Right I have a superb 1.9tdi 2003 and I have had a funny smell in the car since I bought it last year. In May I took it back to the dealer as the interior lights were not working and the reverse sensors stopped.

After a week at the dealer I was told that the Superb has a known fault with water leakage into the cabin which causes problems with the electrics and the loom.

Now the dealer warantee has run out I noticed again after the recent rain we had that everything started playing up again and lo and behold the carpet was wet very wet.

How do I start fault finding this? I know the pollen filter could be a problem but I have just had the car serviced by an independent repair place and they said everything was ok.

Can you guys give me some hints?

Thanks

Lance

See this thread - http://www.briskoda.net/forums/superb/thinking-buying-used-superb/92362/

and rotodiesels's tip to look at this guide - :: .:: WeirdLittleBiscuit dot Com ::. .:: Fixing Passat Leak ::. ::

dormouse,

You are the man. I was looking fro something like that.yes yes yes!!!

I was worried that I would have to sell my superb. No I can fix the water problem too.

I need to check the pollen filter. Is it in the owners manual how to find it?

Thanks again.

Now to find a dehumidifier Would it be easier to buy one (argos have) or to rent one?

domouse,

That was such a helpful link. I found that my 2 drainage lugs were full of sludge. and although the document clearly states take care when cleaning I did push the one under the battery through. After taking off the plates below the engine to try to find it I noticed that the 2 hours it took were wasted as I could fit my arm in between the water tank and the engine and retrieve that one.

I just wanted to say thank you for a great post.

I have not had so much fun in years.

Lance

dormouse,

You are the man. I was looking fro something like that.yes yes yes!!!

I was worried that I would have to sell my superb. No I can fix the water problem too.

I need to check the pollen filter. Is it in the owners manual how to find it?

Thanks again.

Now to find a dehumidifier Would it be easier to buy one (argos have) or to rent one?

Unfortunately at this time of the year, you'll stuggle to get a dehumidifier to successfully remove all the water soaked into the underlay/carpet because it is just too cold to get any effective evapouration taking place. I've just put my new (second hand) Superb back on the road after garaging it for three weeks with a dehumidifier on constantly. I lifted the carpets in all four foot wells and in the end resorted to a hot air gun on low (equivalent to hair drier temperature) and wedged this against the interior sill cover/carpet and left it on for half an hour at a time in the evenings (monitoring regularly to make sure nothing was burning :eek: ), as well as using paper towels to soak up excess water from footwells and underlay.

I removed at least 5 litres of water from the interior.

when trying to soak up water - place an old towel on carpet then something heavy on top of it. The capillary action draws the water up into towel. (may have to repeat a few times)

Thanks I have to drive to Shepperton tomorrow for a wedding so I will have to wait to clear up the water.

Thanks for the great tips though.

Lance

Here's another useful site - in conjunction with the WierdLittleBiscuit "Fixing Passat Water Leak" guide, gives some useful information:

VW Passat Comfort Control Module harness repair | HeadFUZZ

This is a badly designed site with a Google ad over the text. To view the text, position the cursor over the beginning of the essental text to the right of the first photograph. Then using Edit on the toolbar, "select all" and "copy" will enable you to "paste" the whole document without the ad onto a blank Word page and see the photographs together with the text.

I'd really like to get my hands on the VAG numpty in Wolfsburg who caused all this misery and expense.

rotodiesel.

Might be a stupid question...

Why can't you reach the little rubber skirts from under the car? In the guide the dirt fell on his drive, so I'm thinking is there a way to reach them from under the car when it's on a ramp?

Any thoughts? Sure would be a heck of a lot easier, but then if it was people wouldn't be taking their battery out, unless they just fancy a challenge....

B

What I'd like to know, since this is a known issue is why don't VAG issue a recall notice in a similar fashion to Vauxhall with Vauxhall issues massive Corsa recall

Or is it just because the corsa one effects the brakes and not interior electrics?

check these water ingress problems and solutions:

Water Ingress and Solutions - Passat World Forums

mine had a problem when the agent replace my window lifter as described below:

My Car Forum - Singapore Car Forum: Car Clubs: Volkwagen Auto Group: SkodaSG: Water in Car after window lifter replaced under warranty

solved by using weather rubber sealing strips on the door ledge

hope this helps

VAG won't issue a recall notice because they have no interest in run-out models or in providing a genuine good-value service to the customer.

As far as the bungs in the plenum chamber are concerned, if you're feeling brave you can remove the one from under the battery with very little dismantling - the trick is to do it from underneath.

Unscrew the 3 screws securing the coolant header tank and unplug the level sensor lead. Now flip the tank towards the front of the car leaving the hoses connected. Reach under the plenum chamber and feel around carefully. It helps if you take the battery cover off so you can see the position of the battery. The bung is under the battery towards the centre of the car - the easiest course of action is just to push it right into the plenum chamber. You can rescue it (if you care) when the car needs a new battery. The one under the brake servo is a bit more tricky.

Do this at your own risk. In my opinion, the plenum drains are far less likely to get blocked if the bungs are removed. With the undertrays fitted to the B5.5 there is virtually no chance of road splash entering the holes. If you look with a mirror, it's clean on the road side of the plenum chamber, even on an old car, so no splash gets up there.

Lousy design.

rotodiesel.

Might be a stupid question...

Why can't you reach the little rubber skirts from under the car? In the guide the dirt fell on his drive, so I'm thinking is there a way to reach them from under the car when it's on a ramp?

Any thoughts? Sure would be a heck of a lot easier, but then if it was people wouldn't be taking their battery out, unless they just fancy a challenge....

B

Actually you can, if you have arms like a monkey and quite dexterous. I did this with mine! Just pulled them out from the bottom. To get the one on the rightish hand side of the battery, i put my hand across the intercooler pipe and various hoses and felt under the heat-shield that is attached to the bulkhead. I then wriggled around - VERY CAREFULLY, until I found the bottom of the rubber drain / vent thingy. I then pulled it away slowly until it came loose.

As for the second one, I had to remove the battery cover tray, the one that sits over the pollen filter and brake reservior etc. Then, slide my hand around the brake master cylinder and push the gromet / vent thingy out.

Hard work - yes, and be very careful, one to not snag any wires, cables or put undue strain on the hoses. Oh and watch your skin, because you will cut yourself. I did!

Hope this helps, oh and HAPPY NEW YEAR....

Might be a stupid question...

Why can't you reach the little rubber skirts from under the car? In the guide the dirt fell on his drive, so I'm thinking is there a way to reach them from under the car when it's on a ramp?

Any thoughts? Sure would be a heck of a lot easier, but then if it was people wouldn't be taking their battery out, unless they just fancy a challenge....

B

my car has 2 big covers that stop anything from dropping to the ground. You have to remove them to get to the sump and other items

Lance