Wet carpet - rear passenger side...where could the leak be?

[SR-71]

Well, winter is here...and winter in Vancouver, Canada means torrential downpours for the good part of the season.

There's water thats collecting at the foot area of the rear passenger side. Where could this dreaded leak be located?

Soggy carpet smells like hot sick

[kish53a]

bad door seal/rear side window seal?

[SR-71]

side window seal is perfect...i'll chekc the door

[SR-71]

fak me, the door seal seems fine.

what the hell can it be? should i start replacing every seal?

[gytre1]

the seal on my sunroof was bad, and i had about a foot of water INSIDE of my car in the same place. after i replaced the most expensive seal ever ($80) it was fine

[LubsDaDubs]

Check to see if the drain in your raintray is clogged, if you have a sunroof. This will force water in to the pass side of the int and it will pool in the rear.

This is very common in sunroof cars.
if it is not a roof car then check your windsheild seal

[SR-71]

my car has an aftermarket sunroof that previous owner had put in.

i'll check the windshield seal. THANKS!

[Kynetx]

Not sure if this applies, but I'd suggest checking your door card for moisture. If it's moist, pull it off and make sure the "shower curtain" is intact. You know, the plastic sheet between the door and the door card. If not, what I did was buy the heaviest clear tarp I could get and silicone it to the door. Make a cutout roughly the shape and larger than you need. Once the silicone cures (24 hours I think) cut off the excess and use a hair dryer or heat gun to shrink the plastic so that the wrinkles are out and it's tight.
The Rocco I'm picking up today may have the same problem.

[Paul@VWvortex]

How about a leak through the taillight gasket seal? They do go bad fairly often on the MkII cars... I too would thoroughly check the moisture barriers on the doors as well as make sure that your outer scrapers are in good shape.

[corylang]

Almost always the moister seal INSIDE the door.

If you checked the rubber seal around the door body fitment that is usually fine.

Every scirocco I have owned (counting over 15 now) has had that seal either removed, destroyed by someone putting in big speakers or just gone hard and cracked.

Take the door card off and look at the plastic moisture seal. It needs to be intact and sealed around the edges. Usually they are not

You can buy a new one from VW. OR get some heavy duty mac-tac (that peal and stick stuff) that you can stick on the door and then use a hair dryer to shrink it nice and tight.

All else fails you can get some poly from home-depot, etc and silicone it on. but that usually only last a year or so as the silicone usually starts to leak.

If that is the culprit then also check your window scrapers, if they are going bad (shrunken and hard with age) they will let more water into your door than normal.

Lastly, if you have the seal off. Clean out the bottom of the door, as all that water will leave a nice sludge in there. There are supposed to be a couple drain holes in the bottom of the door that lets the water out, and these ususally get clogged over the last 20 years of your cars life

Good luck and keep us posted.

Leaky A1's seem to be common around here.....

[kayakman13]

I've just pulled away my door panel and i see a nice hole behind the speaker where the wires pass through, and i assume, the back of the speaker may protrude. Would i be correct in guessing that this would compromise my moisture barrier?

In response to the OP, I recently had my windshield replaced. (A large television will NOT fit in the passenger seat area.) My car was purchased with the chrome windshield trim missing. Somewhat thereafter in the rainy season of the Northwest, my roommate got in the back passenger seat and found about 3 inches of standing water. The front passenger's foot area was also quite wet. There's lots of water drops hanging under the dash on that side. My guess would probably be windshield seal there, though I'm still investigating. My dashboard tray was full of water!

[kayakman13]

I've just pulled away my door panel and i see a nice hole behind the speaker where the wires pass through, and i assume, the back of the speaker may protrude. Would i be correct in guessing that this would compromise my moisture barrier?

In response to the OP, I recently had my windshield replaced. (A large television will NOT fit in the passenger seat area.) My car was purchased with the chrome windshield trim missing. Somewhat thereafter in the rainy season of the Northwest, my roommate got in the back passenger seat and found about 3 inches of standing water. The front passenger's foot area was also quite wet. There's lots of water drops hanging under the dash on that side. My guess would probably be windshield seal there, though I'm still investigating. My dashboard tray was full of water!

And now I read the age of this thread...

