Still chasing down this water leak on my 2011 Fabia estate, narrowed it down to coming from front left corner somehow.  Checked all the things mentioned here (Scuttles, door seals etc) and more than once.  Windscreen doesn't show any signs of issues but has anyone ever had water leaking through it and into the cabin?

 

Reason I ask is as the car has dried out, and I was dealing with residual moisture, as I peeled back the sound deadening in the passengers footwell and put my hand all the way up to the back left corner, it was wet and damp, but I'm stumped as to where that water is getting in, hence asking about the screen. 

 

As a reminder, when the car is parked at an angle with the passenger side highest (my side drive is sloping) it stays dry! 

 

Thanks for any helpful suggestions! 

Yes on a mkii Octavia.  One way of checking is to tape around the screen between body and glass with ptfe electrical tape and see if it stays dry. 

@djthomsonNo, but I've never owned a car with a replacement bonded windscreen.

Are you really sure it's coming from the screen, because if the water is in the footwell mostly it comes from a broken or ripped plastic cover that's under the door card, also have know the drain holes in the bottom of the door to be blocked with rust rubbish etc thus not allowing the water that runs down the inside of the door to get out and this usually goes into the car, have known the seal around the window to leak due to a rust issue on the body wrk but very rare once used an alloy type tape used for sealing front of gas fires to hearth and put it around the side of screen and across the front of the screen for a few days to see if this stopped it but did not, on one occasion found the wiper gromet had perished and this was the cause of the leak 

When the original(?) screen was replaced on our 2005 mk1 last year some time, the fitter asked if it had been leaking at one point on top edge. Barely any seal material there at all, he reckoned. 

Don't think it ever did leak though.

17 hours ago, Murdockman said:

Are you really sure it's coming from the screen, because if the water is in the footwell mostly it comes from a broken or ripped plastic cover that's under the door card, also have know the drain holes in the bottom of the door to be blocked with rust rubbish etc thus not allowing the water that runs down the inside of the door to get out and this usually goes into the car, have known the seal around the window to leak due to a rust issue on the body wrk but very rare once used an alloy type tape used for sealing front of gas fires to hearth and put it around the side of screen and across the front of the screen for a few days to see if this stopped it but did not, on one occasion found the wiper gromet had perished and this was the cause of the leak 

No, I'm not sure that its the screen is leaking but everything else has been checked several times over with no obvious sign.  The sound deadening was wet from top to bottom - so right up the back of the glove box.  

 

Although I have not removed the main glovebox, the top box has been removed and there are signs of light surface rust on some of the metal surfaces behind there.  That might be a red herring.   The door seals were all clear with no rubbish and water appeared to flow cleanly out of them.  I haven't had the door cards off to check the plastic condition but I can do that and see what I find.  Thanks for the suggestions! 

17 hours ago, skomaz said:

Yes on a mkii Octavia.  One way of checking is to tape around the screen between body and glass with ptfe electrical tape and see if it stays dry. 

Can try that - thanks for that suggestion, hadn't considered that! 

 

The PTFE tape trick certainly worked for me and helped narrow down the windscreen issue on the Octavia and also a similar rear screen issue on it's predecessor - a Fabia estate.

Do you mean PTFE tape (as used for thread sealing) or PVC electrical tape?

42 minutes ago, Jocko said:

Do you mean PTFE tape (as used for thread sealing) or PVC electrical tape?

 

Apologies i meant electrical tape...   Must've had a brain fart with the ptfe bit!

16 hours ago, skomaz said:

 

Apologies i meant electrical tape...   Must've had a brain fart with the ptfe bit!

Did you just tape down the outside edge of the screen and over the top? Did it not come off as soon as it rained?   I was thinking about using duck style tape but its a mare to get off properly after ! 

18 minutes ago, djthomson said:

Did you just tape down the outside edge of the screen and over the top? Did it not come off as soon as it rained?   I was thinking about using duck style tape but its a mare to get off properly after ! 

 

It's easy to remove, just use petrol or similar.

50 minutes ago, djthomson said:

Did you just tape down the outside edge of the screen and over the top? Did it not come off as soon as it rained?   I was thinking about using duck style tape but its a mare to get off properly after ! 

 

Yes - I used 25mm wide stuff to tape over the gap between the screen and the bodywork at the sides of the screen against the A pillar down as far as I could to the scuttle panel and then the  top of the screen against the roof, making sure the roof tape overlapped the side tape at the top and that the tape was into the roof gutters.  It didn't come off even in rain on the motorway and lasted months, as electrical tape is generally waterproof, albeit you need to be careful not to stretch it too much when applying it as it can come loose when it shrinks back..  I'd hesitate using duck tape as there's a risk of it pulling the lacquer off the paint (it shouldn't but why risk it?...).

 

For me the ultimate solution was filling the joint between the glass and the bodywork with a suitable sealant (can't remember what I used but it was probably something like tiger seal or similar from Toolstation/screwfix).

Edited 18 April, 20233 yr by skomaz