Hi there,

 

I'm hoping some of you can help me. I've read through all the articles about people having water in their footwells but I'm struggling to figure out the problem I have.

 

I've got a 2020 SKODA KODIAQ Sportline 2.0TDI, and I bought it second-hand last November. It's a great-driving car with loads of space and we really like it but a few months ago a faint smell of mould developed inside the car. I took the car to have it properly cleaned inside but after a while the smell came back and got stronger, but the carpet was never wet. I'm not overly confident on poking around cars but eventually I pulled off some interior trim, pulled back the carpet from the driver's side footwell (passenger side seems fine) and noticed the grey sound insulation (and the brown foam-backed rubber insulation immediately under the pedals) was soaking wet and the plastic backing on the carpet meant the top of the carpet never felt wet.

 

 

I've noticed that the water keeps coming back in medium-heavy rain, or when washing the car. When I lift the brown rubber insulation I can see a metal bulkhead welded to the chassis, and in that bulkhead there are about 3 circular holes about 3cm wide - you can see one of them in this image:

 

 

I can feel that the water begins to gather in this void between the bulkhead and the chassis and it then presumably gets high enough to seep through the gaps in the horizontal welds where the bulkhead meets the floor of the chassis, either that or the water also gets deep/high enough to spill through those circular holes and into the insulation material under the pedals and lining the footwell. Using an inspection camera I can see the water lying in this void and it doesn't seem to be able to drain out anywhere.

 

I took the car to the local Skoda dealer and, whilst they didn't do an in-depth inspection, they thought the windscreen might need resealed. However, I can take the hose and spray water directly downwards under the driver's side windscreen wiper arm (without spraying the windscreen at all) and I can see the water draining through the 3 holes in the drivers side of the scuttle plate and into the plenum chamber. I've made sure there's no leaves or debris in the plenum chamber and the plenum chamber drains appear to be clear as well and water looks to be easily able to drain out the bottom of the car. As I can get water to collect in that void I mentioned without spraying water on the windscreen then I'm guessing that the windscreen isn't the problem and that water is getting inside the car as its draining out of the plenum chamber.

 

When I shine a torch down into the drivers side plenum chamber drain I can a circular hole in the metal as shown in this photo:

 

 

On this photo I've put a blue arrow to indicate the hole, and I've also circled in red a couple of small lumps of some sort of grey welding material or sealant.

 

 

Those two grey bits of sealant don't appear to have a purpose (to my untrained eye). They're not holding anything in place or covering a join etc.....so I'm wondering if there used to be a bigger piece of sealant that covered that hole, and then over time it's broken and fallen off and then when water flows down that drain, some of it flows into that hole and presumably into the void I mentioned? I checked the drain on the opposite side of the plenum chamber and I couldn't see any hole, but I definitely could see what appears to be a much larger lump of that grey sealant.

 

Does anyone think that hole should be covered/sealed and that it could be the cause of my water leak? Or please do shout if it's a red herring.

 

I would really appreciate any help/advice on this - like I say, it's a great car that is being ruined by a bad smell (plus I'm worried about the water harming the inside of the car).

 

Many thanks for any advice.

 

....and just to mention, that photo was taken with me standing at the front of the car and looking backwards towards the wall between the engine and the cabin/dashboard.

 

Also, in that plenum chamber there is a wide strip of a white foam filter glued to the back wall (i.e. 'back wall' is seen when standing at the front of the car and looking back towards the cabin) of the plenum chamber.....is this foam-filter meant to be wet or dry? Mine seems to be soaked every time it rains.

 

Thanks again everyone.