Warning: Fabia Door Leaks

[MoggyTech]

had my 04 vRS a couple of weeks now and so far my carpet are dry...

i managed to get an unlimited 12mth warranty from the dealer. it specifically says in items not covered water ingress. does this mean that skoda are sealing doors as a goodwill gesture?

best car i've owned bar none...

There lies the main problem. With an extended warranty, I could understand the main door seal not being covered, as it is subjected to wear and tear by compression, and opening/closing door etc. However, the design of the carrier plate seal is rubbish. They should have ensured that any water getting past the windows outer touch seal, does not drip down onto the carrier plate. A simple plastic 'shelf' above the lower carrier edge would have stopped the problem. (fitted to inside of carrier plate.)

Then there is the design of the carrier seal itself. It's rubber, but the carrier is riveted to the door skin, so does not compress the seal enough, plus the seal absorbs water!

It's not just Skodas either. a lot of VAG group cars have this problem. My mate had a SEAT Leon that resembled a swimming pool inside.

[Highwayman]

I've experienced leaking in the rear n/s area from:

1) The wash wipe pipe blowing at the joint which runs behind the grey plastic trim top corner.

2) The small rubber doorstop in bottom corner of door became unscrewed preventing the door from seating onto the rubber seal correctly.

Both quite easy to fix - I think the wash wipe pipes blow when antifreeze addatives aren't used - this leads to excess pressure on the pipe joints caused when the nozzles have frozen?

[dorsetowner]

I've joined the queue

Bought a used 2001 Fabia estate in the autumn. Until the wet winter weather I only noticed misting at first. Both back doors' interior panels (but not floor) massively wet after rain. The used car dealer had a go under warranty. Next big rain, problem still there so I went to the Skoda dealership. They've had two goes at fixing it without success. Quite gutted to find out it is a recognizable Skoda fault but I have the problem and expense to put right. Doubly gutted because it is actually a very nice car to drive. At this moment I am testing whether my solution may work - I sprayed the interior door panels with waterproofer from a camping shop. Waiting for big wet weather now.

[MoggyTech]

Follow the DIY repair guide available with a search on this site, but use Unibond 3 in 1 sealant, job done. An hour each side if you take your time. Also fit the latest type door trim clips, most of the old ones will break anyway. �10 for sealer �4 for 14 clips.

[Alec Butler]

Hi. This is my 1st post on this forum. I've had my '04 Fabia for about 18 months & it's always seemed to have a disappointing amount of condensation inside. Just realised under the rear carpets (both sides) is really wet. I'm glad I'm not alone, but really annoyed that it seems a known issue & nothing has been done at the Skoda end. I've tried to find the DIY guide using the search but I'm not that good with this technology stuff & haven't yet managed to find the guide. Is there any set of words to put into the search to be guarenteed to get the right result back? Or a url thing? Many thanks

[Rob.]

First things First.. Hi Mate and Welcome to Briskoda, it's an awesome Forum!

Have a look at this guide here

Door Carrier Repair fabia-vrs.com - The Comprehensive Fabia vRS Resource Site

and that site in general is fantastic, it's run by a guy on here who has an Audi now.. but he still keeps an eye on us

The search can be a bit vauge sometimes. Try using the search page and selecting specific parts of the forum to search, and adding more and more specific words to narrow it down bit by bit.. There are a huge amount of threads on here now and I know what you mean about doing a search and getting 3,4 or 10 pages back from it. But it IS worth it!

Rob

Oh, and just to add as an after thought.. you don;t have to spend the �50 on Skoda's sealant.. most people use a sealant from a hardware store.. try and find one that says it'll dry in damp conditions Normally they're the NON silicon based ones.

[MoggyTech]

^^^ WHS and the sealant you want is Unibond 3 in 1 adhesive and sealant. Also 14 of the new style door card clips as the old ones will break, and the new ones seal better.

[wj52 tlx]

:rolleyes:my 52 plate fabia 1.4 mpi classic also leaks from the rear doors i have put moisture absorber under the front seat that helps i hope skoda have sorted this problem with new generation fabia

[r_holmes22]

Some kind soul (a Briskodian, I would imagine) has posted a helpful

. My apologies if this has already been mentioned; I don't have time to read the whole thread.

[stuninho]

Damn... cleaning the car today I noticed white "tide mark" lines on the rear door cards. Had a feel and the bottom of the door card (the fabric covering of the bottom of the door) is wet.

The mats are bone dry, as are the top of the carpets, but I peeled the carpet back slightly and there is definitely moisture under there.

It seems like the first step is to do the door carrier seals, but I also noticed that the inside window seals are wet, and a bit mucky in the corners. You can press the glass near the bottom and see the window move a fair bit. So, I'm happy to either seal the carriers myself or pay someone else to do it.. but my questions are:

How long does it take the moisture under the carpet to dry, do I need to do anything else to it to help it along?

How much do the window seals cost to replace?

