Water collecting in rear doors

[MarkRawlinson52]

OOPPS just re read your post and saw the mods.  Have they cut peices out of your door seals at the bottom? as they did on mine.

[Leon-y-k]

Got the car back; serviced, cleaned inside and out and with two service bulletins/recalls carried out:

 

TPI 2034980/1 (modification to rear door seals to stop doors filling with water)

Recall 55H6 adjustment of boot lid

 

It was presumed that the boot lid adjustment was related to the water on the rear seats. My car was one of the first Rapids in the country so maybe it only affected the very early cars.

 

Anyhow, now it's had it's teething problems sorted hopefully a trouble free year of motoring ahead!

just a year...  

[RapidRonnie]

just a year...

 

I meant till the next service!

 

I know planning ahead a year is not possible for you :p

[antronics1987]

I've had the same problem with water filling up inside the offside back door.

 

Story as follows:

 

Sloshing...where's the water...in the door. Located seals and drained. Called the dealer I bought the car from 2 weeks ago to get problem fixed. (at this point I should have known better not to return the car to the dealership for maintenance)...

 

Technicians have followed the TPI as given from head office...CUT THE SEALS WITH A PAIR OF SCISSORS!!!

 

OK - not happy. In the process my car was scratched in 3 places to the metal (1 on the outside body panel and 2 on the inside of the door - so it was done with the door open), and everything points to them for it having done it; but they will not accept liability and its looking like they will even charge me for a touch-up-pen. Regardless, having gently persuaded my Mum to by a car from them when I did, I'm really disappointed with the service.

 

Back to the window problem. My main issue is, "why is so much water is passing through the door". All 4 doors drain in the same way and operate with the same seals. Common sense tells you that yes, the drainage holes are obviously blocked and need cleaning, but as well as this, simply the seal at the top of the door isn't functioning properly if there is approx. 2/3 litres of water after a night's shower. All 4 doors have the same and only 1 had the problem...so the dealership then cuts seals on both back doors which annoys me further.

 

What gets me is the lack of quality in terms of fix. Saying that this is the correct fix, could they not use a proper puncture tool and create some clean holes? A pair of scissors can lead to a multitude of problems.

 

When I approached the service manager after this "fix" - or shall we call it a cover up for the insufficient seal above - he told me this was the process as stipulated by SKODA. It would appear to me that either SKODA have a manufacturing problem or just some of the doors are not put together properly.

 

At this point I asked why the front 2 doors were not done..."they work differently"...was the response, to which I told him I had been under the car and had a look and all 4 doors operate in the same way...HA - silence.

 

Second to this he said it was a manufacturing problem with the early seals, to which I asked have they been fixed...YES was the reply. OK, so my next question was why new seals were not sent out on warranty...? He dodged this.

 

OK - I would expect all of this to be a simple warranty claim regarding the seal that isn't working properly and letting in the water.

 

I reckon there are 2 solutions:

 

1) If the doors are designed to let "excessive" amounts of water through the door, then there should be a comment in the service manual telling you to periodically check and clean the drainage hole and seal around that area.

 

....oh, and not to buy the car!

 

2) If the door seal *window to frame* is poor (which it is) then SKODA should replace on warranty...but what is easier and more cost effective for them is to cut the seals *bottom of door*, let all the extra water drain through and no one will be any the wiser because YOU CAN"T SEE THEM UNLESS YOU GET ON YOUR BACK ON THE FLOOR. Most customers will never see the underside of a door in their lifetime!!!

 

I took the whole thing up with SKODA customer services and got no where.

 

Personally I need to get into their R&D office and show the guys how to test their vehicles. I'm thinking of running my own tests and working out which part of the door is leading to water ingress.

 

Is it worth contacting SKODA head office and talking with someone who can use common sense to solve the problem instead of just repeating clauses of warranty and what the technicians have told them?

 

Looking forward to your thoughts.

[RapidRonnie]

From what I read elsewhere on this thread it is pretty normal for doors to let in this much water, what is not normal is for the water not to drain away.

All the electrical gubbins for windows e.t.c. is on the inside skin of the door AFAIK so it should not really be a problem. It's a shame it happened in the first place but teething problems are to be expected with the first few cars.

[MarkRawlinson52]

I was told that too re the electrics being on other side of door skin.  beleive me mine had a LOT of water in it!!!

[antronics1987]

It's the excessive amount of water that worries me.

 

In addition to this, now my Mum's car (exactly the same model) has the same problem...we bought both cars exactly 2 weeks ago today.

 

So to conclude, 2 out of 8 doors...that's 25% have the problem, and it must be something to do with the top window seal letting through excessive amounts of water....oh, and common to the driver's side rear door.

[antronics1987]

MarkRawlinson52 - did you get yours sorted? If so, have a look underneath to see if they cut the seals with a pair of scissors! :P

[MarkRawlinson52]

I did look same day and could see where the seals had been cut (not very professionaly) however I can see no sign of paint damage.  I muxt admit I didnt look that close though/

[RapidRonnie]

 

 

In addition to this, now my Mum's car (exactly the same model) has the same problem...we bought both cars exactly 2 weeks ago today.

