Water in footwells

[Leigh_Shrimper]

Been raining a bit lately hasn't it!
I seem to have collected quite a bit of water in both the driver and rear passenger offside footwells. Both footwell carpets squelching when pressed down must be leaking from somewhere. I know the normal Passat has had similar problems but had a quick search on here & couldn't see anyone else with the same problem.
Will take it to my local dealer on Monday. Never been to this dealer before & the car didn't come from them so no idea what they are like.

[eob]

Nightmare! Are all of the windows sealing properly when they pop up? Could be checked with a hosepipe I guess.
As I said in another thread, the heater airflow to the footwell area seems weaker compared to my saloon and during all the snow and ice I had a lot of snow transferred to the floor from my shoes which froze the floormat solid despite a 40 minute journey in the evening and one at night. I had to remove the floor mat to the house to thaw but it's totally wrecked.
Do you carry passengers?

[mark381]

LeighShrimper, do you have a sunroof? other forums seem to point to the drainage tubes for this being a possible cause?
Mark

[Leigh_Shrimper]

Nightmare! Are all of the windows sealing properly when they pop up? Could be checked with a hosepipe I guess.
As I said in another thread, the heater airflow to the footwell area seems weaker compared to my saloon and during all the snow and ice I had a lot of snow transferred to the floor from my shoes which froze the floormat solid despite a 40 minute journey in the evening and one at night. I had to remove the floor mat to the house to thaw but it's totally wrecked.
Do you carry passengers?

Windows look all ok. Yep have had some passengers, but it could be the seal along the bottom of the driver door as the carpet seems more damp along this side.

Have you seen the size of the footwell heater tube? no wonder its weak its tiny.


LeighShrimper, do you have a sunroof? other forums seem to point to the drainage tubes for this being a possible cause?
Mark

Nope no sunroof, as above it could be the driver door seal.

[Leigh_Shrimper]

Dealer very busy & can't fit me in until next Tuesday!
They want the car for a week and no loan cars available until March!
Looks like I will have to get a hire car.

[gamichea]

I'm down your way every 3-4 weeks. Hope I don't need a dealer on one of those occasions.

Think if I was in your shoes I'd be looking for another dealer.

[shaggydancer]

Did you ever get to the bottom of your issue?

[kennyboy]

Every get to the bottom of this Leigh?

I have pool of water in drivers side rear footwell - definately not coming from window.

I've seen something about known problem with passat saloons - pollen filter seal or something?

Kenny

[Hex69]

Every get to the bottom of this Leigh?

I have pool of water in drivers side rear footwell - definately not coming from window.

I've seen something about known problem with passat saloons - pollen filter seal or something?

Kenny

That was for the B5 Passats up to 2005, not for later models.

[kennyboy]

It looks like there's a problem with later models too from searching the web - though perhaps caused by something else

[Leigh_Shrimper]

Did you ever get to the bottom of your issue?


Every get to the bottom of this Leigh?

I have pool of water in drivers side rear footwell - definately not coming from window.

I've seen something about known problem with passat saloons - pollen filter seal or something?

Kenny

Nope not sorted, the car was with dealer for 3 days & they kindly dried the mats out for me. I bet they did not even check under the carpet.

Under the driver seat there is a little flap in the carpet if I pull that up I can feel the soundproofing material is soaking wet.

They seemed to think the window must have been left open when the car was awaiting delivery. But the seat has always been bone dry and the carpet and soundproofing would have surely dried out by now.

At the moment its not causing me any problems but come the warmer weather I will probably get bad condensation problems on the windows and the carpet might get mouldy & smelly.

I'm going to take it to a different VW dealer when I get the time.

Might be worth all CC owners checking under the driver seat for water or damp.

Looks like this person on another forum has the same problem:- http://www.vwforum.com/forums/f67/leaking-passat-cc-40685/

Looks like this could be a major issue.

[kennyboy]

I'm pretty sure mine is a build up of water on the exterior sill underneath the rear door.

That long, wide sill that makes the CC look so good - on mine after it rains and I open the rear door the door scoops a whole load of water off the sill and dumps it on to the floor.

