water in the spare wheel well

[sadexpunk]

hi

just noticed this today, quite a lot of it. soaked it all up now and had a google, and there seem to be a couple of options, rear wiper hose, or the boot seal.

ive looked at the boot seal, and it seems to have holes all the way to the bottom, and a bit of a squidge at the bottom lets out a bit of water, up top nothing. so that would seem to be in order.

the rear wiper wash has never worked, so thats my gut feeling. an old thread seems to point at undoing the trim near the cd changer but i dont have one in the boot. its a 57 L+K, and has what seems like 'doors' in the trim towards both sides at the rear near the light clusters. on trying to undo them, it seems the trim is still stitched in a couple of places, so not sure theyre meant to be opened?

can anyone advise me how easy its gonna be to access the washer hose/connections to check it out? and pics anywhere?

thanks a lot

[andyvee]

I have only done this on an estate and you have to remove a fair bit of trim to get to the pipe.

Have your rear lights starting playing up yet with that much of a leak?

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[andyvee]

Search for guides on towbar fitting as they show how to get all the trim out.

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[ryan-re]

there is a 3rd option. Air vents.

You find the air vents on the drivers side. You need to remove the trim covering the wheel arch which goes round to behind the lights.

This is easy to remove. First you must remove the plastic trim in the middle of the boot opening. Then remove all the screws holding the carpet trim in place and it simply pulls out. Once this is removed you will see the vents. I followed a water trail down to these in my vrs so caked the edges in sealent and it fixed it

[steve33]

My hatch' did this, but only the once. It collected water in the wheel well to probably two thirds deep. Took ages to bail it out! Never done it since, so not entirely sure what happened.

[ednmra]

Check also the cap on top of the black plastic threaded tube that holds the spare wheel down to the floor. Mine came off once and I soon had water there. Since refitting it, it has stayed dry.

[sadexpunk]

Have your rear lights starting playing up yet with that much of a leak?

nope, lights have been fine. had a parking sensor fail a while ago, but cant be sure its related.

Search for guides on towbar fitting as they show how to get all the trim out.

ok, will do thanks

there is a 3rd option. Air vents.

You find the air vents on the drivers side. You need to remove the trim covering the wheel arch which goes round to behind the lights.

This is easy to remove. First you must remove the plastic trim in the middle of the boot opening. Then remove all the screws holding the carpet trim in place and it simply pulls out. Once this is removed you will see the vents. I followed a water trail down to these in my vrs so caked the edges in sealent and it fixed it

ill look into that too thanks

Check also the cap on top of the black plastic threaded tube that holds the spare wheel down to the floor. Mine came off once and I soon had water there. Since refitting it, it has stayed dry.

thats fine, i had to undo it to take wheel out.

thanks all :-)

[ryan-re]

Check also the cap on top of the black plastic threaded tube that holds the spare wheel down to the floor. Mine came off once and I soon had water there. Since refitting it, it has stayed dry.

thats not possible to be a cause mate. I dont have a spare and have completely removed all the bits which hold it in place and its never caused any leak. The threaded tube is held down by an extra bit of metal welded to the boot floor

[sadexpunk]

i assume to test the rear washer i just need ignition on (no engine), put it in reverse and pull back on wiper lever?

thanks

Edited 16 May, 2013 by sadexpunk

[sadexpunk]

just been experimenting, and taken off the jet cover, and the pushfit jet. tried the washer and its lightly splashed the body with brown water, but no decent stream of water. will i need to remove the hoses to find the blockage, or is there an easier way?

unfortunately this also proves the hoses are connected at the moment, so it cant be that thats causing the water in the wheel well, but at least its a problem ive come across that needs sorting :-)

[andyvee]

Mine was working at reduced flow and leaking at the same time, it was filling the area behind the trim panels whilst parked up from the water in the pipe. On the estate there is a drain hole in that section so at least it didn't fill the spare wheel well, it was dripping down somewhere near the rear mud flap. I think the hatchback design is slightly different though.

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[GriffoVRS]

I also found an inch or so of water in my spare wheel well. There was no trace of washer fluid fluid in the water, so I put it down to a leak somewhere.

The boot seal had filled up with water, and when you pressed it, water squirted out of the holes.