 

 

I'm a little surprised the dealer didn't check and do the mod before selling these as a lot of the early Rapids seem to have this problem.

[Thecko]

I still haven't noticed this in mine, unless I'm just going deaf

[MarkRawlinson52]

wait untill after it has rained or you have washed your car then open the back doors and wiggle them open and closed style, you will soon find out of there full of water or not.

[MarkRawlinson52]

After reading about the scratches/scissor marks I had a close look this morning.  I couldn't see anything on the drever side rear door, alas that was the only door I could check due to the constant stream of trafic going up and down my street.

[OldSpoon]

I had this problem on mine. Noticed it straight away driving home from the dealers. Both rear doors but more so the osr. I just pulled the seal away slightly at the bottom of the door and water drained out. So far haven't had the problem happen again.

[stratosg]

Ok I do not drive that car, but I have a couple of friends driving Rapids, so I would like to ask if it is easy for you to upload a photo of the spoken seals, in prder to inform them about the problem.

[DanSej6]

I'm a little surprised the dealer didn't check and do the mod before selling these as a lot of the early Rapids seem to have this problem.

 

Because it's not a "check all cars in stock and perform this repair" campaign.

It's a "if you get a complaint of water in the rear doors, do this" campaign.

 

Just like the rattly timing chain/tensioners on earlier 1.2 TSi engines, if it rattles, do something about it. If it doesn't, leave it.

 

The official Skoda repair is to cut slots in the seal, as apparently the seal applies too much pressure and blocks the holes up. The official repair says to drain the water, clear out the drain holes and cut slots into the seal. My memory fails me now, but it may also say something like they're looking into other methods of repair, so maybe there will be an entirely new seal at some point, who knows?

[stratosg]

Because it's not a "check all cars in stock and perform this repair" campaign.

It's a "if you get a complaint of water in the rear doors, do this" campaign.

 

Just like the rattly timing chain/tensioners on earlier 1.2 TSi engines, if it rattles, do something about it. If it doesn't, leave it.

 

The official Skoda repair is to cut slots in the seal, as apparently the seal applies too much pressure and blocks the holes up. The official repair says to drain the water, clear out the drain holes and cut slots into the seal. My memory fails me now, but it may also say something like they're looking into other methods of repair, so maybe there will be an entirely new seal at some point, who knows?

This is SOOOOOO cheap! :(

[tunners]

Yes bought a Rapid In July 2013 and within 5 weeks we found water had got into the back door drivers side. Garage said it was due to too much wax blocking the vent holes, fixed ok

[dubkev]

I have Seat Toledo (Sister car) and getting the same issue they have bodged sorry "fixed" the door seals by cutting out three slots on the rear doors but they still sometimes fill up and its not hard to see why the bit they have cut wouldn't do anything to allow water out if they were going to cut anything surely the side nearest the hole would be a good bet. My car steams up every day and i am sure this is due to the fact that the door rubber is still blocking the holes not allowing the car to breathe. They should make a new designed rubber with a gap for the holes and replace them on all Rapids and Toledo's Seat UK are contacting my dealer today and i wont back down until they have fixed my car correctly. Its a real shame as i love my car other than this silly and careless design fault that so easily could be fixed. Now i have discover the front doors also fill up so i would suggest you guys check yours just in case you haven't realised. I was told not to worry about the water in the door of my 6month year old car as the car had a 12 year anti corrosion warranty now that is customer service!

Edited 23 January, 2014 by dubkev

[kinetic747]

I have a Toledo 1.6 Tdi SE and I haven't had this issue as yet but if it is a design fault on the seals as seems likely, then it's only a matter of time before it happens. I agree with the above, this sounds like a recall issue as I'm pretty sure it's not good for the doors to fill with water! I wonder if anyone has tried contacting Autoexpress or such like as they have a column dedicated to such issues.

[cosra57]

Water collecting in all four doors. Spoke to Skoda dealer and fix is simply to cut a little out of the rubber to allow drainage from the 2 slit holes at the bottom of each door. I found it easer to mark the rubber where I want to cut and then pull the rubber off the retaining clip, cut out to the marks and then the fiddly bit is refitting the rubber back on to the clip. One door down three to go.

[dubkev]

They took a look they had to make new holes and seal them on front and back doors they cut out a slot on rubber to allow water out. Would get them to do it if they don't know and register the fault any parts damaged due to that issue will be your liability after the warranty period expires. Seat UK were really helpful and the dealer was much better at looking at the issue .

[skGOda]

Does anyone have any "before" and "after" photos showing the modification to the lower door weather seals so that they will then allow the water to drain away from the bottom of the doors? 

 

A few photos showing a modification that has worked will help to understand what the dealers are meant to do.

 

Thank you.

[AK67]

Yes, photos of this prob please guys!

[Monapics]

Just waiting for mine to go in for the fix.  Booked in for 18th April.  Given the noise from the back doors there must be literally gallons of water in them.  Might you it does rain a lot here in Scotland