Hi all,

So, I purchased my superb around 2 months ago. I had a number of electrical problems and found when I pulled back the front carpet on the passenger side it was full of water. I checked the pollen filter and that was at fault so did the reseal trick. Not had any problems for a couple of weeks.

Went on holiday last week and left the car on a level drive, got back early hours of this morning and the car was dead, battery had drained itself. Asked my dad to keep starting the car whilst we were away and apparently the battery drained after we had loads of rain on Sunday. So, went in the passenger side checked underneath the carpet and the front is dry as a bone, in the rear it is slightly damp to say the least!

What do we reckon this could be, I have seen a few posts about door seals but can't actually find a guide or any guidance on how to check this!

Any thoughts/comments would be appreciate. Thanks

Did you take the two bungs out of the plenum chamber, and was it the outer (hidden) seal under the pollen filter holder that you changed? There is one bung under the battery tray, and one under the servo vac. chamber which must be pushed out. The pollen filter holder to body seal needs to be replaced by 10mm square section mastic strip - available from VW.

 

The foam seal you can see through the hole when the pollen filter element is removed is an air seal and does not stop water ingress.

 

This fault on the B5.5 must rank as one of VAG's finest human misery achievements. It was so nice of them to help all of their customers affected by this stupid design fault....

 

rotodiesel.

Hi rotodiesel I did take both go them out yes, and yes it was the hidden seal that was split. Under the glovebox is dry and the passenger footwell is dry so it can't be the pollen filter again could it?

I posted a video on the door seal issues in the big water ingress sticky here (not my video):

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/152490-water-ingress-problemsolved/?p=2966894

It can affect all the seals, my drivers side front door had failed, this video is a back door.  Particularly likely to fail if you've had a door lock or electric window fixed.

Interestingly I have had the rear regulator changed! Do you know if there is a guide to resealing them?

 

If it isnt the door seal, what else do we think it could be?

There are lots of places that leak, but if it is really all in the back (no evidence of it tracking from the front) then the door is the most likely suspect.

All the other leaks are at the front I believe. (ECU, pollen filter, front sunroof drain).

There are rear sunroof drains which exit in the rear wheelarch I believe, but I think the sunroof drain leaks are mostly the front of the car.

Sunroof drains can be tested by opening sunroof and pouring water into each of the 4 drains and making sure it comes out where it should.

Door panel check involves looking to see if you get water coming down the metal of the door (behind the doorcard) when soaking the door, particularly along the trim strip where the glass meets at the bottom.  It is easier to see if you take the doorcard off (like in the video).  

Hi guys

Excellent work here guys

Does anyone of you here know of a person who can do me this kind of work in or near sheffield ??

Much appreciated

Thanks

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Thanks all, appreciate all ur comments and guidance

Water ingress repairs anywhere in Yorkshire?

Help needed guys

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Most of us on here have done the work ourselves I think (it isn't very difficult if you have a few hours).

 

What will take the longest time if you have a lot of water in the car is the drying out, as the carpet can hold tons of water (it is very large and thick).  

 

My limited experience of the dealerships dealing with water ingress is that they either don't fully understand the issue, or don't take enough care.  One told me there is no water ingress issue on these cars, and another just took the bungs out without resealing the pollen filter housing.

 

There aren't huge numbers of us active in this forum - if you can't /don't want to DIY and don't get an answer you might try UKPassats, which is very busy (usually 20 active threads a day, versus a couple here).  The Passat water ingress issues are identical - VW have managed to ship a leaky platform for over 10 years.  Quite incredible.

 

The UK Passats B5 / 5.5 forum is here:

http://www.ukpassats.co.uk/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=8