Wet rear passenger footwell

[raimon]

Hi guys,

 

Need your assistance. Our octavia estate has a wet rear passenger footwell, I mean a goldfish can almost swim in it. The car has a sunroof, I believe that's where the leak is coming from. The water then comes down the b pillar behind the seat belt. 

Any ideas how I can fix this leak.

 

Any help appreciated.

 

Cheers.

[raimon]

Can someone tell me where the sunroof drain plugs are

 

Cheers

[CWARD]

I think the rear passenger footwell being wet is usually a sign of the rear washer pipe leaking. Have a search to confirm. I would imagine the sunroof drain would be at the front corners being the lowest part of the roof.

Edited 8 March, 2017 by CWARD

[raimon]

It's definately rain water.

How do I get to these drain plugs.

[CWARD]

Don't have a sunroof but would imagine you open it fully and you should see them at the front. Push a zip tie or something similar through them to clear any blockage

[raimon]

If the blockage is at the actual drainage at the bottom I need to know how to get access to it.

[raimon]

Come on people surely someone should know an answer to my original question being such a big forum

[CWARD]

You could try doing a search on Google as I just did and found the locations

[raimon]

Just done a search can't find the exact locations on octavia mk2

Can you share your findings please.

[blackspaven]

Okay, There's not a lot I don't know about sunroofs at the moment as I'm going through SKoda with what I think is a fundamental design flaw.

 

Firstly, CAN YOU PLEASE USE YOUR PHONE CAMERA TO RECORD WHAT i'M ABOUT TO TELL YOU TO DO AS IT WILL HELP THE CASE AGAINST SKODA AND MIGHT WELL HELP YOU, ME AND OTHERS OUT IN THE LONG RUN!!! It might well help you out directly if you do!

 

The drain holes for the front are the rubber tubes sticking out in the hinge shut line, just on the engine side of the doors, just in front of the hinges and I'd put my mortgage that that's your problem. What you'll probably find is that find is that if you tweek them to open them up, a shedload of water will pour out, accompanied with the appropriate noise, as they're more than likely be bunged up because they narrow at the end and are designed badly.

 

THIS IS THE BIT I DESPERATELY NEED YOU TO RECORD TO PROVE WHAT I'M SAYING TO SKODA. (mine are clear so can't recreate it myself)

 

I suspect, this will cure the first bit of your problem. Myself and others have found that the blocking up of these tubes leads to water overflowing into the cabin, and therefore down the A & C pillars. Now, are you sure it's coming down the B pillar cos as I said, I would guess it's actually more likely to be coming from down the C pillar! What happens is the water overflows and runs along the underside of the roof lining (which is plastic backed and therefore doesn't stain/show water damage signs) and comes out at the c pillar point, runs down the inside of the chassis and back into the rear footwell via the sides of the seat, underneath the squab. You need to remove the side squab of the seat to see where I mean, but it'll make senseonce it's off. If it is there, you'll probably see water under/along the wires which go through to the boot.

 

Rainwater can and possibly will also run behind the A pillar and down the side of the dash (worryingly near the fusebox) to the front footwell, so check your front carpets as well. It's all dependant on how the car is angled when it's parked in the rain.

 

The outlets for the rear drains are right next to the boot hinges, just to the outer edge in the shutline. They look like 1" rubbet grommets, but if you look carefully you'll see they're actually flapped. If you take out the top B&C pillar trims and the handle above the flap down door between those pillar, you can flex down the roof lining. From there you'll see a blue tube connected to the sunroof with a round end. The round bit just pops off & on very easily if you ease it off. Once off, there's enough to get it out from under the roof lining and just blow down it and you'll hear the air wooshing out the boot if you have it open. However, unless this is split, it's unlikely that this is the problem, and even if it is, it's still nearer the c than the b pillar so will go down the same route to the footwell. Removng the tube and blowing it is incredibly easy.

 

Please, please, PLEASE record when you twiddle the rubber tubes at the front though as if it lets excessive water out this should strengthen the case and may even be able to get SKoda to sort your leak out! Currently with Auto Express as well and, unsuprisingly, Skoda are suddenly taking this a lot more serious as the overflow runs off the curtain airbags!!

 

I look forward to you getting back to me on this one. It's also the same design on the Superb and have had at least one person have the same problem and realise the same conclusion.

[blackspaven]

These are what you're looking to manipulate...

 

[blackspaven]

Nailed it!! Thanks for videoing it Raimon, very helpful.

[blackspaven]

Just for reference, what year is your dad's octavia?

 

FYI, skoda UK have received the video and have had techs looking at it and schematics today! 

[raimon]

It's 2010 model

[blackspaven]

Ah, so I can go back to Skoda and say it definitely is the same design in the facelift model then, that's handy, thanks.