Is there likely to be mould under the carpets? Will I have to replace them?

Any recommendations on cleaning the door cards?

Is an independent garage OK to replace seals etc or would I be better off going to the dealers?

I called the local dealers (Martyn Beever York) today but it was quite late and the service dept were not available, expect to hear from them tomorrow.

On the plus side, I have just put the mats in the washing machine and they have come up pretty well

EDIT - I realise this isn't as bad as some cases reported and should add this was after pressure washing - the wettest area, the bottom of the doors, seemed a lot better tonight. Cheers all!

Edited 9 February, 2010 by stuninho

[pieman[vrs]]

Same problem as mine & many other fabias.

A quick solution is to put newspaper under the rear & front mats depending on which seals are leaking, this soaks up a fair bit of moisture and makes condensation less of a problem!

You can get the seals re-sealed at a dealer for free if ur still under a warranty if not you can DIY it here http://www.fabia-vrs.com/technical-info/door-carrier-repair/

Get a skoda dealer to do the work, then there will be some kind of warranty on the work!

To make it dry quicker crank up the heating & air con - costs fuel but car will be dry As for mould I havent seen any on mine yet, but a good fabric/upholstery cleaner should work.

As for window seal cost... no idea you'd have to ask a dealer, but I'm not to sure that'l fix the prolem.

hope this helps

[stuninho]

' date='09 February 2010 - 22:31' timestamp='1265754694' post='1890723']

Same problem as mine & many other fabias.

A quick solution is to put newspaper under the rear & front mats depending on which seals are leaking, this soaks up a fair bit of moisture and makes condensation less of a problem!

You can get the seals re-sealed at a dealer for free if ur still under a warranty if not you can DIY it here http://www.fabia-vrs.com/technical-info/door-carrier-repair/

Get a skoda dealer to do the work, then there will be some kind of warranty on the work!

To make it dry quicker crank up the heating & air con - costs fuel but car will be dry As for mould I havent seen any on mine yet, but a good fabric/upholstery cleaner should work.

As for window seal cost... no idea you'd have to ask a dealer, but I'm not to sure that'l fix the prolem.

hope this helps

cheers pieman, its booked in so wish me luck!

['Little' John]

cheers pieman, its booked in so wish me luck!

Good luck!

Mine's been into the local stealers three times to have the rear doors sealed in the last two months and it's still leaking...

[anewman]

Have a leak into the rear passenger footwell. The rubber seal and the plastic trim are dry, as is the vertical piece of carpet below the trim. If I feel under the door card it is dry, if I squeeze it inwards then some water appears from between the door card and door. Is this a door carrier leak? (I'd have thought the vertical carpet, rubber seal and plastic trim would be wet too).

[FUBAR]

N/s rear carrier seal went massive condensation nightmare followed the guide often linked here great fixed other side started to get bottom of door card dampening so I did that one too kept car inside at work for a week used 2 diff makes of sealant 2nd one I used was for exterior metal guttering seemed a good job better than first one but now a couple of weeks later BOTH seem to have gone again :( GUTTED

But my question is when I wash my car I use a VERY powerful pressure washer and give it a really good wash down after if im spraying and water goes in at bottom of closed door could that soak door card as now im getting HEAVY condensation but carpets are not wet even when pressed down hard like before just bottom of door cards sodden around bottom?

[dcj1s]

Hi all, I have a fabia vrs se and mine has turned into a boat too, been into the dealership for two days and no luck, the car is still leaking through the rear door seals. I have Recently moved so i'm going to try another dealer. Is this a re-occurring problem once fixed or a permanent repair? Also the chrome on my headrests are starting to corrode due to the condensation, should they sought this under warranty too?

Cheers guys

Darren

[dxg]

Simplest solution is to fix it yourself. It's such a fiddly job that I can't image any dealer will want to spend the time it needs on it. Hence your need to take it back.

Get some Uniseal gutter and downpipe sealant (the black stuff designed for outdoor use) and away you go. I fixed my SE just before the weather turned at the end of last year, and it's been perfect since. I just didn't fancy having to scrape the inside of the windscreen... Only problem is the need wait for the weather to heat up so I can shampoo the salt stains out the rear carpets...

[dcj1s]

No problem will give it a go... its just a shame as its a great car otherwise! Sounds like the majority of fabias are the same.

Many thanks for the advice.

[Bernard G]

Found this problem with our car 04 estate after looking online. The carpet was wet under the foot mats and mold on carpet and seat, bootlining warter damaged from condenation pooling from rear window and car info sticker mouldy and unreadable (same sticker found on inside of service book)

Rang customer services and ended speaking to a very unhelpful rude chap. I told him it was not acceptable an 04 plate car less than year leaks in all it doors and said it was "not fit for purpose" . He replyed "do you know how often I hear not fit for purpose". Quite a lot I imagened from that comment. He said that I didnot know what I was talking about. i.e. whan it rains the car gets damp. Wa in the process of making a formal complaint to Skoda UK. Am writinng to the MD, Internal Customer Service Manager, and a supervisor got all their names VwW uk for good measure. Also will not be replacing our other car (octavia 08 plate) when it 3 years is up probably not wait that long (also gets a bit misty inside too).

