Blast! I've got a [rain] water leak...

[happyclappy65]

2013 Skoda Superb Estate 1.4 TSI

In this cold weather, and with the car being less used than normal, there is now significant condensation on the inside of the windscreen. This has lead me to discover that the rubber underlay at the front of the passenger footwell is wet and the source of this water ingress needs sorting before I try to dry out the cabin. I'm convinced it's rain; the coolant level is unchanged.

Searching the forum leads me to believe there are two possibilities. One is the A/C drain being partly blocked, and the other is water ingress through the pollen filter housing. I’m going to discount the A/C drain because the A/C is not working at the mo. It needs a new condenser and this won’t get done till next year when I’ve had ‘the jab’. So, it looks like the pollen filter. (I’m grateful to member “nafeun” for his write-up here.)

Can any members suggest any other areas to be checked other than the pollen filter? BTW, the car does not have a sun roof.

 Thank you.

[happyclappy65]

Sorry, the link to article attributed to nafeun was incorrect and I could not edit my post. The corrected link is HERE!

[nafeun]

Try the foam seal and clearing leaves from behind the plastics in the wheel well 👍 still haven’t looked further into my condensate issue, just using the car without aircon. (I know it’s not the ac with you)

[happyclappy65]

18 hours ago, nafeun said:

Try the foam seal and clearing leaves from behind the plastics in the wheel well 👍 still haven’t looked further into my condensate issue, just using the car without aircon. (I know it’s not the ac with you)

 

Cheers for that. Today I took out the glovebox to give me better access to the footwell, and I've removed the forward trim around the inside of the door. Now I can see the extent of the water ingress, I'll be offering the footwell to any Olympic hopefuls who need a training pool for next year .  The next job is to remove the profiled foam from against the firewall and take it indoors for long term drying. Once that's underway, I'll take the passenger seat out and get a fan heater on the carpet but cut out the 'underfelt' and get that indoors too. Once I've got drying underway I'll get the scuttle off and check the foam seal and the leaves on the line.

 

I'll post details of what worked for me once I've got closer to a resolution. Cheers!

[geno101]

I have the same issue on my Superb Elegance MK2 estate. So took it ino Skoda yesterday for them to check it out. There  opinion, after taking the car interior apart, was blocked or leaking drain tubes from the panoramic roof and the roof frame required removing and resealing, estimated cost £2800!!!, and charged me £260 for the investigation.  The car is ready for changing so I'm looking for a Range Rover....no more Skoda's for me.

 

Meanwhile I'll tape over the roof joints with gaffer tape and stick a dehumidifier in it for a couple of weeks.

[happyclappy65]

 

@nafeun + @geno101

I think I might have found the source of the water leak into the passenger footwell, so I'm  publishing this post ahead of claiming my discovery/fix as final - in the hope it might help both of you as well as others.

 

I removed the scuttle covers and set about clearing the scuttle drains. I noticed that on the right hand end of the scuttle (right hand facing the car with bonnet up) there was a cover over where the bonnet release cable comes up through the scuttle - right next to next to the scuttle drain. There's an EDPM rubber grommet on the surface of the scuttle just above the line that draining water would follow. I've concluded this grommet is the source of my water leak, and have applied aliberal quantity of silicone sealant round the mating surface with the car. In a couple of days I'll check to see how well the silicone has adhered. If it's not good, then I'll buy some polyurethane caulk and use that. I've posted some pics of the part in question. I hope they help.

 

@geno101 You mentioned drying your car with a dehumidifier. I've tried two dehumidifiers and discover the car needed to be at above 16 deg C for either of them to work. So, I needed to use both a fan heater AND a dehumidifier!

[superbdreams]

On 11/12/2020 at 10:35, geno101 said:

charged me £260 for the investigation

which robbing agent was that?

[geno101]

Suffice to say the agent is in a Tier Three location. I live in Tier two Worcestershire.

 

The only other car I've had that had a roof leak was a 1947 Ford 8, but I only paid £19 for it so I couldn't complain. The best car I ever owned was a BMW E30 325i, but that was in 1987 when they made good cars, it did 250K until some jealous sod vandalised it, wrote it off.

 

Annoyingly, apart from the water problem the car runs like a watch, no other issues, but it's still got to go, once I've had my Covid jabs. I think it'll be a spares or repair eBay sale.

[happyclappy65]

On 16/12/2020 at 14:45, happyclappy65 said:

I think I might have found the source of the water leak into the passenger footwell

Just an update before we go into a next year. I have not yet found the source of the water ingress . It is related to water run-off from the nearside roof channel but as the car is frozen up ATM, I can't investiage further. Once the weather improves, I'll post more information.

[happyclappy65]

I thought I should close off this thread now as the leak seems to be fixed.

 

So, after a month has elapsed, I finally located and (I believe) fixed the rain water ingress. Despite my expectations that a leaky grommet in what Skoda call the "cross panel water box" at the base of the screen was the cause, it was a leak in the windscreen seal somewhere down the right hand side. This was sealed off over a week ago and as of the time of writing there has been no more water ingress.

 

What had me confused was the point at which the water was appearing in the passenger footwell. It's shown in the picture but I still can't see how it got there from the windscreen as none of the metalwork above it was wet. Still, I hope it's now fixed and if after the next significant rainfall there's still no water ingress, the carpets and the now dry noise-deadening layer can go back.

 

Thanks to all for your invaluable help.

 

BTW, I'm also attaching an image of the right-hand roof channel seal, which I removed as part of the investigation. One member described it as being like held in by a windscreen wiper rubber-like seal, and you can see from the second attached image that's a very good description! The seal is held in the physical channel simply by the grip of the profile, but mine now has a touch of rubberised sealant to hold that one in place now.

