'Water Ingress Problem'........SOLVED!

[jimbof]

Check your sunroof drains if you have ingress around the headlining:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/401136-time-to-tweak-your-nips-aka-sunroof-drain-water-ingress/

[superborNO]

Hi all,

      I think I'm in trouble....again!!!   I've a 2003 2.5V6 TDI from new - only 150k mls and a marvellous car.  BUT a couple of years ago, I had to pay nearly 3000 to replace ?gearbox control unit following water damage. I was hoping to get a few more years out of the car. My car is tiptronic and 2.5 yrs ago, I noticed the instrument panel display showing what gear was engaged started to light up not just the engaged gear the car but ALL gears and within a few days, the car couldn't make up its mind what gear it was in and the expensive repair was necessary.  I now notice that the instrument panel lights are beginning to misbehave again so I'm afraid to even start up the car which is always parked in the open. Also in recent times, I have noticed quite a bit of water in the sunroof well which sometimes drips through the headcloth after cornering.  I'm not at all mechanical.  Would it be reasonable to expect the Main Dealer who did the costly job 2 years ago to fix this free?

[Slabside]

Hi everyone newby here , just got a 2005 Superb complete with paddling pool in the footwell , aquavac pulled about 2 gallon out the first day and about a gallon the second day courtesy of the thick sound proofing , the waterproof case for the ccm had about a pint of water in it , i have replaced the ccm with a one from a Bora with the same part number and everything works bar the interior lights although the lights can be switched on when the side lights are on ??? any ideas would be welcomed . 

[Slabside]

just like to add , i have sealed the pollen filter housing there was no seal in it !? i have rewired the grey plug as there were signs of corrosion . 

 

[Rexob]

Good news then glad you got it sorted 

[Taede]

I'm currently trying to fix the electrical gremlins most likely due to previous water ingress. The ingress at the pollen filter has been fixed, I suspect it is now coming in through the rear door or the boot. I used https://nackuk.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/with-some-of-interior-lights-puddle.html as a guide to work by on the electrical side. My car is a '02 Comfort rather than an Elegance, so the loom is not identical

 

Anyway, my question is about the electronic side of this.

* The glovebox light and wee mirrorlights in the ceiling work as they should.

* Car recognizes all doors/boot/bonnet as being opened bar the front passenger one. This and the drivers door do show up occasionally, but not often.

* Boot will not unlock other than with the key in the lock on the lid itself, despite car recognizing it as being opened.

* Interior lighting won't work at all, except when turning the light on manually with the switch. It does not respond to any doors being opened despite car knowing they are open. These flickered for a while until they stopped working altogether. Puddle lights same.

* Rear parking sensors first became occasionally working and now just emit a single long beep indicating non-workyness. I'm going to assume they are unrelated, but thought I should list anyway.

 

The loom has been repaired in the past judging by all the bits of wire-stripping left under the carpet, though if so it they have used the same style 'caps'. Whilst the front bit of the loom that runs next to the convenience ecu has large bits of wrapping replaced with electrical tape, anything past the bar running across looks untouched and visually in good condition. I cannot find any other caps there, it all just seems to be continuous wire all the way into the boot. The convenience ecu is dry and there is no sign of corrosion on the plugs. There is also no sign of corrosion on any of the plugs behind the a-pillar bottom trim. I have replaced the caps that I could see to ensure proper connection, however the above symptoms have not changed. 

 

Where should I look next? The door/boot issues could be from wiring in the respective hinge area, however the lights issue tells me there is something else wrong as well, which could conceivably influence the other issues as well.

[malibu200786]

Its probably a long shot posting on here seen as this thread was created along time ago , hopefully will get replies ..

I have noticed that the foot well behind the drivers seat gets really wet when raining I presume , I think it's coming out of the vent underneath the drivers seat . because the carpet is dry everywhere else .

So I'm going to take the grommets out from underneath the battery and clean the drains underneath the scuttle panel and I'm going to reseal the pollen filter housing using sikaflex / puflex . 

Thinking back I had a VW golf mk2 , and the pollen filter was in the same place just exposed , and I used to get actual puddles in that so I made a housing out of Tupperware and sealed the actual housing it was job done . 

