Hebrew, what's the issue there? The weather sea for the hatch is the soft black rubber bit in the bottom left of your piccie; the area you show the water drops in isn't sealed.

If I saw that over a weld, it would infer to me that the weld was knacked.

Ah right. I'd need to see that part of a real hatch (rather than a photo or an estate) before I'd know how much if any mastic was typical.

our mk 1 is an 05 model just checked the carpets bone dry . have black headcloth in it would love black carpets though , would be so much easier to keep clean

Hebrew, what's the issue there? The weather sea for the hatch is the soft black rubber bit in the bottom left of your piccie; the area you show the water drops in isn't sealed.

Yes i know the soft black rubber bit is a seal, thats not the issue. Its the (what looks like) clear silicone sealer, which has been daubed over the joint of the two pieces of the body panels.

I don't know if the joint is actually knacked or its the dealer clutching at straws, if the weld is broken then surely it needs something a bit better than some seam sealer/mastic, smeared over the joint.

After waiting all morning for a phone call, i ended up ringing them at dinner time, only to be told the service manager had just left the building, so after leaving my number again, he did ring me later.

He'd had a look at what had been done and is now going to send it to a body shop to get their opinions.

Has anyone else had similar issues with the rear raining in?

Thankfully no issues on my 2001 model but I hope you get yours sorted ASAP!

Still looking for a similar size photo of that corner of another hatch, but one comment: Car shells are normally spot-welded and not full seam-welded, so a suspicion of a leak at one corner does not necessarily represent a failed weld. That said, I'd have made a neater job of rubbing the mastic into the actual seam than that!

hmmm usually a mix of spot and seam, depending on the join.

If we get really pedantic about it, it's surely a mixture of true spot and stitch welds? Even when rules allow "seam welding" of production shells, the extra welding tends to be 1" weld, 1" gap, right along the seam.

Anyway, the point I was making was that it's unusual to have hermetically sound seams on a unitary body just from welding alone.

:mischief: :holmes: why ?

Unless the joints are mechanically perfect (which is a rare to impossible happening, even for the likes of Rolls-Royce Motors), you pretty much always have some gaps somewhere on a shell that's been welded, but not sealed, undersealed or painted, that liquids or gases can wick along - original source being various relatives and former workmates who used to work in car manufacturing.

Had the service manager on the phone yesterday and he tells me that the body shop is going to smooth the sealer down that the dealer has applied and then add some more seam sealer and then paint it.

So i will see what it looks like this time.

Anyone know where i stand in terms of the warranty and the quality of the repair. To me it still just seems a poor quality, temporary sort of repair.

In my eyes, i feel as though it should still look as though it did when it came out of the factory, the way i understand it, it will look smoothed over and the joint won't be visable, whare as originally you could see the lap of the two parts of panel.

If the problem was just the sealer, rather than a sprung weld, it seems that the last conversation is about as good as it's going to get I think. Some ppl spend ages, and vast sums of money, smoothing out panel laps.

After speaking to the bodyshop today, they assure me that when its done it will look as near to original as is possible.

They seem to think that the water was coming in there and what the dealer had done, had cured the problem. So its up the the bodyshop to refine the botch job that the dealer had done.

Well, after going to collect the car last night, here is what it looks like now.......

And here is what another 04 Octavia looks like that the dealer has on the forecourt

I'm still not happy, if i saw that on a car i was looking at to buy, it would cause me to think allsorts, as to why it was like that. What does anyone else think???

The dealer is saying that the bodyshop are willing to have another go to tidy it up. But they cannot be certain it will turn water if there is any less sealer on the joint.

There is an 05 Octavia on the forecourt also, which looks different to the 04 one, it looks as though Skoda have noticed it being a problem area and have done something about it while in the build process.

Am i asking too much to expect mine to look like the 05 one?

Anybody care to post some photos of this area, of their cars, to see how much difference there is in among all the Octy's that are knocking about.

Its the top corners of the rear hatch opening.

Thanks again

Ian

My '02 vRS is also dry...after reading this I've just been out to check the carpets thoroughly.

The only little annoyance I've found is when the car is wet, upon opening the tailgate a LOT of water finds its way into the car (and all over my new speakers - which can't be good....)

Is this 'normal'....?

Water collects in the gap between the bottom of the rear glass & the tailgate. If you find a small rubber extrusion to fill the gap or seal it with silicone it should fix the problem

Ian, maybe it's just the photos, but I can't help feeling that your car looks better than the 05 one. So I'm wondering whether either:-

1) Yours has a slightly off-square shell (which will take a lot of measuring between reference marks on both cars to prove or disprove).

2) The only real answer will be to forget playing with silicones and mastic, and actually lead-load the seam.

04 1/9tdI Octy - mine's like an oasis on wheels. I've given up trying to work out where the ingress is coming from - doesn't appear to be the door seals, bulkhead or aircon - great car otherwise

Ill snap a pic tomorrow of mine, 2001/Y plate.

04 1/9tdI Octy - mine's like an oasis on wheels. I've given up trying to work out where the ingress is coming from - doesn't appear to be the door seals, bulkhead or aircon - great car otherwise

Same here mate, i can't fault the car other than the raining in.

Is yours not still under warranty? To get the dealer to sort it, better than they did mine hopefully!!

Ill snap a pic tomorrow of mine, 2001/Y plate.

Cheers mate.

It'll be interesting to see how much difference (if any) between the varying ages of Octavias.

Like i said above, on the forecourt there was an 04 and an 05 and these were both different.

Javaman, is yours a hatch or an estate? If it's an estate, check that the securing bolts for the roof rails are actually fully tightened. Someone else had a tricky to trace "leak" on an estate, and that turned out to be the entry point!

I finally have a watertight Octy after 3 separate viits to the dealer and a lot of homework on my part!

First time in, they sealed ther o/s/r cluster themselves.

Second time in they got a bodyshop to do it.

Not sure how they test their work, but 3 minutes with my Mrs washing the rear of the car with me sat inside was enough to spot where the water was coming in about.

I mentioned to the service manager that maybe something was missing under the rear bumper as the car has had work on the o/s/r corner - he basically said I was talking crap.

When the car was back in the bodyshop, they removed the rear bumper and found a washer was missing!!! So what do I know eh!

I also found a slight leak from where the rear wiper arm comes thru the bodywork - they replaced the washer and it has been fine since.

I'm loving going out to my car on a cold night and being able to see where I am going without having to wait 20 minutes!

Hope you guys get yours sorted.