewhere In Greece) and he removed the door cards and then he removed the inside panel (metallic and riveted :eek:). Then he applied some silicone around the inside panel's internal frontiers where the sealant rubber was not fitted properly. Then he riveted back the panel and put back the door cards. Since then no water inside, four months passed.

Sounds like the proper way of doing it. Whilst I understand why they do it, Skoda UK's method sounds a bit like an imperfect bodge to me ...

.....................................

Peeking up from underneath, it looks - just like any other door card I've taken apart before - like the inner rubber seal just presses onto the horizontal door frame under the window opening - but I just can't get it to budge - could it be glued???

I've done my best at sealing the worst side just by tiling the door card outwards, but this is causing the card to tear on the leading door edge (yes, all the clips are out...) and I don't want to muller it any further...

Thoughts?

The 'curled' edge of the card at the top fits tight down behind the glass, I used a narrow round ended tyre lever wrapped in a soft cloth and levered gently through the tweeter hole to start things off until it moved. Then a good heave usually free's it up once the engagement isn't full length. The cloth stops the painted steel under the card getting scratched. You can't see it with the card fitted but why bugger the finish if you don't have to.

Bend the card out from the door too much and you'll damage it permanently, needs a vertical leverage straight up parailel with the glass. Winding the window fully down takes some of the tension off IIRC.

got a leak on my rear door. just wedged a flanel in there for now and replaceing with a dry one every other day. works great no leaks even after pressure washing it.

need to pop down to skoda though.

Mine is sealed and first test thanks to the rain shows no leaks and water leaving where it should

I used some clear sealed from screw fix for £2.99 just incase anyone needs some, quite cheap as its normally £4.99 iirc

I too have leaky rear door seals/carriers, dropped it into the dealer this evening. Its withing there 12month used car warranty, anyone had any luck claiming on the warranty.

Seems very much like a bad design, not manufactured properly and should of been picked up or recalled within the three years.

Dealer thinks that its perfectly acceptable that a door seal has failed after 40k miles.

Sounds like the proper way of doing it. Whilst I understand why they do it, Skoda UK's method sounds a bit like an imperfect bodge to me ...

Skoda UK training systems seem a wee bit substandard in some parts of the country.............

ps, dont worry about invalidating your paint warranty - they won't honour it anyway, it will be down to 'wear and tear', like the anodising on the alloy wheels is.

After reading all the above I've realised that if they'd just put some kind of overhang, or inner lip at the bottom of the inside of the carrier this wouldn't even be a problem..

How does the Fabia differ to other VAG cars.. it can't be the only one with this problem if they all use the same system.

Very few Fabia's did this when new.. Could a potential fix (or at least big part of) be a new outer window sill seal? Or is it really that the sponge used as a seal losses it's inherent moisture and becomes fully pours?

Do those 3 green screw receptacles at the bottom let water through?

Edited 18 November, 200916 yr by reflex88

Just had a look at mine after the heavy rain last night. The carpets seem dry but the bottom if the door card feels damp. I do suffer from bad condensation some days. My car is still within warranty and I'm getting Skoda to take a look at it Friday.

Edited 18 November, 200916 yr by vRS G60