 

[geno101]

My damp carpet is/was in the nearside rear passenger footwell. Anyway, now I've gaffer taped over the rooflight joints I haven't noticedd any more water. I think I only ever opened the panoramic roof twice since I've had the car so I won't miss it. Once the Pandemic has died down I'll be out sourcing a replacement vehicle. Apart from this damp problem I've had no other major issues in 80K miles and the DSG Auto gearbox is the best one I've had, so I might stick with Skoda but without the panoramic roof.

[davidww]

On 05/02/2021 at 13:44, happyclappy65 said:

I thought I should close off this thread now as the leak seems to be fixed.

 

So, after a month has elapsed, I finally located and (I believe) fixed the rain water ingress. Despite my expectations that a leaky grommet in what Skoda call the "cross panel water box" at the base of the screen was the cause, it was a leak in the windscreen seal somewhere down the right hand side. This was sealed off over a week ago and as of the time of writing there has been no more water ingress.

 

What had me confused was the point at which the water was appearing in the passenger footwell. It's shown in the picture but I still can't see how it got there from the windscreen as none of the metalwork above it was wet. Still, I hope it's now fixed and if after the next significant rainfall there's still no water ingress, the carpets and the now dry noise-deadening layer can go back.

 

Thanks to all for your invaluable help.

 

BTW, I'm also attaching an image of the right-hand roof channel seal, which I removed as part of the investigation. One member described it as being like held in by a windscreen wiper rubber-like seal, and you can see from the second attached image that's a very good description! The seal is held in the physical channel simply by the grip of the profile, but mine now has a touch of rubberised sealant to hold that one in place now.

 

Hi Happyclappy

 

I suspect I have the same or very similar problem to you. I've got rubber mats in mine and noticed a puddle on the passenger footwell mat during a recent cold spell. Also feels damp under the carpet when I prod around in there.

 

I've been trying to get the scuttle panels off to investigate the "cross panel water box" to check the drainage there but have been struggling. I'm now also very interested in your windscreen seal fix. A couple of questions...

 

How the hell do you remove the scuttle panels?? I've managed to get my wiper arms off so I can look under both but can't get the panels to budge.

 

How did you seal your windscreen?

[happyclappy65]

13 hours ago, davidww said:

How did you seal your windscreen?

 

TBH, "If I knew then what I know now", I would not have removed the scuttle panels. My car's 8 years old in a few weeks and I've  realised that the external plastics are somewhat brittle, and I damaged one of the scuttle covers. Each of the two covers are held down by a rubber seal forward of the windscreen and a rubber seal around the bonnet hinge. The fragile part is on the underside of the cover where it meets the windscreen, and comprises a moulded lip (actually a protrusion) that sits in a groove at the base of the screen. I don't have any pictures of the underside of the cover, but I've posted an image of the base of my screen showing the groove. I suspect the reason you are finding it hard to remove the covers is that like mine, yours are full of crud that's been washed off the screen. This acts to clamp the lip into the groove and if you pull to hard, as I did, then the protrusion snaps off. So my left scuttle cover has half its protrusion missing and is now held to the right side with a self tapper.

 

 

So, what would I do differently? First, not remove the scuttle, and with it still in place I'd try to establish if I had a problem under that cover. Skoda calls that "the water box" and if I had my time over, I'd try to see if this was the source of my leak by pouring water in the drainage gaps, but colouring the water with food colouring. Then if you find coloured water in your cabin, you've got the source of the leak. Obvs something not to do if you have a cream interior carpet; mine are black!

 

Second, to test whether I had a windscreen leak, I would just cover the trim at the sides and the top with PVC tape to stop rain getting in. If the leak stops, then you've found the source of the leak and you'll need your screen sealing. (I recommend that if you do that, experiment with the tape on an inconspicuous part of the body, just in case the tape adhesive is too strong and you end up with a car in primer...)  The stuff I used to seal my screen is not a car product as such, but is a flexible mastic/adhesive made by Everbuild and sold under the brand name of Stixall. It's available in DIY sheds and from auction sites, and is applied with a gun as you might use for silicone sealants. To get to where the side of the screen meets the body and to force the Stixall in the gaps, you'll need to take off the two trim stips at the side of the screen. Again, you need to be careful as they might be as brittle as mine and are expensive to replace!  At the top of the screen, there's a simple rubber seal that sits in a groove and mine came out easily and went back more easily once it had been lubricated by Stixall. If ever I needed a new screen, I'm certain that the installer will have their work cut out to clean all the Stixall off the body, but I'll cross that bridge as and when.

 

The above is my story; there's no guarantee it will work for you. Caveat emptor and all that.

 

Have a poke around THIS website: (http://www.ilcats.ru/skoda/?function=getModels&market=CZ&language=en) . They have exploded diagrams of the Superb, and I found the pages very handy when I was trying to find how the body went together.

Stay Safe!

[davidww]

Thank you HappyClappy. Very much appreciate the wise words!  Also the link to that site.

 

 

[kommy84]

Happyclappy65 

Hi

Thanks for your find and share.

I think I have exactly same problem with my MK2 superb.water appearing in the rain from that chamber you described and took the picture of.

How ever I can not remove the rubber seal o to in the windscreen where it sits in the groove.

Also I have blasted many and many buckets of water on the cars windscreen and a little bit of water appear but not as much when it's raining .I can not explain that.

I have cleaned all trims and channels from grim maybe that helped the water flow better,however it's not full fix /solution .

Yeah I think that seal rubber is glued or something so I can not reseal it myself.

Thank you