If it rains hard enough or long enough the water collecting at the bottom of the door fills up and starts to pour in to the car - I can tell because it's soaking on the trim that goes from the door in to the footwell itself, i.e. the footwell side wall.

Car is in to VW on friday so I'll take the technician through my hunch

[Shadow CC]

I'm with Kennyboy on his theory for this one. I don't have wet footwells but whenever I open the rear doors a stream of water comes out of the door drain holes onto the drive. It makes ense that once the doors fill to a certain point then the water will find a different way out and into the cabin.

Maybe just recessing the rubber grommet at the bottom of the drain hole to allow the water to exit rather than it sealing the hole might help. Or in the mean time, whenever I wash the car (which is often!) I also open all the doors afterwards for a few minutes or just periodically open the rear doors.

My car is usually on a slight upslope (bonnet high) which might explain the build up in the rear doors or it might have nothing to do with it.

Good luck at the dealers and let us know how you get on as I guess it will affect most cars eventually, including mine.

Shadow

[kennyboy]

Thanks Shadow - I'll mention the drain recess idea to the technician, sounds the right area to look in to

Interestingly the other rear door doesn't do this - so maybe the design is hit and miss...i.e. poor

[kennyboy]

I'm happy to say VW Leeds have come up trumps on this.

Showed the techician the problem and he initially said he would see what they could do but it doesn't look good as it's probably a design issue.

I also emailed the technician on request my theory of the level rising under the door and eventually flowing in to footwell.

The technician forwarded the email to VW UK and they advised a fix for it straight away aparently. He said VW UK were not aware of CC's having this problem but they knew of a problem with EOS's that sounded similar.

They recommended the EOS fix be applied to both back doors - and its worked!

No matter how much rain falls now I don't have any water dumped when the rear doors are open - even when parked on a slant.

I'm afraid I don't know what the actual fix is - but I could find out if necessary. But it's the standard fix applied to VW EOS for water collecting between door and sill.

I expect at some point VW will promote this to an official CC fix though aparently I may have been the first they heard of in the UK

Kenny

[Shadow CC]

Nice one Kenny.
If you could give them one last nudge to find out the nature of the fix it might either save us a trip to the dealers or at least challenge them from an informed basis rather than getting the anticipated blank look.

Always odd when customers have to fix things for the manufacturer but hey hoh, at least we don't drive Toyota's

Thanks

Shadow

[shaggydancer]

Kenny,

A Result, I am pleased for you. As shaddow says if you could get any further info and pass it on it would be of great help should anybody else start to have the same problem

[kennyboy]

Thanks lads, I'll email the technician and try to get some info on the fix.

[shaggydancer]

Would appreciate that, went to the car this morning after another night of heavy rain and I got the same symptoms as you described with the rear nearside door scooping a pile of water onto the ground when I opened it, I also got the usual flow of water out of the drain holes in all four doors. :(

None of this would concern me except I can't help the feeling that if I were to leave the car for a period of time, say in an airport car park when on holiday, I could return to a damp or sodden car.

[kennyboy]

I've send the email to request the info:

---------------------------
Hi xxxx

Not sure if you remember but you solved the water ingress problem on my CC after a call to VW UK.

Well the fix has worked perfectly - thanks for that.

I promised the lads on the forum I would post up the fix so is it possible you could email me what the actual fix was in as much detail as possible?

There are some other lads on there with similar problems and this information would be invaluable to the CC community as a whole.

Cheers
Kenny
-----------------------------

As soon as I get a response I'll post it up guys

[paulthefox]

i have the same problem at present on b5 passat:( would love to hear the dealer fix and why it was never used on b5@b5b

paul:beerchug:

[MalcQV]

Paul I think the reasons for the leak on the CC are different to the problems we have on B5's and B5.5's.

