Hi guys.  So newbie here only bought my VRS estate couple months ago, and its my first Skoda - so not familiar with much DIY on it...

 

Anyway my issue is wet floor in drivers footwell 😞- only that bit of carpet damp.  Have googled and searched the forums and seen loads of posts of potential places to look as source of water - but many of the posted go down the rabbit hole of chasing up fault with dealer/warranty fix.  Unfortunately my car was bought 2nd hand/no warranty - so up to me to sort.

 

First likely culprits I'm trying to resolve are 1 - drain holes from Pan sunroof and 2, AC condensation overflow drain pipe/plughole on LHS of footwell.

 

So my first query is I need to lift the carpet in the driver footwell and so need to undo/remove the footwell plastics side trim.  Have searched everywhere on google/youtube expecting to find a how-to guide/video showing this procedure - but for the life of me cant find anything, theres plenty on nearly every other part of car but not for this!  I'm sure/hope it's a straightforward job just knowing the knack of where the clips are and where to slide flathead screwdrivers to release clips etc - but without knowing where to start I dont want to force anything and risk damge to the trims.  So If anyone knows or has a link to a guide that shows how to tackle this it would help immensely!

 

Second is I've tried cleaning the sunroof drain plugs using the method of pushing some bike inner cable down the tube.  I was expecting the cable would/should exit at the bottom where it exits into the water runoff area below the windscreen at each corner.  However my bike cable which  is v narrow only about 1.5mm bottoms out and doesnt exit where the rubber exit valve is - which I would have expected given I think its thin enough to do so.  Does anyone know if this should be the case or is it a sign of blockage?  I was able to also get at the passenger side exit hole to wipe/clean the wee rubber exit valve/hole for that end - it was gritty/dirty but didnt seen completely blocked and the rubber value did open enough for be to get tip of finger in about 1cm or so to clean - so I would have assumed the cable should have been able to pop out easily there from the roof side.  Again without knowing dont want to force a stiffer bit if flex wire down there incase it gets caught..  I havent been able to check the drivers side rubber exit valve yet - which is potentially the one that is blocked if the wet carpet is that side as I'll have to remover wiper on that side to be able to access under the wiper/screen plastic cover. 

 

Though tbh the sunroof drain plugs are both draining when I test with pouring water in from sunroof channels - so I think its eiterh the AC overflow or the door trim (around the door on chassis not the door itself.  As I see its worn badly up high on the door (but is dry) however the section the the footwell when peels back is VERY wet though isnt worn at that area.  So I def will be wanting to replace it for peace of mind to rule one more potential place out.  Is there any other drian holes - esp round the front of the car drivers side that can get blocked?  I can see that the narrow gap between the wing and engine bay was stuffed full of leaves and other crud - I have removed as much as I can fro the topp with the v limited access, but I think I'll need to get the car on a ramp and remove the wheel arch trims to hopefully get better access to clear this area.  But again not sure if theres any issue with draining as water runoff when I hose the case does seem that some at lease is dripping off under the car behind from wheel.  But maybe its suffucuently blocked that some water is backed up and soaking in to the car elsewhere.

 

Sorry if thats a longer waffle than intended!!  Just a bit frustrated to try get to the bottom of this and the tasks I'm trying to do are probably simple enough when you know how.  so any pointers very much appreciated!...

 

Cheers

 

When you run the a/c is there water dripping out from the drain pipe under the car?

My 2015 vRS had the door seal issue, where the outer seal lacked drainage holes and trapped water between the inner and outer seals.  Some people experienced this to cause the door to retain water, and if your door card membrane/seal is porous I could see this being causative.  Popping the door seal off at its forward most point on the underside of the door usually reveals if the door's retaining water.

 

Gaz 

 

EDIT: The original thread on door seals;

 

 

Edited 11 September, 20223 yr by Gaz

Spent the afternoon initially for what was supposed to be a quick bit of troubleshooting - which ended up all day job due to various issues….

 

Anyway think the inner door seal is partially contributing.  Checked the seal on door and found the drain hole on bottom is where the seal runs and the seal itself has 2 own holes (ie not rips or bodge job) which I assume are to allow water to escape. Anyway that corresponds to a very wet part in the inner seal rubber at the footwell at the point above where the carpet is wet. So have got a replacement seal ordered.  However I don’t think this is the main culprit.

 

Decided to recheck the pan sunroof drain focusing on the driver side - since was only able to get access to the passenger side the first time round.  Noticed that when pouring water down to test, nothing was appearing under the car - so am pretty sure that was telling me this was the problem.  Knew where I needed to check, just needed to get access - that’s where the ‘fun’ started (not)…😫. Needed to get under the plastic trim cover at bottom of windscreen that meant needing to remove left wiper arm. When taking the bolt off i dropped it down the gap between wing and body with no way to get it other than taking the plastic wheel arch cover off.  So set about that and thought I’d make access easier by taking wheel off.  Loosen wheel bolts and jacked it up but couldn’t budge the wheel despite a lot of trying. Gave up and removed wheelarch covers with much less room to work with. But in the end retrieved the bolt- plus a lot of leaves and silt that had build up so was no bad thing as needed done and probably wasn’t helping with the draining.