So going to try something similar I will you let you know how I get on .

I just don't know why VAG still use an exposed unit like this why not make like a housing the same as for the actual air filter .

[jimbof]

Water in driver's rear footwell can come either from the front door window / lock carrier panels leaking behind the door cards, blocked sunroof drains, ECU housing seal or bonnet pull grommet.

 

Passenger side is either pollen filter housing seal, door carrier panels or sunroof drain.

 

It is very rare for pollen filter to cause water in the driver's side as there isn't any easy route for water to pass from one side to the other.

 

It usually accumulates in the back footwell because the back is lower than the front.  You need to get under the carpet to try and work out where it is coming from.  

 

Read the whole thread, there is lots of info here.  Also check out UKPassats - they have all the same issues on the B5/5.5 Passat.  

 

The open top of the pollen filter is nothing to do with the water leak (unless someone has thrown away the rain channel - you can barely see it if it is fitted).  The water leaks under the pollen filter housing.

[malibu200786]

Yea I know there's a rain channel but its only small and I know the leak comes from the seal mainly but you'd think by now vag would cover all bases by now seen has they have had water ingress problems forever .

All the over carpet is dry though , where would the sunroof channels leak into the car to ? Surely there exit don't lead to anywhere near the middle of the inside of the car !? 

Also there is the carpet is dry the bonnet release catch and the carpets where the door/floor trims are .

Could it still not be the grommets underneath the battery tray ? 

[jimbof]

Have you checked under the carpet or just on top?  The carpet is inches off the bottom of the car in many places so the top of the carpet being dry doesn't mean the car is dry.

 

If the car has ever had a lock or window motor repaired you can pretty much bet that door carrier panel will leak.

 

[Nackuk]

While I hope you have it sorted and dry by now, ensure the bonnet release cable grommet is in properly where it runs through the bulk head. Gives the same fluid problem as the pollen filter.

 

Nobody ever mentions the ECU housing seal letting water through. I wonder why, when it looks like the same arrangement as the pollen filter?

Edited 5 November, 2017 by Nackuk

[AndreiP]

Could I pronounce myself the kind of water ingress? :(

[DarylT12]

Hi all,

I appreciate this may have already been covered but I have an 05 superb elegance

bought the car in July and it was perfect everything worked, dream to drive everything worked and well looked after ( I thought )

 

from the rain started in September I have put a new battery, alternator and few other bits and pieces as more often than not the car battery dies and I am left stuck!

 

I stripped the car out when I started looking online and read through this forum for answers as no mechanics were fixing the issue as they kept re occurring.

  

passenger carpet floor soaking underneath, previous owner butchered and joined wires everywhere (big mess) and also tapped a screw driver through the floor to let the water out !

 

drivers seat not moving - although heating up ok

interior lights in the front not working

cruise control - works when it likes

if not drove will die within hours - battery tests come back ok

 

I have dried out the carpet, fixed the wires , sealed around the pollen filter,

 

the driver seat has came back to life, but the car keeps dying,

 

if anyone knows anything any help would be appreciated!

 

again apologies if this has been covered already I am new to this forum

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Simplesoul]

Brilliant Content. Thanks. I seem to have quite some water coming in. I have got rid of the condensation by filling two large socks with Catsan cat litter and placing them on the top of the dash. I will rip out the lot this summer and rebuild. However I have no water coming out of the windscreen jets and some kind of leak somewhere around the bonnet hinge and this water is also getting in through the duff pollen filter. I can see some washer fluid pipe connectors, but cant yet put my finger on the fault. Any ideas?

 

[Simplesoul]

On 26/11/2019 at 12:20, DarylT12 said:

Hi all,

I appreciate this may have already been covered but I have an 05 superb elegance

bought the car in July and it was perfect everything worked, dream to drive everything worked and well looked after ( I thought )

 

from the rain started in September I have put a new battery, alternator and few other bits and pieces as more often than not the car battery dies and I am left stuck!

 

I stripped the car out when I started looking online and read through this forum for answers as no mechanics were fixing the issue as they kept re occurring.