[paulthefox]

dont think so have water dripping from door onto sill then running onto rubber mat;)

paul:beerchug:

[Tony_Essex]

My wife had this problem in her C-max 4 weeks ago. Water was draining into the foot wells....... she had driven into 2 feet of water :1zhelp:

The problem was easily fixed...the car was written off by the insurance company(even though it was only 3 years old). She now has a new C-max which doesnt have this issue....;)

Problem was easily fixed but incredibly expensive.....as you dont get much when a car is written off..and a replacement costs a whole lot more. Also looking forward to next years insurance renewal!

[MalcQV]

dont think so have water dripping from door onto sill then running onto rubber mat;)

paul:beerchug:
Ahh right.,sorry Paul I thought you had the old plenum problem. I should not laugh :D:D (done it now) but these cars are pathetic when it comes to water ingress. Mrs has had an MX5 for 12 years with you know a convertible, soft top removable, yes the roof actually comes off! and it has never leaked like my piggin Passaat :p

[Mike McKinstry]

paulthefox,
Your issue could be caused by blocked drain holes in bottom of doors (easily cleared with a piece of wire)however your issue is probably the seal between the door inner ali skin and the door frame has perished and the water coming out is coming from between the door and the plastic trim panel.
Dry everything and hose outside window.Then look for dribbles along bottom edge of door.If so trim off and then choose between silicone (not advised by some as hard to remove in future)or replace beading available from your local dealer.
Often this water will sit on plastic step and dribble inwards wetting floor.

Regards,
Mike.

[paulthefox]

hi mike
thanks for the info:beerchug:

paul

[routecruiser]

Hi guys,
Regarding the water in the passenger foot well we had that problem. the local dealer in Derby had`nt a clue. I finally sorted the problem. It turned out to be a drain hole that was blocked and the water was seaping in through a seal that is behind the passenger parcel shelf, its where a couple of pipes come through the bulk head.
The drain hole in situated under where the battery sits ! Over time thia drain hole had got bits of leaves etc in it and blocked up so water running from the winow just filled the battery compartment and it rose above the afore mentioned seal and seaped into the passenger side foot well, so much so that it flooded into the rear also.
Since cleaning out this drain there has`nt been a problem so keep checking it specially through autumn.
Hope this helps.
Regards.
Routecruiser. :beerchug:

[JASEA4]

Ive been giving my Audi a good wash down today to get rid of all the salt from the roads, whilst washing i decided to give the car a good spraying down the gap between the top of the wing and bonnet to clear any dirt out , i then lifted the bonnet and found out the whole bulk head area where the battery is located was full , and im talking a good six inches of water , removed paneling and battery very quickly, to discover the drain holes where all bunged up under the battery and brake master cylinder, lookly no water has leaked through into the car itself, ive cleaned all the bulk head out and got loads of dead leafs and muck out , cleaned it all down and reassembled, this is the biggest cause of interiors getting wet, when bungs give way and drip through inside the car.......
i only checked a few weeks back before all the snow came and no water in there , just didnt get chance then to clean all the area out ,

this will be getting done at least once a year from now on to prevent a mass build up of water.....i recommend all who read this check under there bonnets and do this before you are too late;)

[aido]

Sorry to bounce an old thread but I'm getting issues with water somehow getting in to the drivers side footwell in my CC - I just wondered if many more were seeing this same problem as time is passing and if so what the likely cause is?

Thanks in advance!

[st001]

Ive been giving my Audi a good wash down today to get rid of all the salt from the roads, whilst washing i decided to give the car a good spraying down the gap between the top of the wing and bonnet to clear any dirt out , i then lifted the bonnet and found out the whole bulk head area where the battery is located was full , and im talking a good six inches of water , removed paneling and battery very quickly, to discover the drain holes where all bunged up under the battery and brake master cylinder, lookly no water has leaked through into the car itself, ive cleaned all the bulk head out and got loads of dead leafs and muck out , cleaned it all down and reassembled, this is the biggest cause of interiors getting wet, when bungs give way and drip through inside the car.......
i only checked a few weeks back before all the snow came and no water in there , just didnt get chance then to clean all the area out ,

this will be getting done at least once a year from now on to prevent a mass build up of water.....i recommend all who read this check under there bonnets and do this before you are too late;)

Aha - this appears to be the answer to the thread I have just started!