So back to the wiper arm - again ceased on and wouldn’t budge even after wd-40 and a pulling/rocking the arm with a worrying amount of force trying to prise it off. Assumed it was just on splines and should pull straight off - but again didn’t want to chance it incase there’s a special tool or something needed to remove - so left it on.

 

Ended up going with the option of bending the plastic to a dangerously wide degree - but was still only wide enough to squeeze my forearm in - skinning it to bits in the process. Managed to feel blindly for the rubber spider exit valve which I eventually found and gave it as good a clean as I could under the circumstances.  Thought I did get rid of some gritty stuff but nothing obviously obstructing. Poured more water down to test but still noting coming out on the ground but when I squeezed arm/hand under the plastic I did feel some damp esp where some of the foam and material dampening felt like it had soaked up some water.  Finally decided to do a bit of contortion and try find the pipe run from under the footwell and more blind feeling up in behind dashboard (as didn’t want to set about full dashboard removal as still don’t know how to undo the plastic trims. Luckily felt a round pipe and with a torch cud just about eyeball it.  But then was more blind feeling while wriggling like a snake in the footwell and almost dislocating my arm wrist to feel out a rubber grommet/bung at the end. But after a bit of blind felling about of that I got a flood of debris laiden  water down the back of dash and arm into the footwell. So it seemed the pipe had come loose from the rubber and was barely connected - so I manipulated it back in and tried ensuring the pipe was well in the rubber grommet. Got someone to pour more water down from sunroof while I continued to feel round the rubber/pipe joint to make sure no water was coming out where it shouldn’t. Was all good and water drained down the drain hole very quickly (much quicker than previously) and could see a similar amount had puddled behind the wheel where I was expecting to see it.

 

So I’m pretty confident that was the main issue all along.  Just need to get carpet dried out and hope the rubber/pipe junction stays together as it didn’t feel very well joined - no reassuring click/clip in or anything. Might look to put my own bodged circlip on to try ensure it stays together.

 

After all that, didn’t have the inclination  to check the a/c drain - which probably would have been a breeze compared to all that. Thankfully now summer almost gone I might just keep the AC off so I don’t find that it is leaking aswell!!🤪

 

 

Sounds like you've got it. If you're having another look another day, it's always worth changing the pollen filter, or at least taking it out and having a look at it. It's probably worth running your cable down the pipe again just to make sure it's definitely clear. Whenever I have a car with a sunroof, I rod through all the drainage pipes in the same way when I do a service. 

Certainly hope Ive got it!... Yip with the amount of leaves/debris I uncovered behind the wheel arch cover I would not be surprised if the pollen filter needed attenTion!...

 

Still planning to try lift carpet in footwell to assist the drying out process  - so if anyone has tips/how-to's for removing the plastic trim along the door sill/footwell then keen to know how?...

 

Cheers

I'm fairly certain to remove the trim around door/carpet it goes like this...

 

Door open, you will need to peel back the door seal from dash to seat.

 

On side of dash which is normally hidden by door, the large central peice will unclip with a screwdriver or bodywork pry tool.

 

This uncovers the top of the larger trim peice that runs from the side of the pedals under the cash all the way to the rear of the door/carpet junction. This large price is also pull off, I don't recall any screws, but do check.

 

Refit is reverse.

 

It's a long time since I did it to fit football lights, so maybe have a quick check of that thread to see if there are better instructions.

 

Good luck

10 hours ago, dazman6 said:

 

It's a long time since I did it to fit football lights, so maybe have a quick check of that thread to see if there are better instructions.

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply on trim removal - the carpet has dried, but will be handy to know for future...  Would you be able to link the thread you mention above - have a quick search or your posts (ghost lights) but didnt spot any instructions for trim removal.  If No worries if there isnt any link - just thought I'd ask...

 

Cheers

It is from a thread called Octavia III adaptations tried and tested.

 

The second entry is a list of coding. 

 

Scroll down to retrofit football lighting (Or something very similar)

 

This is a direct lift.....

 

Trim removal:

 

 

 

(most of the main part is on the passenger’s side to access the Plug control module). Remove the bonnet release handle – I found this pops off with a small amount of force to get it off its ratchet. Under the handle is a small plastic screw fixing that needs gentle removal using pliers/plastic prying tool (I manage the snap the head off this) and remove the fixing. Then remove the side panel to the left of the dashboard, the panel where the bonnet release was (connected to the door sill trim) can all be unclipped (gently!) and moved aside. Finally remove the glove box and now you have ‘better access to the electrics. I also removed the side kick panel on the passenger’s side (one torx fixing) and the longer trim that runs alongside the lower center console. I did the same on the driver’s side (along with the foot rest) to enable easy routing for the driver’s side lights. The side trim is similar removal to the passenger’s side but without the bonnet release.

Footwell not football🙄

Thanks dazman!...👍