With a set of cutters I added an extra set of holes in the seal at the bottom (all of the original holes where at the top). This let the water out, and fingers crossed, I haven't had the re-occurence of the water in the spare wheel well.

However, my rear washer has just started to play up, and I only get a very limited amount of washer fluid coming out just around the base of the wiper arm, so this needs some investigation as well!

[eurowolf69]

I had a similar EXPENSIVE problem, engine management lights intermittent for couple of days then death, tow......fuel pump swap and so on, two days use........lights, death, tow.......but finally diagnosed as soggy shorted reversing sensor control box and suchlike under cd changer caused by water damage, electrical fault causing it all.

Eventually found to be rear washer wipe hose leak........(partly via forum suggestions!)..... Only pouring water in boot when I used the rear washer, but kinda syphon effect each time. Water damage not covered on that warranty ;-(

Hard to detect as some water squirted out, but more leaked inward....... And boot contents only wet at back...... Oh and I'm a clutterer!

Was told routing of rear washer pipe lends itself to freezing, so i mix super strong screen wash in winter now in case that's true!

[RainbowFire]

(I know this sounds ikky)

Mine was (maybe even still) leaking. My first test was a finger-dip and dab on tongue - mine didn't taste of screen-wash, it tasted clean. Couldn't actually see where anything could be coming in, so just drilled a small hole in one of the plastic bungs. Haven't looked in there for a while as I've got the false floor now and that's a lot of faff to get to the wheel-well.

[sadexpunk]

great stuff thanks chaps.

im pleased i got the rear washer working now, so i think im going to just monitor the well now before stripping anything. every now and then ill just lift everything out of the boot and have a look see if its hopefully still dry.

thanks a lot :-)

[Rob_Quads]

I fell foul of this one just yesterday. When i had the car the pipe was un-done over the rear wheel arch. At the time cleaned the nozzles too to make sure they were not causing a blockage but then found water was filling up around the boot trim. After pulling off the trim the pipe was off :( Fixed it back on, also gave it a dab of glue and also a nice bit of black tape to hold it still. Fingers crossed that the last washer problem for a while

[ednmra]

I've asked this a few times and not got an answer. What is the best way to get at the pipe that needs securing to the rear screen washer? Is it likely that new trim fixing studs or whatever would be needed?

[adamal]

I started by taking the centre trim of the rear sill away (three plastic nuts by spare), then the lower d pillar trim (screws and clips), then the c pillar upper trim, and then the luggage cover support. You need to remove caps from the hooks to access the screws and also there is a screw behind the big hook. Then I pulled the rear seat bolster off at the top (just a good tug), and unscrewed the side trim. The rivet things by the cd changer (if you have one) pull out easily with a long nose pliers applied on the centre pin. This is for a pre fl estate, a hatch or an fl could be slightly different I imagine.

Hope that helps

Adam

[andyvee]

As I said in an earlier reply, search for towbar fitting guides.

Oh look, here is one I found in 3 seconds on my phone on Google, and it is on here surprise surprise

Should have enough info for getting the trim off

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/46577-how-to-remove-the-rear-bumper-fit-a-towbar/

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[ednmra]

I started by taking the centre trim of the rear sill away (three plastic nuts by spare), then the lower d pillar trim (screws and clips), then the c pillar upper trim, and then the luggage cover support. You need to remove caps from the hooks to access the screws and also there is a screw behind the big hook. Then I pulled the rear seat bolster off at the top (just a good tug), and unscrewed the side trim. The rivet things by the cd changer (if you have one) pull out easily with a long nose pliers applied on the centre pin. This is for a pre fl estate, a hatch or an fl could be slightly different I imagine.

Hope that helps

Adam

Thanks, but mine's a hatch!

[andyvee]

Shame, as there was an excellent guide on Octavia-vrs.com but the site has gone now.

IIRC that was an estate as well though

Can't be massively different.

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[gadgetman]

There's a guide in technical guides with pictures

[ednmra]

There's a guide in technical guides with pictures

Unfortunately the download file doesn't work (says file is corrupted)

[kb277]

I had a batch with this issue. There is a coupling behind the trim on the nearside for the rear window washer and they have a tendency to pop off under a bit of pressure. Simply had to remove the trim beside wheel arch in the boot and reconnect offending coupling. Job done. Took about 20 mins