Water retention in doors

[Neily03]

So I guess you are saying that you accept it is normal. I've also had Fords, BMWs, Vauxhalls, oh and I forgot I had a Seat back in the 90s and none have ever had this problem, only the Octy III.

I'm just not bothered, it's just water, when it rains the whole car gets wet.

[Matt Pez]

I'm just not bothered, it's just water, when it rains the whole car gets wet.

Fair enough, it is not a deal breaker and does not spoil my overall enjoyment of the car, but it does concern me that water collects inside the panels. Ok, the rest of the car gets wet, but it either runs straight off or dries up within a few hours of the rain stopping. When I was laid up earlier in the year due to illness, I didn't drive or even open the car for over 2 weeks and the water in the drivers door had built up to the point it had filled the rubber seal along the inner sill, not just the ones attached to the door, and some water had run down the inside of the sill and under the carpet mat was also damp! Now that can't be normal!

[Smeghead]

Hmmmm.  Bank holiday and OK weather(!!!) so I thought I'd wash the Octy and SWMBO's Polo..

 

Polo was on a flat part of the drive and Octy facing slightly uphill.  I gave them both a really good soaking to see how much water I'd find....... nothing on either of them.

[Matt Pez]

Hmmmm.  Bank holiday and OK weather(!!!) so I thought I'd wash the Octy and SWMBO's Polo..

 

Polo was on a flat part of the drive and Octy facing slightly uphill.  I gave them both a really good soaking to see how much water I'd find....... nothing on either of them.

Try it with the Octy facing downhill. Mine is ok on the flat or uphill, it is the drain holes nearest the hinge that get blocked so only affected facing downhill.

[Leonblue]

It may be a 'design feature' but I have found out that somebody managed to reject a VW group car for this.

[DJD66]

Mine does it too, driver's door, disperses onto road as soon as door is opened.

 

[morty]

Try it with the Octy facing downhill. Mine is ok on the flat or uphill, it is the drain holes nearest the hinge that get blocked so only affected facing downhill.

Mines exactly the same mate

 

Lee

[Matt Pez]

Mines exactly the same mate

 

Lee

I've given up worrying about it. The dealer has attempted to resolve twice, unsuccessfully, but submitted a report to SUK, although not heard anything back but they have made a note on the service record that if any major defect such as rust sets in, it will be covered. Only 30 months or so to go before I order my next car, hopefully the Superb III will not have as many build quality issues as the Octy III.

[Colin1961]

Giving my Octy mk3 a good wash and polish this week and noticed that between the front and back doors their is a rubber seal from top to bottom like on the mk2's but between the front wing and front doors its missing and their is a heaver rubber strip fixed to the hinged side of the front doors that only goes part of the way down. Unlike, as I remember, on the mk2's where its like the one between the two doors.

Could this be the point of water ingress, and cost savings, that is trapping water?

[Leonblue]

Giving my Octy mk3 a good wash and polish this week and noticed that between the front and back doors their is a rubber seal from top to bottom like on the mk2's but between the front wing and front doors its missing and their is a heaver rubber strip fixed to the hinged side of the front doors that only goes part of the way down. Unlike, as I remember, on the mk2's where its like the one between the two doors.

Could this be the point of water ingress, and cost savings, that is trapping water?

Saying that though, I believe that a number of people have had similar water ingress with their Mk2's

[Minimoke]

Every Octavia (both Mk2 & Mk3) and Fabia (both Mk1 and Mk2) I have ever owned has done this.

 

It’s always from the front doors, never the rear.

 

It’s worse parked facing downhill, although it will still happen parked on the flat.

 

I’ve just put up with it over the years and it does not seem to have done any obvious harm (except perhaps on the Fabia 1 – see more of that below). I have never had water actually enter the inside of the car.

 

It rained hard last night so I conducted a little experiment and took some pictures.

 

SWMBO’s Fabia2 was parked on the flat. Water poured out of the drain holes located at the front both passengers and drivers doors when the doors were opened.   The following was noted:

(1) All three drain holes at the bottom of each door were clear.

(2) There is no rubber seal located at the bottom of the doors themselves. I think the attached photos illustrates this.  (The piece of paper stuck in the door drain nearest the hinge is just there to show where the drain hole is located).

(3) The angle of the doors to the horizontal plane (ie the door was level) means that the water probably had not collected at the foot of the door. Otherwise I would have expected to see water coming out of all three drains.

 

I then had a look at the Octy which had been parked facing downhill. As you will be aware the Octy has a completely different door seal arrangement to that of the Fabia, and there is a seal actually located at the bottom of the door which covers the drain holes.

 

Opening the passenger door resulted in water pouring out of the drain hole located nearest to the door hinge. Gentle finger pressure on the door seal (as if the door were shut) stopped the water flow completely. The drivers door was the same.

 

Finally the rear doors were opened on both the Octy and Fabia.  No water was seen.

 

So what conclusions did I draw from this unscientific exercise?

 

(1) The door seal on the Octy may be exacerbating the situation, but is probably not the primary issue. Cutting holes in the seal is therefore unlikely to resolve the issue.