  

passenger carpet floor soaking underneath, previous owner butchered and joined wires everywhere (big mess) and also tapped a screw driver through the floor to let the water out !

 

drivers seat not moving - although heating up ok

interior lights in the front not working

cruise control - works when it likes

if not drove will die within hours - battery tests come back ok

 

I have dried out the carpet, fixed the wires , sealed around the pollen filter,

 

the driver seat has came back to life, but the car keeps dying,

 

if anyone knows anything any help would be appreciated!

 

again apologies if this has been covered already I am new to this forum

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you get this fixed? I have exactly the same problem and currently just disconnect the battery when not using the car for more than a day. There is a short somewhere and it could be anywhere with the botched design on the Superb electrics. Would appreciate your findings as reprogramming the radio and clock is a pain and I am planning a strip down in August. Would be good to get it right first time.

[DiscoStoo]

Just bought a 2007 Superb and guess what? My interior lights don’t work. I’m not one to mess with cars (I just make them worse) so the idea of ripping up my rear carpet horrifies me. The area in question isn’t damp or contain moisture as such; it’s just a little cold. 
Considering the very cold weather in the UK this week, I really haven’t had a proper chance to go round my new purchase (which I adore) with a fine tooth comb. 
My question, however, is a simple one and please forgive me for the banality of it: where are the scuttle holes located? I’ve googled it and looked at this thread but it’s not very clear. 
Are they either side underneath of that big plastic cover beneath the windshield which also houses the battery?

I don’t want to go pulling unnecessary bits off my new motor, but I’m savvy enough to understand that it is very important to keep these drainage holes clear of debris.
Any help, and nice pictures, would be greatly appreciated.  

[Gaz]

7 hours ago, DiscoStoo said:

Are they either side underneath of that big plastic cover beneath the windshield which also houses the battery?  

 

Exactly so.  One underneath the battery tray, and one below the brake servo.

 

Gaz

 

[DiscoStoo]

Just now, Gaz_ said:

 

Exactly so.  One underneath the battery tray, and one below the brake servo.

 

Gaz

 

Ah - I actually do know what those things are 😂

Very helpful, thank you!

[DiscoStoo]

With the warmer weather recently, my interior lights have started working again! presume this is the looms underneath the passenger seat drying out, be interesting to see what happens when it’s inevitably wet again. 

[JamieP86]

Unfortunate to say I have a very wet underlay in passenger rear footwell (and front due to slope of driveway).

 

After leaving my car to sit on a slightly rearward slope for approx 3 months over the winter (away with work) I returned to notice my boot and glovebox light stopped working.

 

Yesterday after feeling through the rear ventilation vent, I decided to pull the carpets.

 

Found evidence of corrosion on wiring and hoping this is the issue (seems plausible).

 

CCM box was dry, wiring was wet but nil corrosion evident which is good.

 

This is @Gizmoold Superb Edition 100, so the preventative maintenance you did almost 12 years ago seemed to do well for quite a while. 

 

Now to seal the pollen filter again, dry out the interior and hope it doesn't happen again!

[JamieP86]

Just put my finger through the drivers ventilation (rear) and that's damp too... Brill! Looks like I'll need to do some investigation!

[JamieP86]

For information - my pollen housing seal, ECU and Bonnet grommet are all good, the water isn't coming from here.

 

After a downpour today, notice water coming through the door seal as below on both front doors - will seal up the window motor / regulator carrier with silicone tomorrow and see if that works!

[JamieP86]

For info / future... My issue turned out to be the following:

 

Driver's door membrane (recently changed regulator).

 

Sunroof drains - they were clear, although the two front pipes were detached from the rubber bung in the door. Meaning water would just pool into the car and not overboard.

 

The rear sunroof drain attachment to the sunroof unit were leaking and not a firm seal.

 

Hopefully that's the end of my water ingress issues for a while!

[coopster]

Just had to say a massive thank you for this - was a great help to resolve the same issue i had on mine too.  👍

 

[Kamper408]

I have worked over all my wires and everything works with the exception of the windows and sunroof. I have replaced the module and switches as well as fixes the water ingress and corrosion issue. Still nothing on the windows or sunroof, currently at a total loss. Anyone have any advice that might help??