This is a confusing one with my 5-day old SE 1st Ed Estate...  after a bit of rain during the day, I opened the passenger in the evening and a whole load of water came pouring out of the hole in the bottom.  Like, for about ten seconds or so, enough to flow down the drive for a few feet.  Then opened the drivers door and exactly the same thing.  More rain today, and the same thing happened when my wife opened the door apparently.

 

I assume the holes are there to drain any water that gets in, but surely it's not expected to do this... certainly never seen it on any other car, and risks soaking your shoes if you're not careful!

 

I can't work out where the water is getting in... can only assume the window seals, but they look OK on a quick inspection.  I'm also puzzled as to how it's staying in there... the section of door with the holes is just metal, and closes against metal sill, so nothing to stop it running straight out even with the door shut in that I can figure (unless the door and sill are such an incredibly accurate fit that the two pieces of metal are watertight!).  Might be able to solve that question by looking at it more carefully next time it's "filled up" I guess.

 

Anybody experienced similar or got any ideas?

No mate. Mine is dry. Go to the dealer asap.

Just spoke to them... apparently they need it overnight to check water ingress issues, and because of covid they aren't doing courtesy cars.  So God knows how that works, it's miles away.  Great start to my mkIV ownership.

In case anybody else has any thoughts that may speed up the process of getting my local dealer taking two days just to inspect the car...
 

Having tried pouring some water onto the car from a watering can, I'm pretty confident that it is getting in through the bottom corner of the window, where the seal meets the pillar, ie here:
 

I'm not sure if that area  is meant to be watertight, or if it is designed so that water will go in there, but then immediately drain out the bottom of the door?  On the rear doors, the latter is what seems to happen - water gets in the same place, but can immediately be seen trickling out from the sill / bottom of the door.  Whereas on the front door, the water builds up, and only comes out of the drainage hole when the door is opened.

 

I recorded some videos demonstrating all this, which hopefully help to make the issue clear...

This is the amount of water which came out when opening the passenger door after only a brief rain shower this morning:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oJZLiCKu2vAMJc2d7

This one demonstrates how water which I poor onto the window does not run out while the door is closed, then comes out once I open it:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vYppu3e2DgDGnKf17

 

And this one shows the same thing on the rear door, in which you can see that the water trickles out while the door is shut, and so there is barely any coming out when the door is then opened:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qbXswT8izJjVSMEq9

Skoda carry common faults / issues / fundamental design or manufacturing failures on from generation to new generation or models.

News to dealerships staff more often than not.

First we have heard of it,

 

or 'they all do that!'.   Only the bad ones do though.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/483733-water-retention-in-doors

 

It can end with blocks of ice inside doors if you do not open them regularly in winter where temps night and day stay at or below freezing, and where people might pour warm water on the glass to defrost.  maybe not open the passengers door for a while / days even.

 

Edited 1 October, 20205 yr by e-Roottoot

Ah thanks E-R, that sounds like a very similar issue.

Definitely starting to think that the issue isn't so much with water getting in, as with it failing to get out while the door is closed.  Cannot work out how that's happening, the drainage holes are outside the rubber door seals, so it's just metal door against metal sill... how can that be watertight?!

@a1dan75

They might not do Courtesy Cars because of Covid 19,  but they or Skoda UK the Warranty provider can get you a Hire Car from a company that knows how to deliver and collect and Social Distance.

The have had enough months to get sorted with their business and 'Customer Service'.  

Also true

Doors are not designed to be water tight. There are drainage holes that are under the door. If these get blocked you will get water in side doors. On previous generation door seals physically bloked the drainage holes. 

4 hours ago, TonisT said:

 On previous generation door seals physically bloked the drainage holes. 

Looks like the door seals on the Octavia IV have a similar issue too, or at least poor quality control since not all owners seem to have the problem?

My initial thoughts were a repeat of the problem few years back, where some of the drain holes had got blocked due to too much waxy coating during manufacture.

 

Solution then was to take wooden stick (not metal as can scratch paint) eg kebab stick or cocktail stick and clean off excess.

 

But if water comes out when door is open, then hole must exist, just it is closing too tight and blocking its use, when the door is closed.  So maybe door seal is not fitted in correct position.  The holes should drain outside the seal and not be blocked when door closed.
 

Dealer should not need to keep car overnight to remove and replace a door seal.

Edited 2 October, 20205 yr by SurreyJohn

There is a lot of wax on the underside of the car, but didn't seem to be any blocking the holes.

Hm, I haven't noticed this on my car. I will give it a go when I do the car wash tomorrow. Tbh I haven't seen or noticed a gushing water when opening the door. I do wash the car by myself using a powerhose. 

 

I did a test today mate with a power hose. Gushed tons of water on the car, waited 1-2 minutes to stop dripping, opened the doors,no water was coming out. But I have the chrome trim if that makes a difference

On 02/10/2020 at 06:25, SurreyJohn said:

My initial thoughts were a repeat of the problem few years back, where some of the drain holes had got blocked due to too much waxy coating during manufacture.

 

Solution then was to take wooden stick (not metal as can scratch paint) eg kebab stick or cocktail stick and clean off excess.

 

But if water comes out when door is open, then hole must exist, just it is closing too tight and blocking its use, when the door is closed.  So maybe door seal is not fitted in correct position.  The holes should drain outside the seal and not be blocked when door closed.
 

Dealer should not need to keep car overnight to remove and replace a door seal.

 

Think this has pretty much led me to the reason for the problem...

 

The drainage holes aren't actually blocked by wax / grease, but there is a lot around.  If I poke a bent paperclip around inside the holes, a whole load of wax comes out on it... and, tellingly, a little more water tends to dribble out while I do this.

 

So I think it's a case of there being so much wax inside the door that moving it, and so changing the angles etc (my drive is on a bit of a slope) frees up water to flow out.  And possibly there's enough wax on the outside that when closed it's hard for water to drain out at all.

 

Assuming this is the sole cause, I'm clearly not planning to go and leave it at the dealers for 48 hours while they investigate.  But equally I'm not sure there's much I can do to clear the was out without taking the door apart.  I would assume that given time the wax will work its way out (can already see build-ups where it's flowed out of the holes) and the problem will resolve itself.  So thinking I'll leave for now and see how that goes.

 

I would phone the dealer and talk this through, but I've already tried previously, including emailing them videos and photos of the issue, and the mechanics are never available to talk to.