53 - 2004 VW polo leaks water
Hi
Some 3 years back I had bought a 5 door 1.9 SDI VW polo. Very please with the purchase but we noticed that every time there is a heavy downpour the passenger side rear footwell is drenched in water. On the passenger side front footwell there is no water!
Ideas what could be wrong? The door seems to be dry so water does not seem to be seeping from there.
Any help will be very appreciated.
Regards
Re: 53 - 2004 VW polo leaks water
Usually the water seeps in around the rear light.
Remove the lamp, smear Vaseline around the seal and around the opening in the bodywork where the seal sits, and Bob's your uncle.
Re: 53 - 2004 VW polo leaks water
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sean5302
Usually the water seeps in around the rear light.
Remove the lamp, smear Vaseline around the seal and around the opening in the bodywork where the seal sits, and Bob's your uncle.
Thanks for the response, will try that tomorrow. Is there any chance of water seeping from the pollen filter area?
Re: 53 - 2004 VW polo leaks water
Such water would fall into the front passenger footwell.
The pollen filter is located to the left of the heater panel.
Water in the rear is invariably from the rear lamps.
If you remove the boot carpet and spray water over the hatch (with it closed) you may see the ingress on the floor ridges.
Re: 53 - 2004 VW polo leaks water
Quote:
Originally Posted by
andymg
Hi
Some 3 years back I had bought a 5 door 1.9 SDI VW polo. Very please with the purchase but we noticed that every time there is a heavy downpour the passenger side rear footwell is drenched in water. On the passenger side front footwell there is no water!
Ideas what could be wrong? The door seems to be dry so water does not seem to be seeping from there.
Any help will be very appreciated.
Regards
does the rear screen wash work the pipe might have come apart in side the car odd but it does happen, especially if it freezes and blows apart. mine does in the engine bay.
Re: 53 - 2004 VW polo leaks water
The rear windows don't always go up on the 5-door. I have to be quite careful with mine. They look up from the inside but aren't.
Re: 53 - 2004 VW polo leaks water
The rear windscreen washer does not work as well :( is there a easy way to check if the pipe is disonnected?
Yes the rear window does not close very well but we now ensure that it closes up properly, our initial thoughts was the window leak but there is no water on the door panel.
I will seal the rear light as well, I did see bit of water inside the light panel!
Re: 53 - 2004 VW polo leaks water
Park the car on a bit of dry tarmac, with a full washer tank. Get someone to stand outside the car, with the bonnet open, and hold the washer on. There will be wet patches wherever there's a leak. Mine had popped off right next to the pump, and in the engine bay (why you have the bonnet open, so you can see where!) The pump is a pain to get to though- you need to pull off the grill thing on the lower left (passenger side) and reach around the tank to put it back on. I was glad my Polo doesn't have fogs when I fixed that!
Re: 53 - 2004 VW polo leaks water
The washer hose usually comes apart behind the ABS pump on the N/S of the engine bay (on the bulkhead), in the boot behind the N/S side trim and also inside the tailgate at the wiper motor. The hose is "cleverly" routed above the connectors for the for the tailgate electrics behind the boot trim, so if you find it is disconnected there, check the connectors for signs of water ingress too.
When you remove the rear lights, check that the square holes on the body of the car that the spring clips on the lamps fit into aren't distorted. If the body work isn't flat around the holes, water can get in there. Simply tap it down with a hammer. Also make sure that there are seals around the spring clips on the lamps.
Another area where water gets in on the rear of the Polo is the gutter channel on the roof. Near the edge at the rear, you can sometimes get a little pin hole in the channel. It's a tiny little hole, but it's amazing the amount of water that can leak in through it.
As you have said, the rear windows sometimes drop down a little. The fix for that is to wind the windows fully up, then remove the winder handles and repostion them pointing straight down. When the handles are up near the top when the windows are up, gravity combined with the vibration of driving causes the handles to rotate down, causing the drop glass to open a little.
You've said that it doesn't look like it's leaking in through the doors, but another thing to check is the door locks. There is a seal between the lock latch and the door frame that becomes distorted allowing water to fill the door. Also, the seal around the outside of the door frame can cover the drain holes along the bottom of the door and you sometimes need to cut a little bit off the seal to uncover the drain.
Good luck tracking it down.
Regards.
Jim.
Re: 53 - 2004 VW polo leaks water
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Flash2
The washer hose usually comes apart behind the ABS pump on the N/S of the engine bay (on the bulkhead), in the boot behind the N/S side trim and also inside the tailgate at the wiper motor. The hose is "cleverly" routed above the connectors for the for the tailgate electrics behind the boot trim, so if you find it is disconnected there, check the connectors for signs of water ingress too.
When you remove the rear lights, check that the square holes on the body of the car that the spring clips on the lamps fit into aren't distorted. If the body work isn't flat around the holes, water can get in there. Simply tap it down with a hammer. Also make sure that there are seals around the spring clips on the lamps.
Another area where water gets in on the rear of the Polo is the gutter channel on the roof. Near the edge at the rear, you can sometimes get a little pin hole in the channel. It's a tiny little hole, but it's amazing the amount of water that can leak in through it.
As you have said, the rear windows sometimes drop down a little. The fix for that is to wind the windows fully up, then remove the winder handles and repostion them pointing straight down. When the handles are up near the top when the windows are up, gravity combined with the vibration of driving causes the handles to rotate down, causing the drop glass to open a little.
You've said that it doesn't look like it's leaking in through the doors, but another thing to check is the door locks. There is a seal between the lock latch and the door frame that becomes distorted allowing water to fill the door. Also, the seal around the outside of the door frame can cover the drain holes along the bottom of the door and you sometimes need to cut a little bit off the seal to uncover the drain.
Good luck tracking it down.
Regards.
Jim.
Jim, Fantastic post. I have applied silicon sealant on the two rubber seal - hopefully that should stop the water ingress from the rear light.
I also noticed that when I operate the rear windscreen washer, washer fluid is leaking underneath the car. This water does not find its way to the rear footwell though so the hose seems to have been disconnected in the front i.e. behind the ABS pump - as mentioned by you. Is there a easy way to reconnect the hose without removing lot of stuff?
Also how do I remove the winder handle, I think there is some locking mechanism and I did not want to break it by applying too much pressure.