(2) The fact that the water only appears to ever come from the front drain holes (irrespective of the angle of parking) is suggestive that water may be reservoiring higher up the door toward the window aperture, is disturbed by the door opening, and then channels down the inside of the door toward the front drain hole.

(3) The fact that some vehicles do it and others do not, could be attributed to the window/door seals being better fitted in some cars and not others. Water will always enter all cars at this point as the seal can never be 100% effective. But those with poorer seals at this point will experience a more rapid increase in reservoiring.    

 

I mentioned issues with the Fabia1.  The problem was constant electrical niggles which were eventually traced to the card in the driver’s door. The cause was the build-up of water that area of the inside of the door, and I believe this was a very common problem with the Fabia1.

 

Sorry about the length of my ramble but hope this may help. This has been a very long standing issue which I think might only be resolved by somebody removing their interior door panel, hosing water on the window/door seal area and then observing what is actually happening inside the door.

Edited 29 June, 2014 by Minimoke

[Minimoke]

Sorry - missed a picture.

 

I would also add (if its not obvious from the pictures) that the drain holes on the Fabia are always uncovered and free to drain - there is no door seal covering them. 

Edited 29 June, 2014 by Minimoke

[conn]

Bumping this baby up. As you were talking about it is just water - what if I told you it could freeze? Had long trip of ~400 km on 24.12.2014. Car was warmed fully up. It rained a little, after that started to snow.

 

On 25th (-6 C outside) had to use the car, but guess what the door did not want to come open.

I got it open, melted the ice a bit with my hand to get it removed - did not want to slam the door shut while this thing was there.

 

Yes it is totally fine if it does not freeze - have had water splash out after opening the door in spring / summer / autumn.

Edited 19 January, 2015 by conn

[kallekilponen]

Sounds like a serious problem for us living up here in the north where it can go from raining to freezing pretty much daily.

Edited 19 January, 2015 by kallekilponen

[Svedenblad]

Might have to keep that in mind, never happend to me so far but we are having those +3 to -5 degrees right now...

[Jollyroger]

I've been kind of living with this for a while, worse as my drive is one slope, but it's really starting to annoy me as the door empties a cup of water onto my foot when I open it, now on a flat surface as well.

Not acceptable on a 2015 car. FACT! Never had this on a car before over 25 years of driving.

[octavianestate]

YGWYPF.

I'm suprised the skoda design bureau have been unable to solve this gem of a problem. Maybe things like this problem are a consequence of being a budget brand.

[andyvee]

AFAIK the Golf suffers from the water retention in the doors as well, go and tell them they have bought a budget brand

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[Neily03]

Bumping this baby up. As you were talking about it is just water - what if I told you it could freeze? Had long trip of ~400 km on 24.12.2014. Car was warmed fully up. It rained a little, after that started to snow.

 

On 25th (-6 C outside) had to use the car, but guess what the door did not want to come open.

 

I got it open, melted the ice a bit with my hand to get it removed - did not want to slam the door shut while this thing was there.

 

Yes it is totally fine if it does not freeze - have had water splash out after opening the door in spring / summer / autumn.

 

Ive seen this on mine and it proves again the door isn't retaining water, it's just sitting on the sill held in by the door seal when the car is facing downhill.

[octavianestate]

AFAIK the Golf suffers from the water retention in the doors as well, go and tell them they have bought a budget brand

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

That's a pity then. I guess that is the problem with generic designed parts which are not entirely designed well in the first instance.

[Matt Pez]

Recently with all the cold weather I've also had my front doors freeze solid to the point where I nearly pulled off the door handle trying to get it open! My drive is a down hill slope and on mine the water does also build up inside the door, not just on the sill as the water flows out of the open door from the forward drain holes for a few seconds after opening when its not frozen!

[Stormchaser]

The Rapid suffers with this too but only the rear doors. There's a mod that the dealers have to do that entails cutting the lower seal as it covers the drain holes and holds water. Also the drain holes have a tendency to be blocked with wax from inside the door shell and needs to be cleared.

Mine was done on PDI before I collected it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Matt Pez]

The Rapid suffers with this too but only the rear doors. There's a mod that the dealers have to do that entails cutting the lower seal as it covers the drain holes and holds water. Also the drain holes have a tendency to be blocked with wax from inside the door shell and needs to be cleared.

Mine was done on PDI before I collected it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mine had that procedure a couple of times but it made bu99er all difference, still fills up with water. SWMBOs O2FL has never done this, neither did my Superb 2, my 06 Passat or our MkI Octy, but apparently all VAG cars do this and its normal!!!

[johnthesparky]

pretty sure my '05 Seat Altea used to suffer from this.....

 

you'd get loads of water running out when you opened the front doors after heavy rain or washing it......

 

I have decided that I will treat it with the same urgency that I gave to the Altea (only now I know what it is)

 

the altea was, and the octavia will be, parked on the drive nose up..... so I shall not worry 

[Stormchaser]

My MK 1 & 2 Octavia didnt suffer with this either [emoji6]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk