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Wet drivers side carpet


TheFish
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Hi,
Suddenly have a soaking drivers side carpet - The chamber below the windscreen is clear and no water coming in through the heater or anything.....There is a lot of water, but no damp doors or rear panels etc.....So, that suggests from underneath? Any known points? The rubber bungs at a glance look pretty good down the undersides, but havent really had a chance to get in for a closer look. There was a lot of rain this weekend, so, I am still not ruling out a leak from above too.....So, any possible pointers ? I know water can be a git.......

Luckily, I have a garage and dont need the car, so can get it under cover, seats out and carpets up to stop the smell getting in etc.....but yeah, need to work out the culprit......Grateful for any pointers....thanks

 

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Hi guys......No sunroof and parked on the flat, in regular etc......Just had the seat out, all the side/quarter and have been able to elevate the carpet somewhat with the rear soundproofing out. The centre console is holding the forward sound proofing as it looks to straddle both front and passenger side......but, with all the trim out under the steering wheel, I have been able to jam a good timber in, which is holding the dripping sound proofing up and have a heater running......Main fix for now is stopping any smell build up and getting stuff dryed out quick......On a quick inspection I cant really see anything untoward at all......Am talking minimum 1/2 to 3/4 of a bucket of water in there.....the waters quite clear, but a little brown, which could be colour wash out of the sound proofing I guess? Its done 84k on an 02 plate so will have a look around the clutch area as suggested......so thanks for that.....for this amount of water, one would hope to find something quite obvious.....but, as said, waters a git! 

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I'd forgotten to mention! Whip out your front arch liners, dirt builds up behind them blocking the drain holes at the bottom of them! If it's never been done it'll be impressive an 02 plate

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Hi Mattarosa....Ok, will have a look.....but where would that ingress into the car? I know there is the chamber under the windscreen (as had a passat too!), which can fill up and flood the car, but if it filled up behind the wheel arch liner, where does it go in? Any pointers? I can see a couple of plugs in the front well, but all look quite secure.....the floorpan looks like it just left the factory etc....

 

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I have had it leak in from the speaker, the windscreen and also coming back up from a rubber bung underneath the carpet (cavity was filled with water, froze and popped the bung causing the sound deadening to get very wet)

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15 hours ago, mattarosa said:

The scuttle under the windscreen drains down through them :)

Ok, but where would the entry point of the water to the car? I am going to put some blue paper around a few places and give it a soaking once its dried out a bit, likely Sat as tied up at work until then....

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7 hours ago, jon_273 said:

I have had it leak in from the speaker, the windscreen and also coming back up from a rubber bung underneath the carpet (cavity was filled with water, froze and popped the bung causing the sound deadening to get very wet)

I have found one bung which internally had cracked through the sound deadening, which "could" have been cuased by frost damage, but overall the bungs etc are all looking really tidy......So for now, I have a list of possible suspects, so will finish drying it out, then have a squirt and see what happens......with the water rising up the sound insulation material (Blue stuff), it was hard to dertermine where the water has come in, as nothing obvious hence the post etc.....

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23 hours ago, mattarosa said:

I'd forgotten to mention! Whip out your front arch liners, dirt builds up behind them blocking the drain holes at the bottom of them! If it's never been done it'll be impressive an 02 plate

Ok, this is looking like it, all subject to a further check.....I popped the 3 screws off the arch liner and levered it out, to find a wing full of soil....Oddly enough, that mud (as in literally earth mud), went all the way to the windsreen scuttle etc, where that was full of the same actual mud too. So, I reckon, when we had a massive down pour at the weekend, the it must have flooded on a temp basis and dropped the water down through the heater matrix or something into the car? I have cleared the mud out but could do with doing a better job of it over the weekend, but certainly looks likely, although cant rule out the clutch bung yet or the black bit around the steering column, but hopefully this wing liner could be the blockage...! 

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On 07/03/2017 at 5:13 AM, mattarosa said:

The scuttle under the windscreen drains down through them :)

Ok, but where would the entry point of the water to the car? I am going to put some blue paper around a few places and give it a soaking once its dried out a bit, likely Sat as tied up at work until then....

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I don't know where it enters the car unless it's down through a screw or cable entry as the fuse box is in the drivers footwell and the ecu is in the scuttle so the wiring loom comes up into the scuttle :)

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Fixed - and root cause identified;

  1. Root cause - build up earth (almost compost like) behind o/s wheel arch, all the way to the top of the wing to plenum chamber under the windscreen ( the whole rectangular area under the windscreen = the chamber)
  2. Massive down pour of rain over the weekend
  3. Rain "must have" filled the chamber, as natural drainge down/over the back of wheel arch liner was blocked.
  4. Bonnet release grommet has a 2nd electrical wire in black plastic going through it, which has a 2-3mm gap around it where it comes out of the car to the left of the windscreen chamber. This is where the water entered the car, due to the increased level in water depth due to the blockage from the earth.
  5. Earth has been removed, all washed out to see a huge, nice gaping hole, therefore allowing future flow of water to take effect. I might put a blob of silicone on the grommet for the release, but I am satisfied that the water build up will not now happen.

Thanks to Mattarosa for the right steer for popping the wheel arch liner off  - :D

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9 minutes ago, mattarosa said:

I don't know where it enters the car unless it's down through a screw or cable entry as the fuse box is in the drivers footwell and the ecu is in the scuttle so the wiring loom comes up into the scuttle :)

See last previous on this, it was the bonnet entry cable grommet, combined with the blocked wheel arch liner.....thanks for your steer !

Edited by TheFish
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3 minutes ago, TheFish said:

See last post on this, it was the bonnet entry cable grommet, combined with the blocked wheel arch liner.....

Good glad it's fixed, I remember doing it on my first arosa and now it's the first job I do on any of them. I didn't see your explanation hence my last post!

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