Went to consumer direct http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ and reng the help line and the information they required was where did you buy the car (my wife had from new) how was the car financed and what did it cost new. The car was registered 2-7-2004 it was exdemo car when she bougth it and I have been told by an advisor that it falls under the Sales of Goods Act 1979 and the fault has developed within 6 years only just 1-7-2004 is the cutoff date for this year. It is actually the goods need to be of satisfactory quality and standard

Next step is write to the dealer where we bought car from using a template letter from the website that will highlight the Sales of Goods Act and will clame for the

1. Repair of the leak

2. Replacemnt of the lining.

3. Other damages to the car that are not visable.

4. Devaluation of the car due to water damages.

5. Cost of cleaning

Will give it a go and see what they day they must reply within 14 days not Happy bunny tha fact that Skoda have from what I have read have a habit skicking their fingers in their ears closing their eyes and going la la la hoping the problem will go away, that is just poor form.

[Bezzy]

I'm trying to get my door seals sorted at the minute as well. I e-mailed the dealer earlier this week, and it took him a couple of days to get back to me. Not great, but not bad, as I sent the same message to Skoda UK and they have still not replied 3 or 4 days later!! Bloody rubbish!! I'll keep people updated on how I get on!

[Bernard G]

We have got a letter back from the garage where we bought the car and the reply is

Sorry th hear about the water leak in your car. Your car, been nearly 6 years old, unfortunately is out of warranty, so I am afraid you will need to pay for this repair, as it is a serviceable item. The last time you visited our workshops was in Aug 2006. If you was using us regularly, we would have detected that their was a moisture problem and could have been dealt with before becoming a bigger issue.

Hope this responds to your complain, but should you need any further explanation do not hesitate to contact me.

Great letter writing skills using been instead on being. If you was instead of if you were and complain instead of complaint. Not saying that I am perfect but this is poor for a formal letter.

So i rang Consumer Direct who have a file running on this. They said for now send another letter and explain clearly that you are not claiming under warranty that under Sales of Goods Act 1979 and that is what applies in this case. So am in the process of doing this.

I also rang the garage and spoke to the manager he was as sharp a button. He tried to do the 3 year warranty speal and the age of the car routine. I then replied that Statutory law Sales of goods Act 1979 section14 states that the item must be of satisfactory quality he tried the age of he car speal and I also informed of the 6 year statutory limitation period. He then said that I should contact Skoda Uk direct (see what happened the last time I did that on last post). And again I said it is the sellers responsibility to deal with this matter Sales of Goods bla bla.

I would urge anyone with a car 6 years or newer to take this route if they have the same problem. If Trading Standards are made aware they might start to ask Skoda questions and they proudly display the Office of Fair Trading on their website who trading standards are part of.

Will let you know what happens.

[Corni]

It seems that Skoda never really addressed this problem in mark I Fabia. This morning when it had been raining I noticed that both rear doors had leaked water in new to me car which is last mark I's to produce (late 2007). I was so ****ed off, when I noticed this. Well, did buy silicone and fix it the way it was instructed here, so it shouldn't do that anymore. There were some sort of foam between the two plates but it doesn't work as a water seal. Now there is a pocket for water to stay... Well better that doors rust rather than floor, I quess.

How hard is it to remove floor carpets to dry them or put some newspaper under them to suck water out? Did put few silica gel bags on top but I don't think it will help much..

[zeffania]

I used the diy guide from here not long after getting my car. I used a clear sealent that cost £4 from screwfix and made sure I did a wide seal. I haven't had any issues, has worked brilliantly and to be honest it was less hassle than trying to get a dealer to do it and I was able to leave the doorcards off for a week to make sure it worked before putting the car back together. My car is a 54 and it happened September last year. If anyone is local to Basingstoke I don't mind helping

[martinch]

How hard is it to remove floor carpets to dry them or put some newspaper under them to suck water out? Did put few silica gel bags on top but I don't think it will help much..

Just scrunch the paper up and chuck it on top of the carpet - it will pull the water up. If you have access to a VAX-type vacuum cleaner, giving it a quick go with that first to get the worst of it out will help.

[micklecats]

I am trying the preventative measure of insulation tape across the bottom of the glass and the frame seals to see if I can keep the water out of the door..................... until I can seal them myself properly.

Its funny how mine have only leaked after having the door seals 'fixed' at Central Skoda in the summer in their feeble attempts to cure my crap A/C, I will be calling to see how long their repairs are guarranteed for..... but don't hold much hope - anyway, why would I want them to 'fix' it again after not fixing it already!!!!?????

Having said that its a chuffing design fault anyway - do Polos and Ibizas suffer the same fault???