Condensation

[Azzy12]

Hi all, my Skoda Fabia Vrs i suspect is leaking in water, as the front windscreen is always steamed up.

Ive bought sealant to fix the issues behind the doorcards, however im pretty useless with DIY'ing, so i was wondering if anyone can do this on my car, and i will pay labour charges.. ?

 

Im located in Birmingham, near the West Bromwich football stadium

[Breezy_Pete]

Have you checked for water sitting on the lower rubber, as shown in this pic:

 

[coskev]

What's the fix for the rear hatch rubber?

 

As I've noticed water on mine like in your pic,have looked at adjusting catch for hatchback but there's very little adjustment. 

 

To the OP,check your drains are clear out of your scuttle area.They get full of leaves and crap,the drains exit is behind the arch liners.

[Breezy_Pete]

Dunno, mine's a picture of a rear door orifice, though I can see now that it's a bit ambiguous.

Edited 2 February, 2016 by Wino

[coskev]

Ha ha,oooppps

[poiuytre111]

Over time, air con systems can build up water extracted from the air in the cabin. This is no issue when the air con is running but if turned off I found that condensation on the windscreens would quickly follow.

[FromTheDarkness]

Mine has water there on the fronts, but i have no condensation issue.

[hutchysrs50]

The fronts leak exactly the same and give the same issue

[Jrjg]

If the fronts leak exactly the same as the rears, how come it is 99% the rear doors that are the problem?

[wiredsoftware]

Definitely possible to have the fronts leak. My first Fabia leaked from all four doors, and my second one leaked from both rears only (but I sealed all four on the second one to future proof it).

[nafeun]

I had one front and both rears on mine...I sealed all of them with plumbers gold 4 years ago. Still dry.

[hutchysrs50]

If the fronts leak exactly the same as the rears, how come it is 99% the rear doors that are the problem?

 

Because the rears seem to warp more from what i can tell.

If you removed one and sit it in place, without the rivets pulling it in, you can get your fingers behind the gaps and since the rivets dont always get a good hold over time the seal leaks.

 

Im sure another fix would be to put a few self tappers around the edge to pull it in tighter.

 

As shown by the above comments, its fairly common for all four to leak, people just dont notice or check. 

and since the fronts leak, the water runs back towards the rear anyway so people front notice the front mats wet as often.

Edited 3 February, 2016 by hutchysrs50

[DRJ]

I did the rear doors over 4 years ago - but I think the fronts may not be leaking...   :-(

[Jrjg]

Because the rears seem to warp more from what i can tell.

If you removed one and sit it in place, without the rivets pulling it in, you can get your fingers behind the gaps and since the rivets dont always get a good hold over time the seal leaks.

Im sure another fix would be to put a few self tappers around the edge to pull it in tighter.

As shown by the above comments, its fairly common for all four to leak, people just dont notice or check.

and since the fronts leak, the water runs back towards the rear anyway so people front notice the front mats wet as often.

You've made me nervous now... That's me checking my front door sills the next time it rains!

JRJG

[wiredsoftware]

Certainly sounds plausible that the rears might leak more often due to warping. You could also argue that the driver door should fail more often due to it being slammed the most.

I think the Fabias are now getting to the age where we'll see ever more failures due to the foamy sealing material disintegrating from age and moisture, and this will affect all the doors.

Mind you, we're also getting to the time when cars start to die of old age (N-th owners not giving a toss about or able to afford servicing, turbo failures, head gasket failures that cost more than the car to put right, etc) so that will cancel it out somewhat!

Edited 3 February, 2016 by wiredsoftware

[Breezy_Pete]

I'm 99% sure the rears leak more because more water is directed onto the rear carriers by an unfortunate design 'coincidence'.

 

The vertical trim/divider at the front edge of the rear quarter light / back edge of movable window, extends downwards into the door a little bit, which you can see if you take the carrier right off. Unfortunately I don't have a useful photo from the right angle to show this.

Water that runs in past the outer seal next to that divider will run down to the end of that trim piece, and then drip off into the middle of the door.  Normally this would be fine, as there are drain holes at the bottom for it to harmlessly find its way out through.

But in this case, right underneath the end of that trim is a plastic bracket, which connects the door lock to the carrier plate. This guides those drips onto the back of the carrier, instead of allowing them to drip straight down to the drain holes. 

 

Bracket, rear of carrier where it attaches, and giveaway watermark evidence here: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/248766-1j4-839-768-door-lock-retaining-bracket/

 

Sorry, posting from a tablet, which defeats my ability to put those pics straight into this post.

Edit: Here they are:

 

 

 

Borrowing one of hutchy's pics (cheers mate ), you can see how that vertical divider bit between the glass panes is 'nicely' aligned above the bracket:

 

Edited 4 February, 2016 by Wino

[FromTheDarkness]

The fronts leak exactly the same and give the same issue

 

For mine i dont think its the same issue, ive had both doors apart recently to fit new electric mechanism, all was dry as a bone, i think i have failing seals up top allowing water in at speed in the wind. 

[stuart vrs]

I noticed mine has water that collects on the o/s rear door as pointed in earlier picture, I put some old piece of material to soak up the water that collects otherwise it will overfill into the car. Next step drivers seat out and dry out driverside carpet and soundproofing.

[hutchysrs50]

For mine i dont think its the same issue, ive had both doors apart recently to fit new electric mechanism, all was dry as a bone, i think i have failing seals up top allowing water in at speed in the wind.

I've found with the fronts they visually look dry but if you push some weight on the carrier, water runs down them.

I'm not saying in any way shape or form that's what everyone's problem is, just somthing els to check. I've had plenty of Fabias now and only two of my fronts have leaked.

[Stewpotz]

All my does are sealed up, but I get steamed up boot glass.

No condensation on any other window.

Anyone fancy helping out with the cause on this?

[hutchysrs50]

So much information on the subject its hard to tell now! Ive never had any expeience with my boot window steaming up apart from when the rear doors were leaking and the full car steamed up!

 

Check to see if the rear screen wash comes out and sprays the back window, if not that would be leaking at one of the joins.

[Stewpotz]

Washer jet is fine, and no condensation on other windows

[StevesTruck]

Daft question but... have you tried changing the pollen filter?

 

Both my ibiza and dad's fabia were steamng up when we got them. I forget which way round it was, but one was full of crap and the other had about half a pint of water in.

[Azzy12]

Thanks all for the replies and info! However, is anyone willing to do this for me, as ive said, im not good with all the above lol :-(

Id just want the doors sealing is all..

[StevesTruck]

Pollen filter's easy, have a look on youtube and there's plenty of folks showing you how.

 

Unscrew the dash trim under the glovebox, take it out, slide the clips across on the filter housing, it drops out (remember which way round it was), open it, change the filter, slide it back, push the clips across, dashboard trim back. Literally 20 minutes and one screwdriver even if you've never done anything on a car before.