[cuppie]

That happens....
At least you resurrected zombie thread to ask a related question, rather than give more advice (happens more than you'd think... )

Anyhoo...
First things first: Rain tray (in the engine compartment.)
1: Is the plastic cover still present, and in good condition? If missing, or cracked, you need to find a new(er) one. You will not be able to stop water entry without it.
2: If the cover is there, and good, check the drains. Clogged rain-tray drains (located at each end of the tray) will cause the tray to fill with water. The first point-of-entry becomes the fresh-air intake for the heater-A/C (on... the right side!)
If either 1 or 2 are an issue, water will simply pour in thru the HVAC intake, and drain out of the blower housing. Onto the right-side floor.

Door water barriers:
Holes (for speakers & wiring) are acceptable, so long as they're properly done. Simply cut a hole, and it'll leak. You need to shield the hole (on the 'outside' of the barrier) to divert water away from the hole. VW managed to do it...

[sciroccohal]

I'll send you a pic of me standing in the engine nacelle of a SR-71!


Water leaking from the windshield or sunroof runs backward to the back of the rear seats....then the front carpet sort of dries out...confusing the issue.

Windshield.

[My Old Roc]

........and just so the new guys know, here's where to get any and all seals you need!

http://vintagerubber.com

[BozDub]

awesome thread! Tons of great info!!

[kayakman13]

That happens....
At least you resurrected zombie thread to ask a related question, rather than give more advice (happens more than you'd think... )

Anyhoo...
First things first: Rain tray (in the engine compartment.)
1: Is the plastic cover still present, and in good condition? If missing, or cracked, you need to find a new(er) one. You will not be able to stop water entry without it.
2: If the cover is there, and good, check the drains. Clogged rain-tray drains (located at each end of the tray) will cause the tray to fill with water. The first point-of-entry becomes the fresh-air intake for the heater-A/C (on... the right side!)
If either 1 or 2 are an issue, water will simply pour in thru the HVAC intake, and drain out of the blower housing. Onto the right-side floor.

Door water barriers:
Holes (for speakers & wiring) are acceptable, so long as they're properly done. Simply cut a hole, and it'll leak. You need to shield the hole (on the 'outside' of the barrier) to divert water away from the hole. VW managed to do it...

Tell me more about shielding from the outside (metal side as opposed to door panel side, correct?). There's a bit of foam around the door handle and the window crank spot. Would something like that be correct?

The water pouring in the fresh air intake sounds about right. Thanks!

[cuppie]

Those two pieces of foam are more for an air seal, than they are a water seal. They help prevent drafts at the handle holes.

Say I need to run a wire thru the door insulation (or vapor barrier), and I don't want it to leak water. So, I can't just punch a hole in it. But, what I can do is put a flap, or an upside-down pocket, on the 'wet' side of the barrier. Wire enters the bottom of the pocket or flap, emerges on the 'dry' side higher than the lowest point of the pocket.
This gets you two things:
1- hole is protected by the pocket/flap
2- routed this way, the wire is forced into a 'drip loop.' Any water that travels along it will drip off at the lowest point of the loop, instead of runing thru the barrier.

If you have speakers that protrude thru the barrier, that's a little trickier. Can't just put a flap of plastic on the 'wet' side of the barrier - it'll make hella noise when the speaker excites it.
What you can do, though, is get appropriately-sized foam speaker baffles (Crutchfield, among others, sells them), and attach it to the 'dry' side of the barrier. Butyl sealant (AKA 3M Ribbon Weld) works great here, as it'll stick like crazy to both the foam baffle, as well as the plastic barrier; and, it'll stay that way damned-near forever.
As above, pass the wires up thru the bottom of the baffle

[UKScirocco_1983]

How about a leak through the taillight gasket seal? They do go bad fairly often on the MkII cars... I too would thoroughly check the moisture barriers on the doors as well as make sure that your outer scrapers are in good shape.

Im having this problem as well when I replaced my tailights to OEM again. My trunk carpet has sice come out and the car now sit on an incline to prevent it going froward

[TBerk]

I'll send you a pic of me standing in the engine nacelle of a SR-71!...
.

Plz, plz, plz...


PS- Cuppie ftw; but I'm going to add a small description mod to his Chrutchfeild recommend- they sell hard plastic (albeit thinish material) plastic 'back of speaker' uh... cups/shells... (damn, where's my in-brain thesaurus gone too?)


Ha! - http://www.crutchfield.com/shopsearc...er_baffle.html
More specifically for a A1 chassis VW's front door speakers 4x6 ovals:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_237XT46...1-4-depth.html