Water in the passenger footwell '94 Passat

[HorseOffaGypsy]

My 1994 Passat has started to fill up with water on the passenger side! The later model Passats seem to have this as a common fault (blocked drains in the bulkhead by the pollen filter) but no one seem to have reported a similar fault in the preceeding model. There isn't any water in the bulkhead in my Passat but there is 10mm of water in both front and back passenger footwells. What is going on?
:confused:

Could it be the sunroof drain? If so any ideas where the drain ends up and how to unblock? Any other ideas of where to check are welcome!!

[HorseOffaGypsy]

Probably not the thing to do - respond to your own post - but thought I could pass on my experiences to some one else!

I've fixed the leak and my guess was right - it was rain coming in...

1) It wasn't a blockage in the bulk head below the windscreen. This drain seem pretty big - I don't think it's likley to get blocked!

2) One of the drainage channels from the sun roof were blocked. There are four of them - the front two are easily accesible and can be seen in the recess of the sun roof. To unblock them DO NOT poke something down them from the sun roof end! I found that if you do this, when your unblocking implement (I used a nice stout piece of wire) hits the blockage you push the offending article deeper into the pipe. It then becomes solidly fixed, so you force harder and then - pop - the tube comes away from the exit hole and the only way I found to get it back on was to drop the headlining - what a mare!

Unblocking is simple: Jack the front of the car and remove the road wheel. Undo the screws that hold the plastic liner in the wheel arch - you don't need to do all of them the rear 5-6 did the trick, enough to pull the liner out of the way so that you can get access to the bottom of the front pillar. Feeling up inside here, you'll find a ~0.5inch tube with a rubber "blob" on the bottom. (If you remove the side indicator you,ll probably be able to see it!) This blob pulls off from the bottom easily and as you do, you'll get a good drenching of water! If you want you can push your unblocking wire back up the hose to ensure its clear, but this blob thing appears to be the culprit. In true Haynes style, refit is the reverse of removal!

The blob thing (see photo attached) appears to be some sort of valve but why its there, I've no idea! What is going to go "up" a drain hose? I've taken them off both sides and seeing what happens! It's rained lots since I've done this and the car remains dry - I reckon this has cracked it!

The bummer is that the offending article that blocked the hose looked like some sort of VW "plug" (used to push in to the bodywork whihc you screw a screw into for a fixing) - so my guess is that it fell down the tube when the car was made!

Anyhow - good luck if this happens to you - it looks serious when it happens but it seems a relatively easy fix! (Famous last words.....) :Blush:

[jackg]

On my 1996 TDI saloon I have the same problem with water getting into the passenger front footwell. Do not think its the pollen filter housing seal with the bulkhead so I will investigate this method to see if it solves the problem. I thought it was the door seal but not sure.

[jackg]

Well I took off the front wheel on one side and found the hose and the plug. I took the plug off which is designed to allow water to drain through it and had a look, apart from the grime it looked ok. So was there a blockage in the pipe?
So I opened the sunroof and poured water into the recessed well and water came out of the drainage pipe in the wheel arch as it should. I checked on the other side without having taken the wheel off and water was coming out as well so both sides work.
Back to the door seal.

I ordered a door seal from a VAG garage but it was an inch shorter than the existing one, so it would leave a one inch gap when fitted, very strange. The garage is ordering another one so I can compare the two to see if it was a mfr fault?

Previously the windscreen had been replaced by a national company for which there was a warranty but only for the owner who had the work done, which was the previous owner and not me. But that leaked when I put a hose on the screen, got some sealant and fixed it.